A history of the United States for schools . ary strength more than propor-tionate to her numbers. In May, 1861, the Confeder-acy moved its government from Montgomery in Alabamato Richmond in Virginia, and made that city its possession of the Shenandoah Valley by importancethe Confederacy made it easy, until toward the °f of the war, to threaten the city of Washington withsudden capture ; and this circumstance seriously ham-pered the operations of the Federal armies. The riversbetween Washington and Richmond constituted a seriesof strong natural defences against an arm
A history of the United States for schools . ary strength more than propor-tionate to her numbers. In May, 1861, the Confeder-acy moved its government from Montgomery in Alabamato Richmond in Virginia, and made that city its possession of the Shenandoah Valley by importancethe Confederacy made it easy, until toward the °f of the war, to threaten the city of Washington withsudden capture ; and this circumstance seriously ham-pered the operations of the Federal armies. The riversbetween Washington and Richmond constituted a seriesof strong natural defences against an army proceedingsouthward. The three ablest Confederate generals —Lee, Johnston, and Jackson —were Virginians, and butfor the secession of their state, their swords would prob-ably have been drawn in defence of the Union. Thusin many ways the secession of Virginia was a seriousblow to the Federal government. If Missouri had seceded, she would have added to theConfederacy a population somewhat larger than Vir- 3 So THE FEDERAL UNION. Ch. XV. FRANCIS PRESTON liLAIR. ginia carried over to military position, too,on the flank of Kentuckyand Tennessee, was ex-tremely important. WithMissouri securely held bya Confederate force, itwould have been very diffi-cult for Federal armies topenetrate into the Confed-eracy by way of the Ten-nessee and Cumberlandrivers. The majority ofthe people of Missouriwere decidedly opposed to secession, but the governmentwas strongly secessionist and might have succeeded inits project for committing the state to the causeof the South, had it not been for the promptand resolute action of Francis Preston Blair, a lawyer ofSt. Louis, and Captain Nathaniel Lyon, commandant of the United States arse-nal in that city. In Mayand June, 1861, these twomen overturned the stategovernment and set up aloyal one in its place. InAugust, Lyon, having be-come brigadier-general incommand of a small army,was defeated and killed atWilsons Creek, but, inspite of this,
Size: 1437px × 1738px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherbostonhoughtonmiff
