y to take the field in Virginia. General Scott was not to command
in the coming campaigns. He had retired in the latter part of the
year 1861, and his place had been filled by a young officer of
rising reputation--General George B. McClellan, who had achieved the
successes of Rich Mountain and Carrick's Ford in Western Virginia.
General McClellan was not yet forty, but had impressed the authorities
with a high opinion of his abilities. A soldier by profession, and
enjoying the distinction of having served with great credit in the
Mexican War, he had been sent as United States military commissioner
to the Crimea, and on his return had written a book of marked ability
on the military organizations of the powers of Europe. When the
struggle between the North and South approached, he was said--with
what truth we know not--to have hesitated, before determining upon his
course; but it is probable that the only question with him was whether
he should fight for the North or remain neutral. In his politics he
was a Democrat, and the war on the South is said to have shocked his
State-rights view. But, whatever his sentiments had been, he accepted
command, and fought a successful campaign in Western Virginia. From
that moment his name became famous; he was said to have achieved
"two victories in one day," and he received from the newspapers the
flattering name of "the Young Napoleon."

The result of this successful campaign, slight in importance as
it was, procured for General McClellan the high post of
commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States. Operations in
every portion of the South were to be directed by him; and he was
especially intrusted with the important work of organizing the new
levies at Washington. This he performed with very great ability. Under
his vigorous hand, the raw material soon took shape. He gave his
personal attention to every department; and the result, as we have
said, in the early spring of 1862, was an army of more than two
hundred thousand men, for operations in Virginia alone.

The great point now to be determined was the best line of operations
against Richmond. President Lincoln was strongly in favor of an
advance by way of Manassas and the Orange and Alexandria Railroad,
which he thought would insure the safety of the Federal capital. This
was always, throughout the whole war, a controlling consideration with
him; and, regarded in the light of subsequent events, this solicitude
seems