h to see that what
had happened was precisely what should have been expected. A little
humiliated at their own folly, about as much vexed with themselves as
angry with their enemies, they turned to their work in a new spirit.
Persistence displaced excitement, as three years' men replaced three
months' men. The people settled down to a long, hard task. Besides this,
they had now some idea of what was necessary to be done in order to
succeed in that task. Invaluable lessons had been learned, and no lives
which were lost in the war bore fruit of greater usefulness than did
those which seemed to have been foolishly thrown away at Bull Run.

FOOTNOTES:

[143] So said Hon. George W. Julian, somewhat ruefully acknowledging
that Lincoln "was always himself the President." _Polit. Recoll._ 190.

[144] South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana,
and Texas were covered by this proclamation; on April 27, North Carolina
and Virginia were added.

[145] For the documents in this case, and also for some of the more
famous professional opinions thereon, see McPherson, _Hist. of
Rebellion, 154 et seq._; also (of course from the side of the chief
justice), Tyler's _Taney_, 420-431; and see original draft of the
President's message on this subject; N. and H. iv. 176.

CHAPTER X

THE FIRST ACT OF THE MCCLELLAN DRAMA

On the day after the battle of Bull Run General George B. McClellan was
summoned to Washington, where he arrived on July 26. On the 25th he had
been assigned to the command of the army of the Potomac. By all the
light which President Lincoln had at the time of making this
appointment, it seemed the best that was possible; and in fact it was
so, in view of the immediate sphere of usefulness of a commanding
general in Virginia. McClellan was thirty-four years old, of vigorous
physique and fine address. After his graduation at West Point, in 1846,
he was attached to the Engineer Corps; he served through the Mexican
war, and for merit received a captaincy. In 1855 he was sent by
Jefferson Davis, then secretary of war, to Europe to study the
organizing and handling of armies in active service; and he was for a
while at the British headquarters during the siege of Sebastopol,
observing their system in operation. In January, 1857, he resigned from
the army; but with the first threatenings of the civil war he made ready
to play an active part. April 23, 1861, he was appointed by the governor
of O