seriously entertained by any one connected with the Army of the Potomac."*

The Government at once took measures to strengthen the army by all the means available. An order was issued, placing at his command all the disposable forces at Fortress Monroe, and another ordering McDowell to send McCall's division to him by water from Fredericksburg. McDowell or Fre.mont was expected to fight Jackson at Front Royal, after which, part of their troops would become available for the Army of the Potomac. On the 4th, General McClellan telegraphed that it was raining, that the river was still high, that he had "to be very cautious," that he expected another severe battle, and hoped, after our heavy losses, he "should no longer be regarded as an alarmist." On the 5th, the Secretary of War sent him word that troops had been embarked for him at Baltimore, to which he replied on the 7th, "I shall be in perfect readiness to move forward and take Richmond the moment McCall reaches here, and the ground will admit the passage of artillery." On the 10th, General McCall's forces began to arrive at White House, and on the same day General McClellan telegraphed to the Department that a rumor had reached him that the rebels had been re-enforced by Beauregard,—that he thought a portion of Halleck's army from Tennessee should be sent to strengthen him, but that he should "attack with what force he had, as soon as the weather and ground will permit--but there will be a delay," he added, "the extent of which no one can foresee, for the season is altogether abnormal." The Secretary of War replied that Halleck would be urged to comply with his request if he could safely do so-that neither Beauregard nor his army was in Richmond, that McDowell's force would join him as soon as possible, that Fremont had had an engagement, not

*See Gen. McClellan's Report, August 4, 1863.

wholly successful, with Jackson, and closing with this strong and cordial assurance of confidence and support:

Be assured, General, that there never has been a moment when my desire has been otherwise than to aid you with my whole heart, mind, and strength, since the hour we first met; and whatever others may say for their own purposes, you have never had, and never can have, any one more truly your friend, or more anxious to support you, or more joyful than I shall be at the success which I have no doubt will soon be achieved by your arms.

On the 14th, General McClellan wrote to the War Department that the weather was favorable, and that two days more would make the ground practicable. He still urges the propriety of sending him more troops, but finds a new subject of complaint in a telegram he had received from McDowell. The latter, on the 8th, had received the following orders:

The Secretary of War directs that, having first provided adequately for the defence of the city of Washington and for holding the position at Fredericksburg, you operate with the residue of your force as speedily as possible in the direction of Richmond to co-operate with Major-General McClellan in accordance with the instructions heretofore given you. McCall's Division, which has been by previous order directed towards Richmond by water, will still form a part of the Army of the Rappahannock, and will come under your orders when you are in a position to co-operate with General McClellan.

General McDowell had telegraphed McClellan as follows on the 10th of June:

For the third time I am ordered to join you, and hope this time to get through. In view of the remarks made with reference to my leaving you, and not joining you before, by your friends, and of something I have heard as coming from you on that subject, I wish to say I go with the greatest satisfaction, and hope to arrive with my main body in time to be of service. McCall goes in advance by water. I will be with you in ten days with the remainder by Fredericksburg.

And again, June 12th:

The delay of Major-General Banks to relieve the Division of my command in the valley beyond the time I had calculated on, will prevent my joining you with the remainder of the troops I am to take below at as early a day as I named. My Third Division (McCall's) is now on the way. Please do me the favor to so place it that it may be in a position to join the others as they come down from Fredericksburg.

These telegrams, it will be seen, are in accordance with the orders to McDowell of the 8th, which directed that McCall's Division should continue to form part of the Army of the Rappahannock, and required that McDowell should operate, in the direction of Richmond, to co-operate with McClellan in accordance with instructions heretofore given him.

These instructions are those of the 17th and 18th of May, concerning which McClellan sent the President his long telegram of the 21st, in which he says:

This fact (McDowell's forces coming within his Department), my superior rank, and the express language of the sixty-second article of war, will place his command under my orders, unless it is otherwise specially directed by your Excellency, and I consider that he will be under my command, except that I am not to detach any portion of his forces, or give any orders which can put him out of position to cover Washington.

To this the President answered:

You will have command of McDowell after he joins you, precisely as you indicated in your long dispatch to us of the 21st.

In regard to this, McClellan, in his report (August 4th, 1863), says:

This information, that McDowell's Corps would march from Fredericksburg on the following Monday-the 26th-and that he would be under my command as indicated in my telegram of the 21st, was cheering news, and I now felt confident that we would on his arrival be sufficiently strong to overpower the large army confronting us.

Yet in the simple request of McDowell, as to the posting of his Third (McCall's) Division-made to carry out the

plan the news of which, McClellan says, was so cheering, and inspired him with such confidence, McClellan sees nothing but personal ambition on McDowell's part, and protests against that "spirit" in the following terms:

That request does not breathe the proper spirit. Whatever troops come to me must be disposed of so as to do the most good. I do not feel that, in such circumstances as those in which I am now placed, General McDowell should wish the general interests to be sacrificed for the purpose of increasing his command.

If I cannot fully control all his troops, I want none of them, but would prefer to fight the battle with what I have, and let others be responsible for the results.

The department lines should not be allowed to interfere with me; but General McD., and all other troops sent to me, should be placed completely at my disposal, to do with them as I think best. In no other way can they be of assistance to me. I therefore request that I may have entire and full control. The stake at issue is too great to allow personal considerations to be entertained: you know that I have none.

It had been suggested, in some of the journals of the day, that General McDowell might possibly advance upon Richmond from the north, without waiting for McClellan: it is scarcely possible, however, that any suspicion of such a purpose could have had any thing to do with General McClellan's reiterated and emphatic desire that McDowell should join him by water, so as to be in his rear, and not by land, which would bring him on his front, with his peremptory demand that all McDowell's troops should be "completely at his disposal," with his indignant protest against McDowell's personal ambition, or with his conviction of the propriety and necessity of disavowing all personal considerations for himself. But it is certainly a little singular that a commander, intrusted with an enterprise of such transcendent importance to his army and country, who had been so urgently calling for reenforcements as absolutely indispensable to success, should have preferred not to receive them, but to fight the battle

with what he had, rather than have the co-operation of McDowell under the two conditions fixed by the President, (1), that he should not deprive him of his troops, or, (2), post them so as to prevent their being kept interposed between the enemy and Washington. Even if he could leave "others to be responsible for the results," it is not easy to see how he could reconcile the possibility of adverse results with his professedly paramount concern for the welfare of his country.

On the 20th of June, he telegraphed the President that troops to the number probably of 10,000 had left Richmond to re-enforce Jackson; that his defensive works on the Chickahominy, made necessary by his "inferiority of numbers," would be completed the next day; and that he would be glad to learn the "disposition, as to numbers and position, of the troops not under his command, in Virginia and elsewhere," as also to lay before his Excellency, "by letter or telegraph, his views as to the present state of military affairs throughout the whole country." To this he received the following reply:

WASHINGTON, June 21, 1862-6 P. M.

Your dispatch of yesterday, two P. M., was received this morning. If it would not divert too much of your time and attention from the army under your immediate command, I would be glad to have your views as to the present state of military affairs throughout the whole country, as you say you would be glad to give them. I would rather it should be by letter than by telegraph, because of the better chance of secrecy. As to the numbers and positions of the troops not under your command, in Virginia and elsewhere, even if I could do it with accuracy, which I cannot, I would rather not transmit either by telegraph or letter, because of the chances of its reaching the enemy. I would be very glad to talk with you, but you cannot leave your camp, and I cannot well leave here. A. LINCOLN, President.

Major-General GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN.

The President also stated that the news of Jackson's having been re-enforced from Richmond was confirmed by Gen. King at Fredericksburg, and added, "If this is true, it is as good