Volume Iii Part 20 (1/2)

Upon the secession of Virginia the Confederate capital was removed to Richmond. The main armies of both sides were now encamped on Old Dominion soil, and at no great distance apart; but the commanders were busy drilling their raw troops, so that for a time only trifling engagements occurred. General Butler, with a considerable body of men, was occupying Fortress Monroe, at the mouth of the James River. June 10th, an expedition sent by him against the Confederates at Big Bethel, some twelve miles distant, was repulsed after a spirited attack, with a total loss of sixty-eight. A week later an Ohio regiment took the cars to make a reconnoissance toward Vienna, a village not far south of Was.h.i.+ngton. They were surprised by Confederates, who placed two guns on the track and fired on the train as it came around a curve. The Ohioans sprang to the ground, and after some fighting drove their opponents back.

All this time both North and South were struggling for possession of the neutral States. Governor Jackson, of Missouri, was straining every nerve to force his State into secession. Early in May two or three regiments of militia were got together and drilled in a camp near St. Louis.

Cannon were sent by President Davis, boxed up and marked ”marble.”

Captain Lyon, of the regular army, who held the St. Louis a.r.s.enal with a few companies, reconnoitred the secessionist camp in female dress. The next day, May 10th, a.s.sisted by local militia, he suddenly surrounded it and took 1,200 prisoners. A month later he embarked some soldiers on three swift steamers, sailed up the Missouri to Jefferson City, the state capital, and raised the Union flag once more over the State House.

Governor Jackson fled. During the next month all the armed disunionists were driven into the southwestern part of the State.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Portrait.]

General John C. Fremont.

The last of July a state convention organized a provisional government and declared for the Union. But the secessionists, under General Price, continued the struggle. The Union forces, after a brave fight against great odds at Wilson's Creek, August 10th, in which Lyon was killed, had to retreat north. General Fremont had shortly before been put at the head of the Western Department, which included Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, and Kansas. His difficulties were great. He was unable to clear the State of secessionists, who besieged Lexington and took it on September 20th. Generals Hunter and Halleck, Fremont's successors, were equally unsuccessful, and the State was hara.s.sed by a petty warfare all the year.

In Kentucky, Governor Magoffin was inclined to secession. The Legislature leaned the other way, but preferred neutrality to active partic.i.p.ation on either side. September 6th, Brigadier-General U. S.

Grant occupied Paducah, an important strategical point at the junction of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers. Next day the Confederate General Polk, advancing from below, took possession of Columbus on the Mississippi.

With both hostile armies thus encamped on her soil, Kentucky could no longer be neutral. Her decision was quickly taken. The Legislature demanded of President Davis to withdraw Polk's forces, at the same time calling upon General Anderson, the hero of Sumter, who had been placed in charge of the Department of the c.u.mberland, to take active measures for the defence of this his native State.

The mountain portion of Virginia belonged to the West rather than to the South. It contained only 18,000 slaves, against nearly 500,000 in Eastern Virginia. Union sentiment was therefore strong, and when the old State seceded from the Union, Western Virginia proceeded to secede from the State. General Lee sent troops to hold it for the Confederacy.

Thereupon General McClellan, commanding the Department of the Ohio, threw several regiments across the river into Virginia, and defeated the foe in minor engagements at Philippi, Rich Mountain, and Carrick's Ford.

By the middle of July he was able to report, ”Secession is killed in this country.” Later in the year the Confederates renewed their attempts, but were finally driven out. West Virginia organized a separate government, and was subsequently admitted to the Union as a State by itself.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map.]

Bull Run--the Field of Strategy.

While these struggles were going on in the border commonwealths, the Union soldiers lay inactive along the Potomac. Constant drill had changed the mob into some semblance of an organized army, but the careful Scott feared to risk a general engagement. The hostile forces stretched in three pairs of groups across Virginia from northwest to southeast. In the southeastern part of the State, at Fortress Monroe, Butler faced the Confederate Magruder. At Mana.s.sas, opposite Was.h.i.+ngton, and about thirty miles southwest, lay a Confederate army under General Beauregard. General Patterson, a veteran of the War of 1812, commanded considerable forces in Southern Pennsylvania. About the middle of June he advanced against Harper's Ferry, which had been abandoned by the Unionists the latter part of April and was now occupied by General Joseph E. Johnston. Johnston evacuated the place upon Patterson's approach, and retreated up the Shenandoah Valley, in a southwesterly direction, to Winchester. Patterson followed part way, and the two armies now lay watching each other.

Anxious to see the rebellion put down by one blow, the North was becoming impatient. ”On to Richmond!” was the ceaseless cry. Yielding to this, Scott ordered an advance. July 16th, General McDowell, leaving one division to protect Was.h.i.+ngton, led forth an army 28,000 strong to attack the enemy at Mana.s.sas. He advanced slowly and with great caution.

The enemy were found posted in a line eight miles long upon the south bank of Bull Run, a small river three miles east of Mana.s.sas, running in a southeasterly direction. Several days were spent in reconnoitering.

Meanwhile, Johnston, whom Patterson was expected to hold at Winchester, had stolen away to join Beauregard, their combined forces numbering about 30,000. McDowell was ignorant of Johnston's movement, supposing him still at Winchester.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Portrait.]

General Irvin McDowell.

On the morning of the 21st McDowell advanced to the attack. Beauregard held all the lower fords, besides a stone bridge on the Warrenton turnpike which crosses the river at right angles. Two divisions, under Hunter and Heintzelman, were set in motion before sunrise to make a flanking detour and cross Bull Run at Sudley's Ford, some distance farther up. To distract attention from this movement, Tyler's division began an attack at the stone bridge. This was held by a regiment and a half, with four guns, under General Evans. He replied vigorously at first, but perceiving after a while that Tyler was only feigning, and learning of the flank movement above, he left four companies at the bridge and drew up the rest of his forces on a ridge north of Warrenton turnpike to await Hunter and Heintzelman's approach down the Sudley road.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Portrait.]

General Samuel P. Heintzelman.

The fight began about ten o'clock. Both sides were soon re-enforced.