carry into a position where it would be likely to inflict. bitter disappointment upon a great people, and prolong the duration of the war.

General McClellan was appointed to the command of the army a few days after the defeat at Bull Run. Sanguine hopes were entertained that "the young Napoleon," as he was styled, would give the people victory over their enemies. He addressed himself at once to his task. From every State in the North men hastened to his standard. He disciplined them and perfected their equipment for the field. In October he was at the head of two hundred thousand men, - the largest army ever yet seen on the

American continent.

The Confederate government, which at first chose for its home the city of Montgomery in Alabama, moved to Richmond so soon as Virginia gave in her reluctant adherence to the secession cause. Richmond, the gay capital of the Old Dominion, sits queen-like upon a lofty plateau, with deep valleys flanking her on east and west, and the James River rushing past far below upon the south, not many miles from the point where the pioneers of the colony had established themselves two centuries and a half ago. To Washington the distance is only one hundred and thirty miles. The warring governments were within a few hours' journey of each other.

The supreme command of the rebel forces was committed to General Robert E. Lee, one of the greatest of modern soldiers. He was a calm, thoughtful, unpretending man, whose goodness gained for him universal love. He was opposed to secession, but believing, like the rest, that he owed allegiance wholly to his own State, he seceded with Virginia. It was his difficult task to contend nearly always with forces stronger than his own, and to eke out by his own skill and genius the scanty resources of the

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"Stonewall" Fackson.

423

Confederacy. His consummate ability maintained the war long after all hope of success was gone; and when at length he laid down his arms, even the country against which he had fought was proud of her erring but noble

son.

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Thomas Jackson - better known as Stonewall" Jackson was the most famous of Lee's generals.

In him

we have a strange evidence of the influence which slavery exerts upon the best of men. He was of truly heroic mould, brave, generous, devout. His military perception was unerring; his decision swift as lightning. He rose early in the morning to read the Scriptures and pray. He gave a tenth part of his income for religious uses. He taught a Sunday class of negro children. He delivered lectures on the authenticity of Scripture. When he dropped a letter into the post-office, he prayed for a blessing on the person to whom it was addressed. As his soldiers marched past his erect, unmoving figure, to meet the enemy, they saw his lips move, and knew that their leader was praying for them to Him who "covereth the head in the day of battle." And yet this good man caused his negroes, male and female, to be flogged when he judged that severity. needful. And yet he recommended that the South should take no prisoners," in other words, that enemies who had ceased to resist should be massacred. To the end of his life he remained of opinion that the rejection of this policy was a mistake. So fatally do the noblest minds become tainted by the associations of slave society.

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During the autumn and early winter of 1861 the weather was unusually fine, and the roads were consequently in excellent condition for the march of an army. The rebel forces were scattered about Virginia, some of them within sight of Washington. Around Richmond it was understood there were few troops. It seemed easy for McClellan, with

his magnificent army, to trample down any slight resistance which could be offered, and march into the rebel capital. For many weeks the people and the government waited patiently. They had been too hasty before. They would not again urge their general prematurely into battle. But the months of autumn passed, and no blow was struck. Winter was upon them, and still "all was quiet on the Potomac." McClellan, in a series of brilliant reviews, presented his splendid army to the admiration of his countrymen; but he was not yet ready to fight. The country bore the delay for six months. Then it could be endured no longer, and in January Mr. Lincoln issued a peremptory order that a movement against the enemy should be made. McClellan had now laid upon him the necessity to do something. He formed a plan of operations, and by the end of March was ready to begin his work.

South-eastward from Richmond the James and the York Rivers fall into the Potomac at a distance from each other of some twenty miles. The course of the rivers is nearly parallel, and the region between them is known as the Peninsula. McClellan conveyed his army down the Potomac, landed at Fortress Monroe, and prepared to march upon Richmond by way of the Peninsula.

Before him lay the little town of Yorktown, where, eighty years before, the War of Independence was closed by the surrender of the English army. Yorktown was held by eleven thousand rebels. McClellan had over one hundred thousand well-disciplined men eager for battle. He dared not assault the place, and he lost a month and many lives in digging trenches and erecting batteries that he might formally besiege Yorktown. The Confederates waited till he was ready to open his batteries, and then quietly marched away. McClellan telegraphed to the President that he had gained a brilliant success.

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In

And then McClellan crept slowly up the Peninsula. six weeks he was within a few miles of Richmond, and in front of the forces which the Confederates had been actively collecting for the defence of their capital. His army was eager to fight. Lincoln never ceased to urge him to active measures. McClellan was immovable. He complained of the weather. He was the victim of "an abnormal season." He telegraphed for more troops. He wrote interminable letters upon the condition of the country; but he would not fight. The emboldened rebels attacked him. The disheartened general thought himself outnumbered, and prepared to retreat. He would retire to the James River and be safe under the protection of the gunboats. He doubted whether he might not be overwhelmed as he withdrew. If he could not save his army, he would "at least die with it, and share its fate."

Under the influence of such feelings McClellan moved away from the presence of a greatly inferior enemy, the splendid army of the North burning with shame and indignation. The rebels dashed at his retreating ranks. His march to the James River occupied seven days. On every day there was a battle. Nearly always the Federals had the advantage in the fight. Always after the fight they resumed their retreat. Once they drove back the enemy, inflicting upon him a crushing defeat. Their hopes rose with success, and they demanded to be led back to Richmond. Nothing is more certain than that at that moment, as indeed during the whole campaign, the rebel capital lay within McClellan's grasp. The hour had come, but not the man. The army was strong enough for its task, but the general was too weak. McClellan shunned the great enterprise which opened before him, and never rested from his inglorious march till he lay in safety, sheltered by the gunboats on the James River. He had lost fifteen thousand

men; but the Confederates had suffered even more. It was said that the retreat was skilfully conducted, but the American people were in no humor to appreciate the merits of a chief who was great only in flight. Their disappointment was intense. The Southern leaders devoutly announced "undying gratitude to God" for their great success, and looked forward with increasing confidence to their final triumph over an enemy whose assaults it seemed so easy to repulse.

Nor was this the only success which crowned the Confederate arms. The most remarkable battle of the war was fought while the President was vainly endeavoring to rouse McClellan to heroic deeds; and it ended in a Confederate victory.

At the very beginning of the war the Confederates bethought them of an iron-clad ship-of-war. They took hold of an old frigate which the Federals had sunk in the James River. They sheathed her in iron plates. They roofed her with iron rails. At her prow, beneath the water-line, they fitted an iron-clad projection, which might be driven into the side of an adversary. They armed her with ten guns of large size.

The mechanical resources of the Confederacy were defective, and this novel structure was eight months in preparation. One morning in March she steamed slowly down the James River, attended by five small vessels of the ordinary sort. A powerful Northern fleet lay guarding the mouth of the river. The Virginia, as the iron-clad had been named, came straight towards the hostile ships. She fired no shot. No man showed himself upon her deck. The Federals assailed her with well-aimed discharges. The shot bounded harmless from her sides. She steered for the Cumberland, into whose timbers she struck her armed prow. A huge cleft opened in the Cumberland's