the Confederate
side, Bragg withdrew toward Chattanooga, his base of operations, and
Rosecrans encamped at Murfreesboro. The Federal losses in this
engagement were more than 13,000, the Confederate somewhat over 9000,
and the only advantage was the gaining of a few miles of territory. The
war in the West which began so brilliantly for the Federals at Forts
Henry and Donelson seemed to have come to a halt. Grant was unable to
penetrate the lower South, and Rosecrans was content to leave Bragg in
undisturbed possession of the region between Murfreesboro and
Chattanooga.

Meanwhile the eyes of the two warring powers were concentrated on the
operations in Virginia. McClellan moved in March, 1862, upon Richmond
by way of the Yorktown Peninsula, a swampy wild region over which it was
difficult, indeed, to move an army. He commanded 125,000 men, and 40,000
more were in the neighborhood of Washington to make a diversion in his
favor in case of necessity. Joseph E. Johnston, who had held chief
command in Virginia since Bull Run, shifted his position promptly from
northern Virginia to Richmond to meet the threatened attack. He had no
more than 55,000 men. As McClellan worked his way slowly up the
peninsula Johnston fortified his position along the ridges east and
north of the Confederate capital, which stood on the hills just above
tidewater. From Hanover Court-House to Malvern Hill, a distance of some
twenty-five miles, the two armies confronted each other in irregular
lines conforming to the topography of the region. Late in May, Johnston
attacked McClellan on the Union right, and the fighting continued two or
three days, now at one point, now at another of the long lines. On May
31, in the battle of Fair Oaks, Johnston was severely wounded and the
command devolved upon Robert E. Lee, whose failure to hold West Virginia
against McClellan during the preceding autumn had temporarily eclipsed
his growing reputation. Lee's management of his forces during the early
days of his new command was faulty; but before the 23d of June he had
received reinforcements from the Carolinas and Georgia which brought his
total almost to 60,000; and he relied on "Stonewall" Jackson, who was
just concluding a wonderful campaign in the Valley of Virginia, to come
to his assistance with his corps of 16,000. But McClellan still had
105,000 fairly trained soldiers, and there was no reason to doubt that a
second Union army was forming near Alexandria. It