Rebels from Rich Mountain, while General McDowell was preparing to move upon Manassas.

These were all new names to the public. Patterson had served in the Mexican War, but the people had forgotten it. McClellan was known only as an engineer, who had made a report concerning the proposed railroad to the Pacific, and had visited Russia during the Crimean War. General Wool was in New York, old and feeble, too far advanced in life to take the field. The people were looking to General Scott as the Hercules of the hour. Some one had called him the "Great Captain of the Age." He was of gigantic stature, and had fought gallantly on the Canadian frontier in 1812, and with his well-appointed army had marched in triumph into the City of Mexico. The events of the last war with England, and that with Mexico, in which General Scott was always the central figure, had been rehearsed by the stump orators of a great political party during an exciting campaign. His likeness was familiar to every American. It was to be found in parlours, saloons, beershops, and in all public places,representing him as a hero in gold-embroidered coat, epaulets, chapeau, and nodding plume. His

was the genius to direct the gathering hosts. So the people believed. He was a Virginian, but loyal. The newspapers lauded him.

But he was seventy-five years of age. His powers were failing. His old wound troubled him at times. He could walk only with difficulty, and it tired him to ride the few rods between his house and the War Department. He was slow and sluggish in all his thoughts and actions. Yet the people had confidence in him, and he in himself.

The newspapers were filled with absurd rumours and statements con

cerning the movements and intentions of the Rebels. It was said that Beauregard had sixty thousand men at Manassas.

Rumour reported that General Joseph E. Johnston, who was in the Shenandoah Valley, destroying the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and burning the bridges across the Potomac, had thirty thousand men; but we now know that his whole force consisted of nine regiments, two battalions of infantry, three hundred cavalry, and sixteen pieces of artillery.

These exaggerations had their effect at the War Department in Washington. General Butler proposed the early occupation of Manassas, to cut off communication by rail between Richmond and Upper Virginia, but his proposition was rejected by General Scott. The troops in and around Washington were only partially organized into brigades. There was not much system. Everybody was full of zeal and energy, and there was manifest impatience among the soldiers at the inactivity of the commander-in-chief.

The same was true of the Confederates. They were mustering at Manassas. Regiments and battalions were pouring through Richmond. Southern women welcomed them with sweetest smiles, presented them with fairest flowers, and urged them on to drive the "usurper" from Washington. Southern newspapers, from the commencement, had been urging the capture of the Federal Capital. Said the Richmond Examiner :

"The capture of Washington is perfectly within the power of Virginia and Maryland, if Virginia will only make the effort by her constituted authorities. Nor is there a single moment to lose. The entire population pant for the onset. . .

"From the mountain tops and valleys to the shores of the sea, there is one wild shout of fierce resolve to capture Washington City, at all and every human hazard. That filthy cage of unclean birds must and will assuredly be purified by fire. It is not to be endured that this flight of abolition harpies shall come down from the black North for their roots in the heart of the South, to defile and brutalise the land. . Our people can take it, they will take it, and Scott the archtraitor, and Lincoln the beast, combined, cannot prevent it. The just indignation of an outraged and deeply injured people will teach the Illinois Ape to repeat his race and retrace his journey across the borders of the free negro States still more rapidly than he came; and Scott the traitor will be given the opportunity at the same time to try the difference between. Scott's tactics and the Shanghae drill for quick movements.

"Great cleansing and purification are needed and will be given to that festering sink of iniquity, that wallow of Lincoln and Scott,-the desecrated city of Washington; and many indeed will be the carcasses of dogs and caitiffs that will blacken the air upon the gallows before the work is accomplished. So let it be."

General Beauregard was the most prominent of the commanders, having been brought before the public by the surrender of Fort Sumter. Next in prominence were the two Johnstons, Joseph E. and Albert Sydney, and General Bragg. Stonewall Jackson had not been heard from. Lee had remained with General Scott, his confidant and chief adviser, - till the 19th of April, and then resigned his commission. The Virginia convention had passed the ordinance of secession three days before his resignation, with a proviso submitting it to the people for ratification. The conspirators who brought it about foresaw that the events of the hour would compel the State to cast in its lot with the Confederacy. Three days after the election on June 22d, General Lee was appointed to command the State troops, and was sent to the western section of the State, with several regiments to overawe the Unionists of the mountain region.

Union troops had taken possession of Alexandria a few days before my arrival in Washington, and Colonel E. Elmer Ellsworth, commanding a regiment of Zouaves, had been shot by the keeper of the Marshall House, Mr. Jackson, as he was descending the stairs with a Confederate flag, which he had taken from its staff on the roof. The tavern-keeper in turn had been shot by one of the Zouaves, Francis E. Brownell. The death of Ellsworth had created a profound impression throughout the Northern States. People were beginning to see that war was a serious matter. Ellsworth the year before had commanded a company of Zouaves in Chicago, and had visited Boston and other Eastern cities, exhibiting their efficiency and discipline; he was therefore widely known and his death greatly lamented, especially by President Lincoln, who held him in high esteem. In the Southern States, on the other hand, he was regarded as a marauder, while the tavern-keeper was lauded as a martyr to liberty.