Yet the incredible thing had happened. His army
of more than two hundred thousand men, under able generals, had been
hurled back from the gates of Richmond in hopeless, bewildering defeat,
and he must begin all over again.
One big ominous fact loomed in tragic menace from the smoke and flame of
this campaign--the South had developed two leaders of matchless military
genius--Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. It was a fact the President
must face and that without fear or favor to any living man in his own
army.
He left Washington for the front at once. He must see with his own eyes
the condition of the army. He must see McClellan. The demand for his
removal was loud and bitter. And fiercest of all those who asked for his
head was the iron-willed Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, his former
champion.
CHAPTER XIV
THE RETREAT
John Vaughan had become one of his General's trusted aides. His services
during the month's terrific struggle had proven invaluable. The
Commander was quick to discern that he was a man of culture and
possessed a mind of unusual power. More than once the General had called
him to his headquarters to pour into his ears his own grievances against
the authorities in Washington. Naturally his mind had been embittered
against the man in the White House.
Pages:
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259