ndoah, had succeeded in
evading them, and was marching toward Richmond.

He had just completed several bridges across the river, and was about to
move forward to fight a great battle when the news reached him.
Believing that he should be opposed by an army of 200,000 men, although,
in fact, the Confederate army, after Jackson and all the available
re-enforcements came up, was still somewhat inferior in strength to his
own, he determined to abandon for the present the attempt upon Richmond,
and to fall back upon the James River.

Here his ships had already landed stores for his supply, for the river
was now open as far as the Confederate defenses at Fort Darling.
Norfolk Navy Yard had been captured by the 10,000 men who formed the
garrison of Fortress Monroe. No resistance had been offered, as all the
Confederate troops had been concentrated for the defense of Richmond.
When Norfolk was captured the _Merrimac_ steamed out to make her way out
of the river; but the water was low, and the pilot declared that she
could not be taken up. Consequently she was set on fire and burned to
the water's edge, and thus the main obstacle to the advance of the
Federal fleet was removed.

They had advanced as far as Fort Darling, and the ironclad gunboats had
engaged the batteries there. Their shot, however, did little damage to
the defenders upon the lofty bluffs, while the shot from the batteries
so injured the gunboats that the attempt to force the passage was
abandoned. While falling back to a place called Harrison's Landing on
the James River, the Federals were attacked by the Confederates, but
after desperate fighting on both sides, lasting for five days, they
succeeded in drawing off from the Chickahominy with a loss of fifty
guns, thousands of small-arms, and the loss of the greater part of their
stores.

All idea of a further advance against Richmond was for the present
abandoned. President Lincoln had always been opposed to the plan, and a
considerable portion of the army was moved round to join the force under
General Pope, which was now to march upon Richmond from the north.

From the commencement of the Federal advance to the time when, beaten
and dispirited, they regained the James River, Vincent Wingfield had
seen little of his family. The Federal lines had at one time been within
a mile of the Orangery. The slaves had some days before been all sent
into the interior, and Mrs. Wingfield and her daughters had moved into