a series of indecisive
combats, which the country would surely regard as defeats, into a
magnificent victory. Smith's testimony shows this splendid conception
to have been no afterthought with Porter, as it was with many who
subsequently came to understand the facts of the case, but coming as it
did hot from a desperate battle field, must be regarded as the
inspiration of true military genius, while the fact that McClellan
rejected it must always be considered as the best possible evidence of
his unreadiness to meet great emergencies. Smith does not say
specifically that he approved it, but the context of his narrative
leaves but little doubt that he thought favorably of it and would have
given it hearty support.

In the withdrawal of the Army of the Potomac from the Peninsula, and
its transfer to Washington, as ordered by Halleck and the Secretary of
War, Smith and his division necessarily played a subordinate part. With
the rest of the army they formed a tardy junction with Pope in front of
Washington, and did their share towards making the capital safe and
unassailable, but they were not again engaged till they met the enemy
in the bloody and successful action at Crampton's Gap, in the South
Mountain. The division also took part three days later in the battle of
Antietam, but notwithstanding McClellan's claim that the battle was a
"master piece of art," neither Smith's troops, nor the corps to which
they belonged, were seriously engaged. This was not the fault of either
Franklin or Smith, both of whom were greatly displeased with the
disjointed and irresolute manner in which the Union forces were handled
and the battle was fought. The most that can be said is that both
General Smith and his division did all that was asked of them, not only
in the battle of Antietam, but in following Lee's army back to
Virginia. These operations are now justly regarded as reflecting but
little credit on the generalship by which the national army was
controlled during that period of its history. While they ended
McClellan's military career, they afforded but little chance for any of
his subordinates to gain distinction, and those who escaped
responsibility for supporting his policy of delay had good reasons to
regard themselves as fortunate.

The withdrawal of McClellan and the accession of the weak and
vacillating Burnside to command was followed by a re-arrangement of the
Army of the Potomac into three grand divisions, and a re-as