added a want of clothing and shoes. Johnston consequently had been obliged to content himself with remaining on the defensive, while yet foreseeing grave inconveniences. His lines of communication with Richmond were reduced to a single railway, one road only, which the enemy might at any moment intercept. Further, all his provisions and war-material had to be carried by a most detestable route from Manassas to Centreville.

In the long run, even

It is astonishing, perhaps, that so enterprising a people as the Americans did not think of connecting the principal line and head-quarters by a temporary railway, as the Allies did in the Crimea. But the truth is that iron and rails for a railway were precisely what were wanting in the South. the repair of the roads had to be neglected, whence it happened that all service was performed badly and very slowly, causing great delay in the transport of provisions, and intolerable sufferings to the unfortunate wounded.

All the branches of the army were very inadequately furnished with capable men, the corps of engineers in particular. An appeal had to be made to civil engineers generally in order to fill the ranks. The enormous and sudden development which the army had taken rendered it necessary here, as elsewhere, to employ men who had neither the requisite aptitude nor experience. The staff also left much to be desired. The officers of the old United States army, who, having been born in the South, and having embraced its cause, ought to have served on the staff, were called to other duties, in consequence of the extreme scarcity of officers possessing any education and knowledge. It was necessary, therefore, to improvise aides-de-camp with what was presented, and during the whole war, Lee, Johnston, and other generals had at their disposal only a very insufficient number of aides-de-camp, which was an immense disadvantage.

The arms furnished to the soldiers were not always good; but, for the moment, no remedy could be adopted. Those which they had could only be procured with great difficulty, and it was not

F

till later, in consequence of important captures, and of deliveries of European arms, as well as of the factories and foundries of cannon created amid great difficulty by the Confederate Government, that the army was, in the end, better provided in this respect.

In spite of all these obstacles, the Northern Virginian army, in the campaign which opened shortly after, occupied from the outset, from the very first blow struck, the place which history will always assign it in the account of this memorable

contest.

Few armies more than it, have had the right to be proud of themselves! All the youth of the South entered its ranks, and for four years it was the chief support of the Confederate

cause.

In the days of discouragement, its heroic soldiers alone never doubted, and, victors or vanquished, their devotion to the South did not for a single instant give way. Starving, half-naked, shoeless, their feet lacerated by long marches, struggling against a powerful enemy superior to them in everything-courage excepted -these brave fellows remained faithful to the cause they had embraced to the last moment. As long as honour speaks to the heart of man, the remembrance of their acts will remain imperishable.

The finest encomium that can be bestowed upon them has issued from the mouth of an adversary.

"Who can forget, that once looked upon it," says Swinton, the Northern military critic, "that array of tattered uniforms and bright muskets, that body of incomparable infantry, the army of Northern Virginia, which, for four years, carried the revolt on its bayonets, opposing a constant front to the mighty concentration of power brought against it, which, receiving terrible blows, did not fail to give the like, and which, vital in all its parts, died only with its annihilation."

On the 1st of March, 1862, this army extended its lines along the Potomac, from the Valley of Virginia to the environs of

Fredericksburg. The rolls numbered 84,225 names, but there were only 47,617 able-bodied men present under arms.

In the list of division-generals were Jackson, Longstreet, Hill, Ewell, and among others less known, many who distinguished themselves later. Stewart, that magnificent Hotspur, commanded the cavalry, and Pendleton had the direction of the artillery.

CHAPTER V.

MACCLELLAN LANDS IN THE PENINSULA OF VIRGINIA.-BATTLE OF SEVEN PINES.

MACDOWELL'S disaster at Manassas was the greatest piece of good fortune that could have happened for the Federal Government. It caused it to understand how serious was the enterprise on which it had embarked, and that its projects for reconquering the South bristled with difficulties. The Federal authorities were obliged to confess that their armies were nothing but masses of men without discipline. The defeat of Manassas, fatal to the self-love of the North, yet rendered it better service than to the conquerors of the day. Everybody in the North began to work bravely to raise new armies and equip the fleet. The government negotiated some loans, decreed new levies of men, bought and built ships. It would be difficult truly to approve all that was done in the North at this time. A great number of the measures taken were despotic and arbitrary, and would have been thought disgraceful by all honourable men. But it is not the less certain that the Federal Government acted with decision and energy.

From the breaking out of hostilities, it was clear that the decisive struggle would take place in Virginia. After MacDowell's retreat, the Federal Government hastened to assemble another army under the walls of Washington. Major-General George

B. MacClellan was placed at its head, whose name had already appeared in the campaign of Western Virginia. The new commander was one of those men about whom it is difficult to form

a just idea. When nominated by the president, the country had in him the greatest hopes, because of the campaign of the preceding summer. If he did not justify them, it must be recollected that many influential people in the North offered him a lively opposition, and that Mr. Lincoln's Government fettered him continually. However this may be, he passes for having been the best general the North had. More brilliant in the council than on the battle-field, he understood better how to map out a plan for a campaign than how to execute it. His military operations seldom succeeded, in consequence of his hesitancy and want of vigour. The immense superiority of his army over that of his adversary rendered still more surprising the trifling results of his Virginian campaign. Nevertheless the affection of his troops for him, and the enthusiasm which he knew well how to awaken in them, are proofs that he had military qualities of the first order.

At first he was entirely occupied in reorganizing his army. On July 27th, 1861, he assumed the command of it. It comprised only 51,000 men; all appearance of military organization had disappeared, and every day the number of deserters increased. He lost not a moment in stopping this evil, and obtained from Congress a law which permitted him to dismiss incompetent officers. Thanks to this law, he was able, during the autumn, to get rid of several hundreds of them. The new recruits were rapidly organized, and subjected to a strict discipline. Thus, when the army of the Potomac commenced the campaign of 1862, it comprised 221,987 men of all arms, including 25 regiments of cavalry, and was provided with 92 batteries of 521 cannon, a corps of engineers, all manner of conveyances and supplies, pontoon bridges, and so forth, all in a high state of perfection. Never was the army of the South, that medley of rags and heroism, provided in this way, and yet what marvels did it accomplish!

It would be unjust to deny that General MacClellan, in this matter, gave proof of great talent as an organizer. To him especially it is due that the Northern army was able to preserve