ently refused to take any suggestion from his
superior as to the movement of his army. Would Lincoln dare to force the
issue between them and risk the mutiny of this Grand Army undoubtedly
devoted to their brilliant young leader? There were many who believed
that if he dared, the result would be a _coup d'etat_ which would place
the man on horseback in supreme power.

The moment the President reached the point where he saw that further
delay would mean grave peril to the Nation, he acted with a promptness
which stunned the glittering military court over which the young
Napoleon presided. From the White House, as Commander-in-Chief of the
Army and Navy, he issued a military order for the advance of McClellan's
forces on Richmond!

The idea of such an order coming from a backwoods lawyer without
military training was preposterous. Its audacity for a moment stunned
the Commander of all the divisions of the army, but when the excitement
had subsided on the day it was done, General McClellan, for the first
time, squarely faced the fact that there was a real man in the White
House.

The issue was a square one. He must obey that order or march on the
Capital with his army, depose the President, and declare a dictatorship.

He decided to move on Richmond. He wrangled over the route he would
take, but he moved, when once in motion, with remarkable swiftness.

Within two weeks a magnificent army of one hundred and twenty thousand
men, fourteen thousand horses, forty-four batteries with endless trains
of wagons, supplies, and pontoon bridges were transported by water two
hundred miles to the Virginia Peninsula without the loss of a life.

The day was a glorious one toward the end of March, when Betty stood on
the hill above Alexandria and watched, with heavy heart, the magnificent
pageant of the embarking army. The spring was unusually early. The grass
was already a rich green carpet in the shaded lanes. Jonquils were
flaming from every walkway, the violets beginning to lift their blue
heads from their dark green leaves and the trees overhead were hanging
with tassels behind which showed the clusters of fresh buds bursting
into leaf.

The armed host covered hill and plain and stretched out in every
direction as far as the eye could reach. Four hundred ships had moved up
the river to receive them. Companies and regiments of magnificently
equipped soldiers were marching to the throb of drum and the scream of
fife. Thousands