es, told of increased rather than abated effort in
that branch of the Government. Then, too, the most perfect confidence
was felt in the great strategic ability of General Johnston--who had
already found that high level in the opinion of his countrymen, from
which neither the frowns of government, the combination of cliques, nor
the tongues of slanderers could afterward remove him.

They believed, too, in the pluck and dash of Beauregard; and, combining
this with the outside activity, evident in every direction, felt there
must be good and sufficient reason for the--to them--inexplicable quiet
about the Potomac.

But perhaps the very worst feature was the effect of the victory upon
the tone of the people at large. The very tongues that had wagged most
impatiently at the first delay--that had set in motion the wild stories
by which to account for it--had been the first to become blatant that
the North was conquered. The minutest details of the fight were carried
over the land, repeated at country courts and amplified at bar-room
assemblages, until the common slang was everywhere heard that one
Southron was equal to a dozen Yanks. Instead of using the time, so
strangely given by the Government, in making earnest and steady strides
toward increasing the army, improving its _morale_ and adding to its
supplies, the masses of the country were upon a rampage of boastfulness,
and the notes of an inflated triumph rang from the Potomac to the Gulf.

In this regard the effect of the victory was most injurious; and had it
not been for the crushing results--from a strategic point of view--that
would have followed it, partial defeat might have proved a blessing in
its place.

The one, while it threw a gloom over the country, would have nerved the
people to renewed exertion and made them look steadily and unwaveringly
at the true dangers that threatened them. The other gave them time to
fold their hands and indulge in a complacency, ridiculous as it was
enervating.

They ceased to realize the vast resources of the Union in men, money
and supplies; and more than all, they underrated the dogged
perseverance of Yankee character. It was as though a young boxer, in a
deadly conflict with a giant, had dealt a staggering blow; and while
the Titan braced his every muscle for a deadlier gripe, the weaker
antagonist wasted his time lauding his strength and feeling his biceps.

Meantime, the keen, hard sense of the Washington Government wa