our misguided and erring brothers. More than this, you have shown mercy to the vanquished. You have made long and arduous marches, with insufficient food, frequently exposed to the inclemency of the weather. I have not hesitated to demand this of you, feeling that I could rely on your endurance, patriotism, and courage. In the future I may have still greater demands to make upon you, still greater sacrifices for you to offer. It shall be my care to provide for you to the extent of my ability; but I know now that by your valor and endurance you will accomplish all that is asked.

"Soldiers, I have confidence in you, and I trust you have learned to confide in me. Remember that discipline and subordination are qualities of equal value with courage. I am proud to say that you have gained the highest reward that American troops can receive,—the thanks of Congress and the applause of your fellow-citizens.

"GEO. B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General.”

In the mean time, affairs looked perilous in General Cox's department, south of the Little Kanawha River. General McClellan was preparing to take command there in person, when, on the 22d of July, he received orders to hand over his command to General Rosecrans and report at Washington, where a wider field awaited him.

Thus ended the campaign in Western Virginia. It seems insignificant by the side of some of the bloody contests which have since taken place; but its moral effect was remarkable. It was the first trial that the raw troops of the North were put to, and its success was most encouraging. This is shown by the general satisfaction with which, in the midst of the gloom created by the battle of Bull

Run, the intelligence was received that General McClellan was summoned to Washington.

In organizing the Western Army, General McClellan's services were of great value. No preparations had been made beforehand for the struggle; and it is his deserved honor that, finding the West unprepared, he organized the germ of that brave army which has since gained such renown in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi.

CHAPTER V.

WHEN General McClellan assumed command in Washington, on the 27th of July, the whole number of troops in and around the city was a little over fifty thousand, of whom less than a thousand were cavalry, and about six hundred and fifty were artillery-men, with nine imperfect field-batteries of thirty pieces. They were encamped in places selected without regard to purposes of defence or instruction; the roads were not picketed, and there was no attempt at an organization into brigades. The works of defence were very limited in number and very defective in character. There was nothing to prevent the enemy's shelling the city from heights within easy range, and very little to prevent their occupying those heights had they been so disposed. The streets of Washington were crowded with straggling officers and disorderly men, absent from their stations without authority, whose be

havior indicated a general want of discipline, aggravated by the demoralizing influences of the recent disaster at Bull Run, July 21, 1861.

The task of the commanding officer was one of no common magnitude. He had the materials for an army, and excellent materials, too, but still only materials. He had no more than the block out of which an army was to be carved. There were courage, patriotism, intelligence, physical energy, in abundance; and to these invaluable qualities were to be added discipline, the instinct of obedience, precision of movement, and the power of combination. A tumultuary military assemblage was to be organized into brigades, divisions, and corps, and brought into proper relations with their commanders. An adequate artillery establishment was to be created, and a sufficient force of engineers and topographical engineers was to be provided. The medical department, the quartermaster's, the subsistence, the ordnance, the provost-marshal's departments, were all to be set in movement. A signal corps was to be formed, and instructed in the use of flags by day and lights by night; and, to keep pace with the march of scientific improvement, a body of telegraphic operators could not be forgotten.

To these gigantic labors General McClellan addressed himself with unwearied diligence; and he was ably seconded by a most efficient staff, with numbers increased from time to time as necessity required. The new levies of infantry, upon arriving in Washington, were formed into provi

sional brigades, and placed in camp in the suburbs of the city for equipment, instruction, and discipline. Cavalry and artillery troops reported to officers designated for that purpose. Order was restored in Washington by a military police bureau, at the head of which were a provost-marshal and a body of efficient assistants. New defensive works were projected and thrown up. Everywhere the hum of active, organized, and harmonious industry was heard. A preliminary organization was made of the troops on hand into twelve brigades. These were all volunteers, except two companies of cavalry and four of artillery; but all the commanding officers had been educated at West Point, with the single exception of Colonel Blenker, who had had a good military training in Europe.

On the 4th of August, 1861, General McClellan addressed to the President of the United States, at his request, a memorandum upon the objects of the war, the principles on which it should be conducted, and the operations by which it might be brought to a speedy and successful termination. As this is an important document in the history of the war, which should be carefully read by all who desire to understand its subsequent course, and still more by those who would do justice to a commanding officer whose military capacity and even whose loyalty and patriotism have been called in question in high places, it is here inserted in full:—

"The object of the present war differs from those in which nations are usually engaged mainly in this: that

the purpose of ordinary war is to conquer a peace and make a treaty on advantageous terms; in this contest it has become necessary to crush a population sufficiently numerous, intelligent, and warlike to constitute a nation. We have not only to defeat their armed and organized forces in the field, but to display such an overwhelming strength as will convince all our antagonists, especially those of the governing aristocratic class, of the utter impossibility of resistance. Our late reverses make this course imperative. Had we been successful in the recent battle (Manassas), it is possible that we might have been spared the labor and expense of a great effort.

"Now we have no alternative. Their success will enable the political leaders of the rebels to convince the mass of their people that we are inferior to them in force and courage, and to command all their resources. The contest began with a class; now it is with a people: our military success can alone restore the former issue.

"By thoroughly defeating their armies, taking their strong places, and pursuing a rigidly protective policy as to private property and unarmed persons and a lenient course as to private soldiers, we may well hope for a permanent restoration of a peaceful Union. But in the first instance the authority of the Government must be supported by overwhelming physical force.

"Our foreign relations and financial credit also impera tively demand that the military action of the Government should be prompt and irresistible.

"The rebels have chosen Virginia as their battle-field; and it seems proper for us to make the first great struggle there. But, while thus directing our main efforts, it is necessary to diminish the resistance there offered us, by movements on other points, both by land and water.

"Without entering at present into details, I would advise that a strong movement be made on the Mississippi, and that the rebels be driven out of Missouri.