The Civil War began with a desperate struggle for Missouri, Kentucky, and West Virginia, but attention was soon drawn to operations in northern Virginia. President Davis entered Richmond, the new

Operations in northern Virginia

capital of the Confederacy, on May 29, 1861. At this time General Joseph E. Johnston was at Harper's Ferry with an army of 9000 men, and General Beauregard was at Manassas Junction with about 21,000. There was also a small force at Aquia Creek to defend the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroad. General Winfield Scott, who was still in command of the United States army, was disinclined to adopt an offensive policy with raw troops enlisted for three months, but there was an insistent demand at the North for a forward movement, and "On to Richmond!" was the popular cry. Scott's first plan was to take Harper's Ferry while McDowell held Beauregard at Manassas. Accordingly Patterson advanced from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, with a large force against Harper's Ferry, and Johnston fell back to Winchester on June 15, Harper's Ferry being untenable on account of the overtowering Maryland heights.

GENERAL BEAUREGARD.

McDowell, who was in command of the Army of the Potomac, now planned an attack on Beauregard, provided Johnston could be held in the Valley. Patterson, who had over 20,000 men with him, was ordered to detain Johnston, or in case he should undertake to leave the Valley, to follow close on his heels. Meanwhile, Beauregard had taken up a strong position behind Bull Run, with his left facing the Stone Bridge

McDowell advances against Beauregard

on the Warrenton turnpike. McDowell advanced against the Confederate army with about 30,000 men. Patterson, however, failed to carry out his part of the program. Johnston gave him the slip and sent Jackson's brigade over the Blue Ridge at Ashby's Gap and on to Piedmont Station, where it took the train and reached Manassas at four P.M., July 19. The other brigades were delayed by a wreck, but by the morning of the 21st three of Johnston's four brigades were with Beauregard's army.

First Manassas, or Bull Run

In the battle which took place on the 21st McDowell threw his right across Bull Run, forced the Confederates back from the Stone Bridge so that his center could cross, and thus with two thirds of his army began to roll up the Confederate line from left to right. By noon this preliminary movement had been successfully completed. Then began the second stage of the battle, which was waged for the possession of the Henry House hill. Here General T. J. Jackson managed to hold his position in the face of greatly superior forces until Beauregard and Johnston were able to bring up reënforcements. It was at this time that General Bee, endeavoring to rally the broken line of his Carolinians, exclaimed: "Look at Jackson! There he stands like a stone wall," thus giving him the name by which he was to be known to history. More than once the Federals gained the plateau, but Jackson finally charged them with the bayonet and turned the tide. With the arrival of General Kirby Smith's brigade, which was the last of Johnston's brigades to leave the Valley, the Confederates swept the Federals from the field and the retreat soon degenerated into a panic.

Rout of the Federal army

McDowell had ordered his army to fall back to Centerville, but it was utterly impossible to stop the rout there, and the troops throwing away arms and ammunition, and abandoning their artillery and wagon trains, rushed on in wild' confusion to seek refuge

in the defenses of Washington. Bull Run was a terrible shock to the North. Congress realized now that the South could not be conquered by raw recruits in a summer's campaign. On the day following the battle an act was passed providing for the enlistment of 500,000 men for three years. In view of the state of demoralization that prevailed in the capital, the Confederate generals have been criticized for

not attempting to take Washington, but the Confederate army, made up mostly of new recruits who had never been in action before, was thoroughly exhausted from the long day's fight, and could not possibly have continued the pursuit without rest and recuperation.

As a result of the defeat at Manassas, McDowell was relieved of the command of the McClellan Army of the Potomac in command and George B. McClellan was called from West Virginia to succeed him. McClellan was at this time in his thirty-fifth year. He had graduated in the class of 1846 at West Point, had seen service in the Mexican War, and had been sent abroad to observe operations in the Crimean War. In 1857 he had resigned from the army to take up railroad work. When the war broke out he was assigned the task of driving the Confederates out of the counties which afterwards formed the State of West Virginia.

GENERAL MCCLELLAN.

When McClellan assumed command of the Army of the Potomac he found it in a deplorable condition. He set to work at once to organize the new army authorized by Congress and to restore confidence. He was opposed to any for

ward movement until he could organize and discipline the mass of recruits that came pouring into Washington. Meanwhile, Johnston and Beauregard wanted to invade Maryland, which was certainly sound policy from a military point of view, but for political reasons President Davis was opposed to any offensive movement, and insisted on acting on the defensive.

On November 1, 1861, General Scott resigned his command on account of the infirmities of age, and McClellan was placed in command of all the armies of the United States. He continued to take his time in organizing the Army of the Potomac, and paid no heed to the popular demand that he attack Johnston at Manassas. The president and cabinet were bent on operations before winter, but in December McClellan was taken ill with typhoid fever, and it was the middle of January before he could take up his official duties again.

Federal

The Federal cause met with its first striking success in the West. Before the close of 1861 the Union forces had occupied the greater part of Missouri, but the successes in southern portion of the state was still held by the the West Confederates. In Kentucky the campaign of 1862 opened with the Confederates under Albert Sidney Johnston holding a line from Columbus on the Mississippi to Bowling Green. Facing them were the Federal forces under General Halleck commanding the Department of Missouri with headquarters at St. Louis, and the Army of the Ohio under General Buell concentrated between Louisville and Bowling Green. Grant had a smaller force at Cairo, which was under the general command of Halleck and known as the Army of the Tennessee.

In northern Tennessee, near the Kentucky border, the Confederates had constructed Fort Henry on the east bank of the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson twelve miles away on the west bank of the Cumberland. On February 3, 1862, Grant started up the Tennessee against Fort Henry