EARLY BATTLES OF THE WAR.
The foe moved their cap-i-tal from Mont-gom-er-y, Ala. to Rich-mond, Va. and the first bat-tle of weight was to lie be-tween the two cap-i-tals. The folks at the North thought the war would be a short one. Most of the North-ern vol-un-teers had been called out for but three months, so it was thought by some that a bat-tle must be fought ere that time came to an end. The press at the North made a loud call for a “for-ward move-ment.” From day to day there was the cry of “On to Rich-mond!”
This hot speed was not the wish of Gen. Scott, then Com-man-der-in-chief of all the U. S. troops. He said it would be “death to our cause.” It has since been thought that if the men in the North had been more slow to move, the first great loss would not have been theirs.
It was on the 21st, of Ju-ly, 1861, that the bat-tle of Bull Run was fought. Gen-er-al Mc-Do-well moved
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 to-wards Rich-mond. The foe was led by Gens. Jo-seph E. John-ston and Beau-re-gard. The bat-tle was a sharp one and the loss large. At just the right mo-ment the foe had fresh troops sent to help them and thus gained the day. Af-ter a hard fight, the Un-ion for-ces had to give up. They fled back in haste to Wash-ing-ton.
 
MARCHING TO BULL RUN.
Sher-man was Colo-nel of a reg-i-ment at Bull Run. Though he did his part well, he had a fear that the Pres-i-dent would find fault with him for the great loss at that bat-tle. He felt that he had done all he could
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 with men who had been rushed in-to a fight ere they had had time to learn the art of war. Lin-coln knew that Sher-man had done his best with what he had. He knew that Sher-man was “val-u-a-ble man,” so he at once made him a Brig-a-dier Gen-er-al, sent him to Lou-is-ville, Ken-tuc-ky, and put him in charge of a large force of troops.
The bat-tle of Bull Run, it has been said, was fought to please “the pol-i-ti-cians.” It was the on-ly time the Pres-i-dent yield-ed to the pub-lic clam-or, and he was al-ways sor-ry that he then did so.
In a few days af-ter the bat-tle of Bull Run the Pres-i-dent went out to see the sol-diers. He made a kind speech, and told them to “cheer up,” for he “knew that bet-ter days were com-ing.”
Pres-i-dent Lin-coln felt that while Gen. Scott had a ver-y sound head and had done great good in his long years of work in the ar-my, he had come to the time when age had be-gun to “tell” up-on him. But what man could he put in his place? Gen. Mc-Do-well had met with de-feat. Gen. Pat-ter-son, too, had failed. Up to that date the on-ly off-i-cer who had won was Gen. Mc-Clel-lan, in charge of O-hi-o troops in West
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 Vir-gin-ia. Gen. Scott spoke to Pres-i-dent Lin-coln in fa-vor of this young man, Mc-Clel-lan, and, as it was not ea-sy to find just the one need-ed at that hour, Mc-Clel-lan was kept at Wash-ing-ton to or-gan-ize the troops com-ing in to that cit-y and make all read-y for a strong cam-paign.
 
GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT
The fine fall days were go-ing by and Mc-Clel-lan, though he seemed to be get-ting read-y for work, did not bring a-bout what folks thought he would. They be-gan to ask why the ar-my did not move. Word was sent North each night that it was “All qui-et a-long the Po-to-mac!”
Ere the end of Sep-tem-ber came it was clear-ly made known to the Pres-i-dent that the friends of the Un-ion
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 cause felt that some of the lead-ers were at fault. The Pres-i-dent, as a boy, had made him-self mas-ter of gram-mar, law, sur-vey-ing, and oth-er things, and now he made a close stud-y of war and how to fight great bat-tles. While he was a help to Mc-Clel-lan, yet he saw, at last, that his own plans were best, and so, in time, it was proved to all that Mc-Clel-lan was wrong and Lin-coln was right.
Not a-lone in war schemes but in oth-ers the hand and head of Lin-coln oft-en proved bet-ter than those of men who had been brought up to such work. Lin-coln’s way with for-eign lands, some of whose ru-lers were friend-ly to the South and want-ed it to win, was thought to be just right. Then the way Lin-coln got vast sums to car-ry on the war, and the part he thought it wise for the na-vy to take in the great strife, won praise for him. These things were all un-der Lin-coln’s eye and had his close care.
As time went on the whole North learned to look to Lin-coln, and de-pend up-on him for help in dark days and wise work in bright ............