History of the United States from the earliest discovery of America to the end of 1902 . orst latter fact was but natural. Thetroops on both sides were poorly drilled,and most of them had never been underfire before. Precision of movement, con-cert of action on any large scale, wereimpossible. Neither side needed to beashamed of this initial trial. The North was at first much cast faint-hearted considered the Unionhopelessly lost, but pluck .and patriotismcarried the day. On the morrow after thebattle Congress voted that an army of500,000 should be raised, and appropriated$
History of the United States from the earliest discovery of America to the end of 1902 . orst latter fact was but natural. Thetroops on both sides were poorly drilled,and most of them had never been underfire before. Precision of movement, con-cert of action on any large scale, wereimpossible. Neither side needed to beashamed of this initial trial. The North was at first much cast faint-hearted considered the Unionhopelessly lost, but pluck .and patriotismcarried the day. On the morrow after thebattle Congress voted that an army of500,000 should be raised, and appropriated$500,000,000 to carry on the war. Gen-eral McClellan, whose brilliant campaign inWest Virginia had won him easy fame, wasput in command of the Army of the Poto-mac. The young general was a WestPoint graduate and had served with dis-tinction in the Mexican War. An accom- i86i] WAR BEGUN 363 plished military student, a skilful engineer,and a superb organizer, he threw himselfwith energy into the task of fortifyingWashington and building up a splendidarmy. Many of the three-months volun-. General George 6. McCletlan. teers re-enlisted. Thousands of new re-cruits came flocking to carnp, and beforelong companies, regiments, and brigadesamounting to 150,000 men were drillingdaily on the banks of the Potomac, whileformidable works crowned tlie entire crest 364 CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION [1861 of Arlington Heights, In October theaged General Scott resigned, and McClel-lan, at the summit of his popularity witharmy and people, became commander-in-chief. For several weeks after Bnall Run it wasfeared that Beauregard and his men woulddescend upon Washington, then in a de-fenceless condition; but they were in nostate to attack. They too felt the need ofpreparation for the coming struggle, whosemagnitude both sides now began to realize. A disheartening affair occurred in Octo-ber. On the night of the 20th two Massa-chusetts regiments crossed the Potomac atBalls Bluff, a few miles above, Was
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