ellan was
a man of worth, that he had never been thoroughly whipped in a single
battle and that he hadn't had a fair trial.

Any other man in power than Abraham Lincoln would have removed him
instantly on the receipt of his insolent and insulting dispatch.
Instead, the President had gone to see him with an open mind. He
returned determined to strengthen his military council by the addition
of an expert in Washington as his Commander-in-Chief.

He called to this post Henry W. Halleck. Although McClellan had waived
the crown of such power aside with lofty words of unselfish patriotism,
he received the announcement of Halleck's promotion and his
subordination with sullen rage.

"In this thing," he wrote his wife, "the President and those around him
have acted so as to make the matter as offensive as possible to me."

And yet against every demand that McClellan should be removed from
command the President was obdurate. Again and again his friends urged:

"McClellan is playing for the Presidency."

The tall man merely nodded:

"All right. Let him. I am perfectly willing that he shall have it if he
will only put an end to this war."

But if the President refused to remove him from command, Halleck and
Stanton managed quickly to strip him of half his army by detaching and
sending it to join the new army of General Pope. McClellan, with the
remainder of his men, had been sent by transport back to Alexandria.
General John Pope was summoned from the West to take command of the new
"Army of Virginia," composed of the divisions of Fremont, Banks and
McDowell, and the detached portion of McClellan's men.

All eyes were now centred on the new Commander. The West had only seen
success--Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Shiloh, and Island No.
10.

The new General on the day he began his advance against Lee and Jackson
issued an address to his army which sent a chill to the heart of the
President.

"I have come to you from the West," he proclaimed, "where we have always
seen the backs of our enemies--from an army whose business has been to
seek the adversary and beat him when found. I desire you to dismiss from
your minds certain phrases which I am sorry to find much in vogue among
you. I hear constantly of 'lines of retreat' and 'bases of supplies.'
Let us discard such ideas. Let us look before us, not behind. From
to-day my headquarters will be in the saddle."

Every man in the Army of the Potomac which McClellan ha