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LIFE, ADMINISTRATION, AND TIMES

OF

ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

March 4, 1861, to April 15, 1865.

CHAPTER I.

1861-WAR OF THE REBELLION-BIG BETHEL BUTLER AND WOOL-SCOTT'S PLANS-PATTERSON IN VIRGINIATHE CRY OF "ON TO RICHMOND "--GENERAL MCDOWELL-FIRST BULL RUN-LOSS OF THE FIRST GREAT BATTLE FOR THE UNION "FORWARD TO WASHINGTON”— CORRECTING ERRORS.

MAR

ARYLAND having undergone a sudden change in favor of the Government, the great channels of communication with Washington being open, and Baltimore having become civil to Federal soldiers, some of the more treacherous, unyielding, and determined of the rebel citizens being confined at Fort McHenry, on the 22d of May General Butler took command of Fortress Monroe, with his department nominally embracing North Carolina and the tidewater region of Virginia, about the mouth of the Chesapeake. Several thousand troops were soon gathered under his command, but besides laboring

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under the misfortune of being green soldiers, they had inexperienced and incompetent general officers. During the season General Butler undertook but one movement of much importance, and this resulted disastrously. On the 9th of June he sent out a strong force under E. W. Pierce, a Massachusetts militia general, who had never seen a battle, and had ro skill as a soldier, hoping to drive the rebels from his front, and surprise and capture them at Little Bethel. Before daylight on the following morning, one of Pierce's regiments, taking another for a regiment of rebels, fell upon it, killing and wounding a number before the mistake could be corrected. This unfortunate occurrence, against which they had been especially warned, disconcerted the plans of the expedition. Still Pierce, sending back for additional troops, advanced to Big Bethel, where he found the rebels under John B. Magruder, a much superior officer, awaiting him. A fight ensued, in which the Union loss was considerable, while that of the rebels was hardly noticeable. Pierce succeeded in making a very reputable and orderly retreat, and here the matter ended, as did also his military career. Early in the fall General Butler himself was succeeded at Fortress Monroe by General John E. Wool, but not until he had taken another important step in his very remarkable war record, as will be seen farther on.

The Governor of Pennsylvania, with the quota from that State, under the President's first call, had sent into the field General Robert Patterson, who in his better days had made some reputation as a

soldier. With the three months' militia, General Scott believed nothing more should be expected or undertaken than opening the way to Washington, securing that city, holding Maryland and the Potomac, securing the long line of the border States, and, perhaps, recapturing Harper's Ferry. This was, indeed, an ambitious plan for an undisciplined army, to remain. in service but ninety days. General Patterson's head-quarters had been established at Chambersburg, a position affording him a good opportunity for watching the rebels in Virginia, and operating with expedition against them in an attempt to gain a foothold in Maryland, a purpose about which there was no doubt, however impossible its execution. Patterson deemed Harper's Ferry of great importance, if not destined to be the battle-field of the war, where the question of secession was to be speedily settled. There was both North and South a very erroneous stress put upon this point, and especially did Lee and Jefferson Davis consider it of great military value to them, and with much difficulty did Joseph E. Johnston, when sent to command the place, induce them to assent to his better judgment as to the error concerning its value. After a long and needless delay, Patterson crossed the Potomac at Williamsport about the middle of June to find, greatly to his surprise, that Johnston had on the 13th and 14th evacuated and burned the place, and withdrawn to Winchester. Patterson looked upon this conduct of the rebel general in the light of a victory to the Union army under him, and so reported. But he again

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