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under which Bull Run had been fought and lost. The lesson was a severe one; but if it was needed to demonstrate the legitimaté result of the crude experimentalism under which the war had been conducted when campaigns were planned by ignorant politicians, and battles, precipitated by the pressure of sanguine journalists, were fought by three months' levies - the price paid was perhaps not too high. The Bull Run experiment taught the country it was a real war it had undertaken, and that success could only be hoped for by a strict conformity to military principles."

60

can scarcely be with the pos

-

The remaining operations of the year dignified by any other title than skirmishes sible exception of Wilson's Creek - but popular imagination invested them with all the importance of pitched battles. The sequel of Bull Run is thus admirably described by that gallant and distinguished French officer,61 the Comte de Paris, long attached to the staff of General McClellan who superseded Scott in command of the Union armies on November first: 62

"Its immediate effect upon military operations was to produce a sudden change in the attitude of the belligerents. The possession of Virginia, with the exception of that portion which had been recaptured by McClellan, was secured to the Confederates. Richmond was beyond danger of any attack, and Washington was threatened anew. We shall see the Federal government organize a powerful army within its capital; but its opponents, also taking advantage of the respite which the victory gave them, will increase their forces almost as rapidly, so as to keep those of the enemy constantly in check; and they remained quiet during a period of nine months on the field of battle conquered on the 21st of July.

"But it was chiefly through its moral effect that this first encounter was to exercise a powerful influence upon the war of which it was only the prelude. . . . In short, this victory inspired the South with unlimited confidence in her own resources and the conviction that she could never be vanquished. At the outset this conviction was a great element of success; it inspired her soldiers, already impressed with a sense of their superiority over their adversaries, with that daring which fre quently determined the fate of battles. But at the same time

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it also rendered her improvident, and made her neglect many details the importance of which she felt too late; it prevented her, at this critical hour, from availing herself of all resources, from calling together all able-bodied men, from organizing the interior defence of the States, which she thought could never be invaded; and, in this manner, it prepared the way for the disasters she met with in the West the following year.

"This disaster, which might have discouraged the North, proved, on the contrary, a salutary lesson. Far from dividing the States faithful to the Union, as the Confederate leaders had anticipated, it only had the effect of stimulating their patriotism and of rendering them more clear-sighted. At the news of the defeat, they appreciated at last the difficulty of the task they had undertaken, but they never shrank from it. They understood that in order TO OBTAIN SUCCESS IN A GREAT WAR, IT IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO HAVE A GREAT NUMBER OF SOLDIERS - IT IS NECESSARY THAT THEY SHOULD BE WELL TRAINED; that ARMIES ARE COMPLICATED MACHINES WHICH REQUIRE AS MUCH SCIENCE AS CARE IN THEIR CONSTRUCTION, AND THAT if popular enthusiasm and personal courage supply the materials, IT REQUIRES DISCIPLINE TO COMBINE THEM. From that day the North submitted patiently and with determination of purpose to all that was required to organize her forces and to put them in a condition to undertake long and fatiguing compaigns. Although the soldiers composing the national armies still bear the name of volunteers, the aim of all their efforts will henceforth be to acquire THAT INSTRUCTION AND THAT EXPERIENCE WHICH

CAUSE THE SUPERIORITY OF REGULAR TROOPS.

"The improvised generals will give place to those who are brought up in the military career; 63 the officers who seriously try to learn their profession will be greatly encouraged by the confidence of the public and of the army. It is not, therefore, to this American democracy, which is essentially practical and profits by experience, that the partisans of levies en masse and improvised armies must look for confirmation of their theories."

64

TROOPS EMPLOYED IN 1861

The false economy which in "piping peace

piping peace" discountenances preparation for war became manifest before the end of 1861. A few paltry successes and one distinct disaster

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constituted all there was to show, in spite of the fact that there were mustered into service during the year:

Under the President's call of April 15th for 75,000 militia

...

93,326

Under the call of May 3rd and the Acts of July 22nd

and 25th

714,231

Total

....

807,557

The number of troops in the field on January 1, 1862, was:

Grand total of troops under pay in 1861 ....... 669,243 The Confederate forces in January, 1862, did not exceed

Excess of Federal over Confederate troops

65

232,138 66

The maintenance of these vast numbers of troops for eight months cost the United States no less than $238,392,488.77.67

CHAPTER X

MILITARY LEGISLATION AND EVENTS IN 1862

HE first measure dealing with military matters passed

TH

1

in 1862 1 made it manifest that Congress had awakened to the necessity for Government control of telegraph lines and railways,2 and it wisely took occasion to exercise to the limit the war powers vested in it by the Constitution. A fortnight later $150,000 were appropriated for the defences of Washington, and one section of this law of February 13th forbade the acceptance of volunteers or militia "on any terms or conditions confining their services to the limits of any state or territory " 3—thus preventing a repetition of the inability to utilize troops outside of their own jurisdiction, such as happened in the preceding year.*

6

5

On April 16th the Medical Corps of the Army received a much-needed increase, and a month later a distinctly faulty measure was passed which permitted any medical inspector to discharge men for disability -actual or alleged on his own certificate but without the approval of his superiors. The next important law 7 provided for the appointment of additional medical officers in the volunteer service part of which was admirable in that it insured the best of medical attention to the sick and wounded, but the other part placed a premium on suffering by failing to set a proper standard for the assistant surgeons to be appointed by the state governors.

8

On July 2, 1862, an important measure was approved. It was entitled "An Act Donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts," * and is generally known as "the Morrill act." It provided in Section 4

* 12 United States Statutes at Large, p. 503.

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that the interest on all moneys derived from the sales of land authorized by this act "shall be inviolably appropriated by each State . . . to the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts." The inclusion of military instruction was rendered necessary by the dearth of officers in the Union armies a shortage which had already made itself strongly felt and one that West Point was quite inadequate to overcome. The law in question founded the system of military schools, which was given further extension by subsequent Congressional legislation * and which has spread all over the United States.

The Act of July 5th permitted the President to appoint not more than forty Major Generals nor more than two hundred Brigadier Generals, and appropriated $7,500,000 so as to allow $25 "to be paid immediately after enlistment to every soldier of the regular and volunteer forces hereafter enlisted, during the continuance of the existing war." 9 The next act 10 dealt with pensions, and three days later several important measures were approved, of which only three concern us here. One of these was designed " to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels." 11 The second, which defined the pay and emoluments of certain officers of the Army, provided that the President might retire any officer who had been in service for 45 years or who had reached the age of sixtytwo.12 The third,13 as Upton says,14 "reads like a chapter 14"

Amendments to the Morrill act were made by two measures, one approved July 23, 1866 (14 Stat. L., 208), the other approved March 3, 1883 (22 Stat. L., 484). Further endowments of agricultural colleges were affected by the second Morrill act, approved August 30, 1890 (26 Stat. L., 417), and by the Nelson amendment, approved March 4, 1907 (34 Stat. L., 1256, 1281). Vide also the circular issued by the U. S. Department of Agriculture on October 31, 1914, and entitled “Federal Legislation, Regulations and Rulings affecting agricultural colleges and experiment stations."