emselves. In the beginning these had tried
honestly to choose those among them best fitted for command; but like
all volunteers, they fell into the grave error of choosing the most
popular. Almost all candidates for office were equally eligible and
equally untried; so personal considerations naturally came into play.
Once elected, they did their duty faithfully, in the field; but were
either too weak, or too inexperienced, to keep the strict rules of
discipline applied during the trying inactivity of camp; and they were
too conscious of the social and mental equality of their men to enforce
the distinction between officer and private, without which the command
loses half its weight. In some instances, too, the desire for
popularity and for future advancement at the hands of friends and
neighbors introduced a spirit of demagogism hurtful in the extreme.

For these combined reasons the army of Manassas, which a few weeks
before had gone so gaily "into the jaws of death," began rapidly to
mildew through warp and woof; and the whole texture seemed on the point
of giving way.

Thoughtful men--who had waited calmly and coolly when the first burst
of impatience had gone up--began now to ask why and how long this
lethargy was to continue. They saw its bad effects, but believed that
at the next blast of the bugle every man would shake off the incubus
and rise in his might a patriot soldier; they saw the steady stream of
men from North and West pouring into Washington, to be at once bound
and held with iron bands of discipline--the vast preparation in men,
equipments, supplies and science that the North was using the precious
days granted her to get in readiness for the next shock. But they felt
confident that the southern army--if not allowed to rust too
long--would again vindicate the name it had won at Manassas.

These thinkers saw that some branches of the Government still kept up
its preparations. Throughout the length of the land foundries were
going up, and every improvement that science or experience could
suggest was making in the construction of arms and ammunition;
water-power, everywhere off the line of attack, was utilized for
powder-mills and rope-walks; every cloth factory in the country was
subsidized; and machinery of great variety and power was being imported
on Government account. Over Richmond constantly hung a dense cloud of
coal smoke; and the incessant buzz of machinery from factories,
foundries and lath