Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 12.djvu/512

 502 Southern Historical Society Papers.

from Washington city to the Missouri river. The forces intended for the reduction of Virginia were the Army of Western Virginia, General Fremont, the Army of the Potomac, General McClellan, and the Army of North Carolina, General Burnside. After this general movement had been made a fourth army was organized as the Army of Virginia which was to cooperate with these converging columns in the general movement on the Capital of the Confederate States. Burnside' s army occupied Roanoke Island and New Berne and seated itself on the flank of Richmond. Fremont moved up the Valley as far as Cross Keys where he met his checkmate from Jack- son on the gth of June.

McClellan advanced up the Peninsula as far as Mechanicsville, three and a half miles from Richmond, and after seven days' hard fighting, June 26th to July ist, succeeded in changing his base to Harrison's Landing, on the James, thirty miles from Richmond — a hazardous and meritorious undertaking, when nothing better could be done ; and Major-General John Pope had been first checked by Jackson at Cedar Run, August 9th, and then, with the consoli- dated armies of Burnside, Fremont, McClellan and his own, had been escorted back to the fortification on the south bank of the Potomac, from which McClellan had moved with such confidence and high ex- pectation in obedience to President Lincoln's general order in the preceding spring. On the 2d of September General McClellan v/as directed verbally by Mr. Lincoln to assume command of the demor- alized mass of troops, which had just been beaten under Pope at Manassas.

His order to General Pope on that occasion epitomizes, more graphically than I can, the results of the six months' campaign of four armies to reduce Virginia. His order was in these words :

" Headquarters, Washington, Sept. 2d, 1862.

" General, — General Halleck instructed me to report to you the order he sent this morning, to withdraw your army to Washington, without unnecessary delay. He feared that his messenger might miss you, and desired to take this double precaution.

In order to bring troops upon ground with which they are already familiar, it would be best to move Porter's Corps upon Upton's Hill, that it may occupy Hall's Hill, &c.; McDowell's to Upton's Hill ; Franklin's to the works in front of Alexandria ; Heintzelman's to the