the general public to admire,
was a collection of armed and uniformed men that members of Congress
and writers in the press united in calling one of the best armies
the world had ever seen. Moreover, the publicity campaign was kept
up unflaggingly till the very clash of arms began. Reporters marched
along and sent off reams of copy. Congressmen, and even ladies,
graced the occasion in every way they could. "The various regiments
were brilliantly uniformed according to the aesthetic taste of peace,"
wrote General Fry, then an officer on McDowell's staff, and "during
the nineteenth and twentieth the bivouacs at Centreville, almost
within cannon range of the enemy, were thronged with visitors,
official and unofficial, who came in carriages from Washington,
were under no military restraint, and passed to and fro among the
troops as they pleased, giving the scene the appearance of a monster
military picnic."

Had McDowell been able to attack on either of these two days he
must have won. But previous Governments had never given the army
the means of making proper surveys; so here, within a day's march
of the Federal capital, the maps were worthless for military use.
Information had to be gleaned by reconnaissance; and reconnaissance
takes time, especially without trustworthy guides, sufficient cavalry,
and a proper staff. Moreover, the army was all parts and no whole,
through no fault of McDowell's or of his military chiefs. The
three-month volunteers, whose term of service was nearly over,
had not learned their drill as individuals before being herded
into companies, battalions, and brigades, of course becoming more
and more inefficient as the units grew more and more complex. Of
the still more essential discipline they naturally knew still less.
There was no lack of courage; for these were the same breed of
men as those with whom Washington had won immortal fame, the same
as those with whom both Grant and Lee were yet to win it. But,
as Napoleon used to say, mere men are not the same as soldiers.
Nor are armed mobs the same as armies.

The short march to the front was both confused and demoralizing.
No American officer had ever had the chance even of seeing, much
less handling, thirty-six thousand men under arms. This force was
followed by an immense and unwieldy train of supplies, manned by
wholly undisciplined civilian drivers; while other, and quite
superfluous, civilians clogged every movement and made confusion
wor