st all entreaties on behalf of
his own forerunner and his own rival was great; and then Fremont came
to Lincoln and proposed to him a knight-errant's adventure to succour
the oppressed Unionists of Tennessee by an expedition through West
Virginia. So he was now to proceed there, but was kept for the present
in the mountains near the Shenandoah valley. The way in which the
forces under McDowell, Banks and Fremont were scattered on various
errands was unscientific; what could be done by Jackson, in
correspondence with Lee, was certainly unforeseen. At the beginning of
May, Jackson, who earlier in the spring had achieved some minor
successes in the Shenandoah valley and had raided West Virginia, began
a series of movements of which the brilliant skill and daring are
recorded in Colonel Henderson's famous book. With a small force,
surrounded by other forces, each of which, if concentrated, should have
outnumbered him, he caught each in turn at a disadvantage, inflicted on
them several damaging blows, and put the startled President and
Secretary of War in fear for the safety of Washington. There seemed to
be no one available who could immediately be charged with the supreme
command of these three Northern forces, unless McDowell could have been
spared from where he was; so Lincoln with Stanton's help took upon
himself to ensure the co-operation of their three commanders by orders
from Washington. His self-reliance had now begun to reach its full
stature, his military good sense in comparison with McClellan's was
proving greater than he had supposed, and he had probably not
discovered its limitations. Presumably his plans now were, like an
amateur's, too complicated, and it is not worth while to discuss them.
But he was trying to cope with newly revealed military genius, and, so
far as can be told, he was only prevented from crushing the adventurous
Jackson by a piece of flat disobedience on the part of Fremont.
Fremont, having thus appropriately punished Lincoln, was removed, this
time finally, from command. Jackson, having successfully kept McDowell
from McClellan, had before the end of June escaped safe southward.
McClellan was nearing Richmond. Lee, by this time, had been set free
from Jefferson Davis' office and had taken over the command of Joseph
Johnston's army. Lincoln must have learnt a great deal, and he fully
realised that the forces not under McClellan in the East should be
under some single commander.