Abraham Lincoln . the rear, and did not arrive till the battle wasover, Throuo;h the following nio^ht the Confederates retreated to Eich-raond. The Union soldiers kindled their bivouac fires and passed thenight on the field. There was commotion in the Confederate capital. In the Presi-dential mansion all was consternation and dismay, the words of aSouthern historian. (^) Congress adjourned hastily and many peopleleft the city. The public documents were packed in boxes and takenaway; the presses which were printing treasury notes were sent toGeorgia. It seems probable that if McClellan had jius
Abraham Lincoln . the rear, and did not arrive till the battle wasover, Throuo;h the following nio^ht the Confederates retreated to Eich-raond. The Union soldiers kindled their bivouac fires and passed thenight on the field. There was commotion in the Confederate capital. In the Presi-dential mansion all was consternation and dismay, the words of aSouthern historian. (^) Congress adjourned hastily and many peopleleft the city. The public documents were packed in boxes and takenaway; the presses which were printing treasury notes were sent toGeorgia. It seems probable that if McClellan had jiushed resolutely on hecould have made his way at once into Richmond, The MerrimuG was still a menace to the great fleet of vessels inHampton Roads. Mr. Lincoln believed the time had come when Nor-folk could be seized and the Merrimac destroyed. He was con-fident that with the array moving towards Richmond the Confed-erates would not leave many troops to hold Norfolk and the batteries PRELIMINARY TO EMANCIPATION. 319. along the shore. Accompanied by Secretar}^ Chase and Secretary Stan-ton, he visited Fortress Monroe. He asked Admiral Goldsborough iftroops could not be landed on the north shore. If so, they would onlyhave to march eight miles to reachNorfolk. There is no landing-placeon the north shore, said the ad-miral. We shall have to doublethe cape and approach the placefrom the south side, which willbe a long and difficult journey. Have you ever tried to finda landing? We have not. That reminds me, said , of a fellow out in H-linois who had studied law, butwho never had tried a case. Hewas sued, and not having confi-dence in his own ability, em-ployed a lawyer to manage it forhim. He had only a confused idea of law terms, but was anxious to make a display of learning, and ontrial made suggestions to his lawyer. He said : Why dont you go athim with a capias, or siirrehutter, or something, and not stand there likea confounded old mudum factum T Now, admiral, if you do
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