lack of bravery, were for the most part deficient in discipline; while their officers, bewildered by being brought for the first time under fire, committed all kinds of blunders. Finally, after an engagement of several hours, in which, although the infantry had partial shelter, the artillery were posted in an open field to batter harmlessly at the rebel earthworks, a retreat was ordered, and the force brought off in good condition.

This was the first battle of the war, and for that reason excited a degree of interest throughout the country far beyond its actual importance. The enemy had ten guns and about eighteen hundred men in position, under Colonel Magruder,* who was attended by Colonel de Russy and other late officers of the United States Army, and sustained but a trivial loss. That of the Federal troops amounted to about a hundred, including the casualties resulting from the unfortunate collision between the two New York regiments. Among the killed were Lieutenant Greble and Major Winthrop of General Butler's staff. The latter, in the act of leading a body of troops to the charge, mounted a log, waved his sword, and shouted to his men to come on, when a North Carolina drummer-boy leaped upon the battery and shot him in the breast. The body was recovered by a flag sent from Fortress Monroe. The water communication between Washington and Fortress Monroe was now more or less threatened by the enemy, who had lined the Virginia side of the Potomac with batteries, which the Federal gunboats sought frequent opportunities of attacking. On the 27th of June, an engagement took place at Mathias Point, Virginia, between the gunboats Pawnee and Freeborn, and a number of rebels on shore. The loss of the enemy was not known, but the Union force had to deplore the death of Captain James H. Wardt, United States Navy, in command of the Freeborn. Several sailors belonging to the Freeborn were wounded.

It was very soon manifest that the militia, called out under the proclamation of April the 15th, could not be efficiently armed and organized before their time of service would expire, and that, consequently, other and more permanent measures must be adopted. Accordingly, on the 3d of May, a second proclamation called for forty-two thousand additional volunteers, to serve during the war, besides providing for an increase of the regular army. This was to consist of a regiment of

John Bankhead Magruder was born in Vir ginia, about 1811, graduated at West Point in 1880, and was brevetted major and lieutenant-colone! for gallantry at Cerro Gordo and Chapultepec: resigned his commission and entered the rebel army April 1861; commanded at Yorktown, 1861-762; major general, 1562: cominanded rebel troops at battle of Malvern Hills, July, 1862, and subsequently transferred to the Department of Texas where he held command until superseded by General Kirby Smith. At the surrender of the latter to General Canby in May, 1963, General Magruder commanded the Department of Arkansas.

Theodore Winthrop was born in New Haven, Conn., in 1928, and graduated at Yale College in 14. After several years of travel and adventure he settled in New York, and at the outbreak of the rebellion, accompanied the Seventh New York militia regiment to Washington. At the

time of his death he was military secretary to General Butler, with the rank of major. Several novels and magazine tales by him of great literary promise were published posthumously.

He was the eldest son of the late Colonel James Ward, a prominent citizen of Hartford, Connecticut, and was born in that city in the year 1905. He entered the navy March 4th, 1823, and• made his first cruise as a midshipman in the Constitution, under Commodore McDonough, with whom he sailed for four years in succession. He was one of the best educated men in the navy. Before his appointment as a midshipman, he was for two years a student in the Norwich. Vermont, University (Captain Partridge's Military School). and after he entered the navy, he passed a year of leave in Washington (now Trinity) College, He was an indefatigable student all his life, and a most exemplary officer.

cavalry, twelve companies, numbering eleven hundred and eighty-seven officers and men; one regiment of artillery of twelve batteries, six pieces each, numbering nineteen hundred and nine officers and men; nine regiments of infantry, each regiment to contain three battalions of eight companies each, numbering two thousand four hundred and fifty-two officers and men-making a total increase of twenty-two thousand and sixty-eight infantry, officers and men; and an addition to the strength of the regular army of twenty-five thousand one hundred and sixty-four men, infantry, artillery, and cavalry.

The small army of the United States hitherto had borne in numbers no proportion to the officers who graduate annually from West Point, and it required very few general officers. The exigencies of the Goverument now demanded an army on the scale of those of Europe, and a new system of organization was, deemed advisable. On the organization of an army depends much of its efficiency in the field; and such has been the progress of modern military science, that a well-organized, drilled, and equipped army is, at the present day, a machine of immense power, and withal of the most costly description.

The company is generally considered the unit of military organization, and is supposed to average, on the war basis, one hundred men, officers included. The ordinary rule for the organization of such a company gives to it one captain, two lieutenants, from four to six sergeants, as many corporals, and eighty-five men. The first sergeant is called the orderly sergeant, and has charge of the books of the company, and the calling of the roll morning and evening. The company is formed, when in line, into two platoons and four sections, each platoon commanded by a lieutenant, and each section by a sergeant.

A regiment is composed of several battalions, each containing from four to ten companies, the battalion being the tactical unity. In the United States service, ten companies, divided into two battalions, have usually constituted a regiment.

The officers of a regiment, independent of company officers, are a colonel, lieutenant-colonel, one major, adjutant, quartermaster, and commissary. Each separate body of troops must have a commissary and quartermaster, but in a large army they are appointed to regiments or brigades. A full regiment will be formed thus: one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, one adjutant, one quartermaster, one commissary, one major, ten captains, ten first and ten second lieutenants, fifty sergeants, forty corporals, and eight hundred and fifty private men; making nine hundred and seventy-six, but in reality there are some others; each company has regularly a drummer and fifer, which make a regimental band of twenty besides the drum-major. Thus the regiment, when full, is made up regularly to one thousand men. When the volunteer force was called out by the President, a new organization for the regiments to be added to the regular army was suggested. This question was fully considered by officers of the army, and it was determined to adopt the French regimental system of three battalions, of eight companies each, to a regiment. Each battalion is commanded by a major, with a colonel and lieutenant-colonel for the general command of the regiment. This, it is believed, is the best organization

now existing. The number of field officers is less for the same number of men than under the old plan, and, therefore, the expense is greatly reduced. This change of organization, however, did not apply to the old regiments of the regular army, nor to the volunteers.

A brigade should be composed of two or three regiments of infantry, several squadrons of cavalry, and one or two batteries of field artillery. If these were all full, a complete brigade, operating alone, would in the American service number about three thousand five hundred men.

A division is composed of two or more brigades, with a proportional addition of cavalry and artillery, making, with the whole staff and music, about seven thousand men. During the first year of the rebellion this was the highest element of organization in the service.

The corps is composed of two or more divisions, frequently of four` or five, and is, in the French service, properly commanded by a field marshal-an officer unknown to our country; and the corps is properly a complete army in itself. In the American service, a major-general commands such an organization.

In the field, all orders and operations are carried on through the staff of the army, which consists of the aides, the adjutant-general, the engineer, the quartermaster and commissary-generals, and some other officers, varying in size and in its component parts with the importance of the organization to which it is attached.

Through the adjutant-general orders are conveyed to each particular post. By the quartermaster-general all transportations, and vehicles, and horses, are furnished; by the commissary, all supplies; by the engineer the topography of the country is examined, the practicability of passes determined, and fortifications built or attacked.

The warlike ardor of the people manifested itself so promptly in response to the call for troops, that by the 1st of July more than two hundred regiments had been accepted. All of these were infantry and riflemen, with the exception of two battalions of artillery and four regiments of cavalry. Of the whole number, upwards of one hundred and fifty regiments were in active service on the 1st of July, by which time it was estimated that seventy-three thousand men were collected in Washington and its vicinity principally from the Eastern and Middle States, and the remainder were in readiness before the close of the month. The troops moved rapidly forward to the various dépôts and camps.

The Government was sufficiently rich in men, but in a very distressed condition for arms to give them. An old law of Congress required the Secretary of War to deliver to each State, on the requisition of the Governor, its quota of arms in proportion to its militia. These requisitions had long been neglected, but while preparations for secession were making, each Southern State drew its arms, and great numbers were transferred from the North to the South, by the order of Mr. Floyd, Secretary of War, thus stripping the Northern arsenals for the benefit of the South. In addition, great numbers of arms had been purchased on account of the Southern States. Some of them were seized on their way thither, but, as already stated, were in many instances restored to their owners.

Previous to the early part of 1860, the Government had a supply of arms and munitions of war sufficient for any emergency; but, in the words of Secretary Cameron, "through the bad faith of those intrusted with their guardianship, they were taken from their proper depositories and distributed through portions of the country expected to take part in the contemplated rebellion." In consequence of the serious loss thus sustained, there was available, at the commencement of the outbreak, a much smaller supply than usual of all kinds.

Some patriotic American citizens, resident in Europe, fearing that the country might not have a sufficient supply, purchased on their own responsibility, through co-operation with the United States ministers to England and France, a number of improved cannon and muskets, and the War Department accepted the drafts drawn to defray the outlay thus assumed. A complete battery of six Whitworth twelve-pounder rifled cannon, with three thousand rounds of ammunition, the munificent donation of sympathizing friends in Europe, was also received from England.

The chief dependence had been upon the Springfield Armory, the capacity of which was, at the outbreak of the rebellion, twenty-five thousand muskets per annum. The Northern armories had, to a considerable extent, been stripped to supply the Southern States. The private armories were able to furnish only a few thousand annually, and Harper's Ferry had been captured with a loss of fifteen thousand muskets. Hence, until arms could be procured from Europe, many regiments were detained in camp. The Springfield Armory was worked to its fullest extent, and with the help of outside machine-shops, before the close of the year, could produce eight thousand per month, and can now supply twenty-five thousand per month.

On the morning of the 27th of June, the report of General Mansfield, commanding at Washington, gave the number of troops in the city at twenty-two thousand eight hundred and forty-six mien present for duty. The force of General Patterson,* commanding on the Potomac, at Williamsport and Martinsburg, above Washington, was seventeen thousand one hundred and eighty-eight, of whom five hundred and forty-two were sick. The force in Virginia, beyond the Potomac, under McDowell, was fifteen thousand seven hundred and sixty-six men, with the colors.

The left of McDowell occupied Alexandria, while his right was pushed some distance up the Potomac, mostly on the Maryland side, towards Patterson's left. The Confederate general having adopted, for the present, a defensive policy, had so disposed his troops as to prevent an advance of the Federal force into Virginia. This had finally been determined upon. Popular impatience could no longer endure the idea of a large army lying apparently idle about Washington, and from all parts of the country came the demand for an aggressive movement,

* Robert Patterson was born in Tyrone, Ireland, in 1792; emigrated early to the United States; Berved as an officer in the war of 1812; afterwards engaged in commercial pursuits in Philadelphia, and was a major-general of volunteers in the Mexican war; appointed by Governor Curtin to

command the Pennsylvania three months' volunteers, 1861, and was stationed on the Upper Potomac; discharged from the service July 27th; was severely criticised for neglecting to prevent the rebel General Johnston from re-enforcing Beauregard at the battle of Bull Run.

.

which should end the war in a single campaign. The utter lack of discipline in the troops; the brief period, now almost expired, for which most of them had enlisted; the inexperience of the officers, and the general ignorance which prevailed respecting the numbers or positions of the enemy, were all overlooked; and the Government was urged at once to order an advance upon Richmond. At the commencement of all great wars the opposing parties acquire experience at a bitter cost, and it will be seen that the Federal troops paid dearly for theirs; although, viewed by the light of subsequent events, what seemed misfortunes at the time, were of unmistakable benefit in effecting the final overthrow of the rebellion.

The physical formation of Virginia is such that there are but few practicable routes for an invading force coming from the North. A line drawn from Georgetown, through Fredericksburg, Richmond, and Petersburg to Weldon, North Carolina, would mark the western limit of what is called the lower country or tide-water section. It is a low plain, without any considerable elevation, but scooped out by the action of water into deep ravines, through which flow broad, sluggish rivers. To the west of this line is the middle country, an undulating district extending to the Blue Ridge, which forms a continuous chain, except where pierced by the Potomac, James, and Staunton Rivers, of about two hundred and fifty miles, running north-east and south-west. To the west of this lies the great ridge, which is a prolongation of the Pennsylvania Kittatinny Mountain, and which, running parallel with the Blue Ridge, rises two thousand one hundred to two thousand five hundred feet in height. The Shenandoah River flows northerly into the Potomac through the great valley that lies between the two ridges, and gives its name to it. West of the great ridge runs the line of Alleghanies, separating Western Virginia from the eastern part of the State. This region is somewhat hilly, but contains no considerable elevation. Such being the configuration of the country, an invading force, destined to operate against Richmond, would choose one of four routes from Alexandria vid Culpepper and Gordonsville, overland; from Aquia Creek via Fredericksburg; from the Chesapeake via the York River and the Peninsula; or from Harper's Ferry or the Point of Rocks, down the Valley of the Shenandoah, via Staunton, Charlottesville, and Lynchburg. From Harper's Ferry to Richmond, by the last route, the distance is about two hundred and fifty miles, the road lying through a fertile and beautiful valley for the first half of the way. It was from this valley that Morgan derived a large portion of his famous riflemen in the Revolution; and its chief county, Augusta-"Old Federal Augusta"-is still celebrated for the proficiency of her citizens in this important arm of military service. The counties of Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Page, which also border it, are inhabited by a sturdy race of farmers, descendants of German emigrants from Pennsylvania.

Of these several routes, General McDowell proposed to take the first. To oppose this movement, General Beauregard was in force at Manassas Junction, a station on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, twentyfive miles south-west of Washington, whence diverges the Manassas Gap Railroad, connecting the upper middle region of Virginia with the