ame result more sure
he never tried to win by one combined assault, wave after crashing
wave, without allowing the defense to get its second wind; but let
each unit taste defeat before the next came on. Federal bravery
remained. But Federal morale was rapidly disintegrating under the
palpable errors of Pope. Misguided, misled, and mishandled, the
blue lines still fought on till four, by which time every corps,
division, and brigade had failed entirely.

Then, at the perfect moment and in the perfect way, Lee's counterstroke
was made: the beaten Federals being assailed in flank as well as
front by every sword, gun, bayonet, and bullet that could possibly
be brought to bear. Only the batteries remained on the ridge, firing
furiously till the Federals were driven out of range. The infantry
and cavalry were sent in--wave after wave of them, without respite,
till the last had hurled destruction on the foe.

As at the First Bull Run, so here, the regulars fell back in good
order, fighting to the very end. But the rest of Pope's Army of
Virginia was no longer an organized unit. Even strong reinforcements
could do nothing for it now. On the second of September, three days
after the battle, its arrival at Washington, heralded by thousands
of weary stragglers, threw the whole Union into gloom.

The first counter-invasion naturally followed. Southern hopes ran
high. Bragg's invasion of Kentucky seemed to be succeeding at this
time. The trans-Mississippi line still held at Vicksburg and Port
Hudson. Richmond had been saved. Washington was menaced. And most
people on both sides thought so much more of the land than of the
sea that the Federal victories along the coast and up the Mississippi
were half forgotten for the time being; and so was the strangling
blockade. Lee, of course, saw the situation as a whole; and, as a
whole, it was far from bright. But though the counter-invasion was
now a year too late it seemed worth making. Maryland was full of
Southern sympathizers; and campaigning there would give Virginia a
chance to recuperate, while also preventing the North from recovering
too quickly from its last reverse. Thus it was with great expectations
that the Confederates crossed the Potomac singing _Maryland, my
Maryland!_

But Maryland did not respond to this appeal. The women, it is true,
were mostly Southern to the core and ready to serve the Confederate
cause in every way they could. But the men, reflecting more, knew