tribunals brought weekly to his feet the mother pleading for the life of her son, the wife for her husband, the child for its father. Politicians on both sides may be accused of a desire to protract the war, but the breath of slander can never reach the great President. He did not care what soldiers might win the final victory, all he wanted was peace. On the 21st of October, General McClellan telegraphed:

Since the receipt of the President's order to move on the enemy, I have been making every exertion_to get this army supplied with clothing absolutely necessary for marching. This, I am happy to say, is now nearly accomplished. I have also, during the same time, repeatedly urged upon you the importance of supplying cavalry and artillery horses, to replace those broken down by hard service, and steps have been taken to insure a prompt delivery. * * *

Under the foregoing circumstances, I beg leave to ask whether the President desires me to march on the enemy at once, or to await the reception of the new horses, every possible step having been taken to insure their prompt arrival.a

General Halleck the same day replied:

Your telegram of 12 m. has been submitted to the President. He directs me to say that he has no change to make in his order of the 6th instant. If you have not been and are not now in condition to obey it, you will be able to show such want of ability. The President does not expect impossibilities, but he is very anxious that all this good weather should not be wasted in inactivity. Telegraph when you will move and on what lines you propose to march.

Construing this telegram to mean that it was left to his "judgment to decide whether or not it was possible to move with safety at that time," he telegraphed to the President on the 27th:

Your Excellency is aware of the very great reduction of numbers that has taken place in most of the old regiments of this command, and how necessary it is to fill up these skeletons before taking them again into action. I have the honor, therefore, to request that the order to fill up the old regiments with drafted men may at once be issued.c

The same day the President replied:

Your despatch of 3 p. m. to-day in regard to filling up old regiments with drafted men is received, and the request therein shall be complied with as far as practicable. And now I ask a distinct answer to the question: "Is it your purpose not to go into action again till the men now being drafted in the States are incorporated in the old regiments?" d

On leaving Maryland there were two lines of operations for advanc ing into Virginia, both of which had now become beaten tracks. The first was up the Shenandoah; the other was East of the Blue Ridge, toward the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. In case he chose the first line, he could have from 12,000 to 15,000 reenforcements; if he took the inner line this number would be increased to 30,000.

Comparing this latter number with the aggregate of 71,000 for duty in front of Washington, on the 20th of September, it will be observed that the civil authorities had renounced the error that lay at the root of their original opposition to the Peninsula campaign. Recent events had taught them that an army might advance via the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, and yet not cover the capital. Under no circumstances would it be wise to again permit every man to leave the defenses. They were therefore compelled to adopt the recommendation which General McClellan made in the beginning, viz, to make the capital safe it needed

a McClellan's Report, pp. 228, 229.

McClellan's Report, p. 229.

Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, pp. 551, 552. d Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. 552.

a special garrison of not less than 20,000 men, independent of any army that might be operating in its front. This was the size of the garrison he indicated in his letter of April 1, which, with the covering force extending from Manassas to the Shenandoah, numbered 73,000 men.

Now that the whole Army of the Potomac was in condition to play the part of a covering force, a garrison from 20,000 to 30,000 men at last gave the Government what it so long aimed at, a sense of security. The means it adopted, however, operated upon the Confederates in the same manner. Their capital was made secure for the further term of three years. It was General McClellan's first design to adopt the line of the Shenandoah, but as a retreat of the Confederates would compel the army to cross the Blue Ridge, he abandoned this plan in favor of the other.

At last, on the 25th of October, a bridge was laid at Berlin, below Harper's Ferry, and by the 2d of November the whole Army was again south of the Potomac. But its movements by no means responded to the expectations of the President. Six weeks had elapsed since the battle of Antietam. After crossing the river there was no enemy in front, yet on the 7th of November, eleven days after the cavalry had crossed, its advanced pickets were on the Hazel River, but 50 miles from the Potomac.

Arithmetic now was less deceptive, than in determining the blame for the surrender of Harper's Ferry. There were several parallel roads favorable for the movement of troops, while the right flank was protected by the line of the Blue Ridge. The Ninth Corps, which crossed on the 26th of October, did not reach Waterloo till eleven days thereafter--a distance of 50 miles. The Sixth Corps, which crossed on the 2d of November, reached New Baltimore on the 9th, a distance of 40 miles. It is not at all probable, however, that these distances were taken into account. The golden days of autumn were nearly over. The correspondence subsequent to Antietam showed that the commander of the Army of the Potomac was neither in harmony with the President nor the General in Chief. Worse than all, his personal enemies accused him of protracting the war in furtherance, not of the plans of the Confederates, but in the interest of their political allies, who were openly hostile if not dangerous to the Government.

APPOINTMENT OF GENERAL BURNSIDE TO COMMAND.

The Secretary of War matters of command.

There was but one way out of the situation. had withdrawn from active interference in There were still two months of good weather in prospect. The enemy might yet be struck a fatal blow, but it must be done under a new commander. Such were the arguments which led the President, on the 5th of November, to issue the following order:

By direction of the President of the United States, it is ordered that MajorGeneral McClellan be relieved from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and that Major-General Burnside take the command of that army.a

The General in Chief wrote him at the same time:

On the receipt of the order of the President, sent herewith, you will immediately turn over your command to Major-General Burnside, and repair to Trenton, N. J., reporting on your arrival at that place, by telegraph, for further orders. a

a Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. 565.

The manliness of the President's order, as compared with the communication which effected McClellan's removal on the 30th of August without any apparent authority, will not escape observation. The General made no complaint, but turning over the command to his successor, bade adieu to the army, and at once repaired to the point designated by the General in Chief. Whatever mistakes the constitutional Commander in Chief may have committed in his relations with his military subordinate, the latter always had reason to feel that the President was his friend. In his official report, dated August 4, 1863, General McClellan expressed his gratitude, and explained his misfortune in the following language:

I cannot omit the expression of my thanks to the President for the constant evidence given me of his sincere personal regard, and his desire to sustain the military plans which my judgment led me to urge for adoption and execution. I cannot attribute his failure to adopt some of those plans, and to give that support to others which was necessary to their success, to any want of confidence in me; and it only remains for me to regret that other counsels came between the constitutional Commander in Chief, and the General whom he had placed at the head of his armiescounsels which resulted in the failure of great campaigns. If the nation possesses no generals in service competent to direct its military affairs without the aid or supervision of politicians, the sooner it finds them and places them in position, the better it will be for its fortunes.a

The consequences of General McClellan's political sentiments involved several of his friends. Treason was charged at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Gen. Fitz John Porter was relieved from his command, put on trial for disobedience of orders, and on the 21st of January, was cashiered and forever disqualified from holding any office of profit or trust under the Government of the United States." In the meantime, the Administration was made to see that delays might occur in spite of a change of commanders. The army, under General Burnside, moved from Warrenton to Falmouth, but when it arrived there the pontoons which were to have been sent down from Washington were a week behind time. This gave the enemy the opportunity to select his own position. On the 12th of December, the army crossed the Rappahannock, deployed in the amphitheater formed by the fortified heights of Fredericksburg, and on the 13th was hurled by General Burnside against Marye's Heights, defended by a double tier of guns on the top and musketry at the base, and was repulsed with the loss of 10,108 killed and wounded.

The depression which settled over the army after this needless butchery is not easily described. The officers and men, patriots who had enlisted to save the Union, saw that they were shedding their blood to but little or no purpose. Desertions increased to the startling proportion of nearly two hundred per day. As was the case during the

a McClellan's Report, p. 239.

General Porter was cashiered January 21, 1863; he was re-appointed a colonel of infantry August 5, 1886, to rank from May 14, 1861, by an act of Congress approved July 1, 1886; he died May 21, 1901.-EDITORS.

It is stated in Henderson's Campaign of Fredericksburg, that the Confederates had 250 pieces of artillery, about 100 of which were held in reserve by General Lee. On Marye's Heights were 9 guns of the Louisiana Washington Artillery in gun pits. To the left of the road was Maurin's battery of 4 guns, with 6 guns in support in the depression behind the right shoulder of Marye's Hill. This made at least 19 pieces of artillery on Marye's Heights. In addition, there were 21 guns in position on Lees Hill, with 17 smooth bores in reserve, and 34 guns guarding the Confederate left flank.-EDITORS.

Revolution, an alarming increase of resignations testified to the dissatisfaction among officers. Although the bonds of discipline still held sway, a total want of confidence existed. Before being placed in command of the Army of the Potomac, General Burnside had repeatedly informed the President and Secretary of War that he did not feel qualified for the position, an opinion which the battlefield at Antietam had sufficiently corroborated. Six days after the assault at Fredericksburg, December 19, 1862, he testified before the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, that when two of his staff officers urged him to accept the command, saying that he had no right as a soldier to disobey the order, he replied:

* * I told them what my views were with reference to my ability to exercise such a command, which views were those I had always unreservedly expressed, that I was not competent to command such a large army as this; I had said the same over and over again to the President and Secretary of War.

In this state of affairs, when all that the Army needed was a leader, its commander again resolved to cross the Rappahannock.

At the beginning of the war, Mr. Lincoln, in explaining his assumption of dictatorial powers, convinced the country that in the absence of military preparation, there might be times when the spirit of the Constitution could not be preserved except by violating its letter. And so it sometimes happens with military law. A crisis had come when the literal observance of a rule of discipline might have destroyed the army and ruined the country. To prevent such a calamity two officers, Generals Newton and Cochrane, one of the Regular and the other of the Volunteer Army, resolved to visit Washington and give persons of influence there exact information as to the state of the army. The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War was regarded as the back door of the War Department, open to anyone who could give military information of importance.

General Cochrane first sought some of its members, but finding them absent from Washington during the holiday recess, he and General Newton went directly to the President in person. General Newton, as the officer of most military experience, acted as the spokesman. Fully aware that it was a military offense to criticise or decry his superior, he has described the interview in his testimony before the committee:"

I also found myself in a very delicate position in the conversation. I did not wish to tell the President, and I did not tell him at any one time, that the troops had no confidence in General Burnside. I could not tell him that, although, so far as I was concerned, it was my firm belief. But that was a most delicate thing for me to say, and therefore I had to go, as it were, around it indirectly, and that made the conversation very desultory, and there were a great many things said not necessary to the point in question.

*

*

*

I disclaimed to the President any intention to interfere with the military authorities in any way. I considered it my duty, if I was true to my country, to let somebody in authority know what were my convictions of the state of the army; for I felt that if that army should be again defeated at that point, or anywhere along the Rappahannock, it would not be a mere defeat, as before, but it would be a destruction. I felt that the very existence of the country was at stake, and that was the only motive I had in doing as I did.

The statements made by General Newton were confirmed by General Cochrane.

a Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, p. 731. Report of Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, pp. 731, 732.

The interview produced immediate results. Without consulting the General in Chief, the President immediately telegraphed to General Burnside:

I have good reason for saying that you must not make a general movement without letting me know of it.a

On the receipt of this despatch, the cavalry force which was to have made a raid across all the rivers of Virginia, finally coming out at Suffolk, was recalled, and the order for the general movement was suspended. Puzzled at the interference, General Burnside proceeded to Washington, and learning that some general officers had visited the President, he asked for their names, but Mr. Lincoln declined to disclose them.

Those who would shield free institutions from the dangers of civil war, cannot afford to blink at the history of this period. No commander in the East had thus far been a free agent: The perplexity of General Winder, when, amid the undisciplined levies of the War of 1812, he found himself surrounded by the President, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of War, all of whom tendered their advice or busied themselves in giving orders, was not greater than that which enveloped General Burnside. He had not, during his brief visit to the capital, been called before the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. He had not disclosed his plans while absent from his command, except to the President, General Halleck, and the Secretary of War, and yet when he returned to his camp he learned that the details of his intended cavalry movement were known in Washington, to those who openly sympathized with the enemy; yet, when it came to the adoption of a third plan for crossing the Rappahannock, he could get no encouragement from any source.

He desired

distinct authority from General Halleck, or some one else in power here in Washington, to make a move across the river.b

The reply from the President was in the way of a caution

to run no great risk which might result in the defeat and the destruction of the Army of the Potomac.c

General Halleck, military adviser of the President and Secretary of War, answered

in general terms to the effect that I knew very well that he had always favored a forward movement of the Army, but that he could not take the responsibility of giving any directions as to when or how it should be made. He then laid down some general military rules that ought to govern an army. That letter was favorably

indorsed by the President.d

The fact was, that while everybody in Washington desired a forward movement, they knew too much about the depressed condition of the army to issue any order or give any instructions which might end in disaster. As to the support in the field, General Burnside told the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War

that there was hardly a single general officer occupying a prominent position in my command who would favor a move of that kind.c

a Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 1, pp. 731, 732. Ibid., p. 717.

c Ibid., p. 718. d Ibid., p. 719.