MOST

CHAPTER II.

BULL RUN.

[OST of the troops in and around Washington were those which responded to the call of President Lincoln for three months' service. A few of the regiments enlisted under the second call for three years had arrived. All were undisciplined. The term of service for: most of the three months' men would expire by the end of July. Richmond had become the capital of the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet were there, and the Confederate Congress was holding its sessions in the State Capitol. Throughout the Southern States the movement of the Confederate Government to Virginia was looked upon as the preliminary step to seizing Washington. Throughout the North it was regarded as a menace. The people were demanding a movement against the Confederate Capital, not comprehending the strength of the Rebellion; that Virginia, east of the Blue Ridge, was in the white heat of secession. Troops from the Gulf States were pouring into the newly selected Confederate Capital, and from thence moving northward to Manassas Junction, thirty miles from Washington. The motive on the part of the Confederates was to keep alive the secession feeling in Maryland, the seizure of Washington thus making the former capital of the nation the capital of the Confederacy, which, in turn, would bring recognition from European nations as the dominant power in the Western world. The section of Virginia west of the Blue Ridge had seceded from the State and formed a provisional government at Wheeling, and was asking recognition from Congress. The convention had elected F. H. Peirpoint governor, and had taken a recess till August. At the outbreak of the Rebellion, Ohio troops had crossed the Ohio River. They were commanded by General George B. McClellan, who had been appointed major-general by Governor Dennison, of Ohio. His subordinate commanders were Generals Morris and Rosecrans. General Pegram, commanding a Confederate force, was entrenched on Rich Mountain. A plan of attack was devised by Rosecrans, which, after much.

hesitation, was accepted. McClellan, with Morris's troops, was to threaten an attack in front, while Rosecrans was to make a night march and gain the rear of the Confederates. At daylight, on the morning of the 11th of July, after a long march through a thick mist up the mountainside, Rosecrans came upon the Confederates, and, after a sharp skirmish, charged upon the Confederate entrenchments, captured twenty-one prisoners, two cannon, fifty stand of arms, and all the provisions of the

THE CONFEDERATE CAPITOL AT RICHMOND.

enemy, putting the entire force to flight. General Pegram spiked his four remaining cannon, abandoned his camp, and attempted to join General Garnett, who was on Tunnel Hill, but, finding himself penned in, surrendered his entire command of nearly six hundred. On July 13th there was an engagement between Garnett's and the Union troops at Carrick's Ford, one of the crossings of Cheat River, in which Garnett was killed and his troops put to flight. The engagements were insignificant affairs, when contrasted with subsequent battles, but they had momentous influence upon the political affairs of the country, and

the subsequent course of the war. General McClellan sent a telegram announcing his exploits, dated at Huttonsville, July 14th:

"Garnett and forces routed, his baggage and one gun taken, his army demolished, Garnett killed. We have annihilated the enemy in western Virginia, and have lost thirteen killed and not more than forty wounded. We have in all killed at least two hundred of the enemy, and the prisoners will amount to at least one thousand. Have taken seven guns in all. I still look for the capture of the remnant of Garnett's army by General Hill. The troops defeated are the crack regiments of eastern Virginia, aided by Georgians, Tennesseeians and Carolinians. Our success is complete, and secession is killed in this country."

The dispatch, like those of Napoleon from his great battle-fields, electrified the country and made General McClellan the hero of the hour. It awakened the enthusiasm of the troops preparing to move against the enemy at Manassas. There was confident expectation that the Confederate forces there would be brushed aside, and that the army would move on with flying banners to Richmond.

From the beginning of the conflict it was seen by Unions and Confederates alike that the Shenandoah Valley would be an important avenue of communication; that Harper's Ferry and Winchester would be strategic points in that direction; that Manassas Junction would also be an important point east of the Blue Ridge. General Joseph E. Johnston was appointed commander of the Confederate troops in the Shenandoah, and General Beauregard commander of the forces assembling at Manassas Junction. The latter had conducted the siege against Fort Sumter, and was regarded throughout the South as a hero. On the Union side, General Irwin McDowell was appointed commander of the forces at Arlington Heights. The country had been at peace since the war with Mexico. General Scott and General Wood were the only commanders on the Union side who had achieved any distinction in past years of

whom the country had knowledge. On the Confederate side, General Johnston had conducted an expedition against the Mormons in Utah. Beauregard, by his bombardment of Sumter, had come prominently before the public.

General Robert Patterson was appointed commander

His chief of staff

of the troops gathered at Harper's Ferry. He had served in the war with Mexico, but he was nearly three score and ten. and chief adviser was Colonel Fitz John Porter. The movement against the Confederates was to be made by McDowell.

Patterson, the while,

was to keep Johnston from joining Beauregard. It was no secret that McDowell was to attack the Confederates at Manassas. The correspondents in Washington telegraphed the information of McDowell's intentions. Confederate sympathisers were to be found in all the

departments of government. Every night a mail was despatched secretly to Richmond, giving minute details of all that was going on, and of the intentions of the Union commanders. Everybody was familiar with the events of each succeeding hour- what regiments were arriving, how