Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/496

464 Federal concentration at Washington. [isei (4) BULL RUN. Washington City, in the District of Columbia, lies on the Potomac river between the States of Maryland and Virginia. The insurrec- tionary incidents, which occurred during the week following the Sumter bombardment (April, 1861), interrupted for a few days all communication either by rail, post or telegraph with the loyal States of the Union. The danger to which the capital was exposed naturally caused the concen- tration, for its defence, of the largest part of the three-months'* militia first called out by President Lincoln. Had the insurrection been prepared with organised forces and a matured plan, the city might indeed have been captured, as a member of Jefferson Davis" 1 Cabinet predicted it would be. An attack was loudly urged by the more impulsive and sanguine leaders ; but General Lee discouraged the idea, and busied himself with strenuous efforts to mobilise the forces of Virginia and to make defensive preparations. He established a camp of instruction at Harper's Ferry, and another at Manassas, a railroad junction thirty- five miles south-west of Washington, a strategical point between that city and Richmond, favourably situated for receiving help from or rendering aid to Harper's Ferry. Meanwhile, since the arrival of the New York 7th on April 25, Washington had been entirely secure and was rapidly filling with Federal troops. On May 24 a strong detachment crossed the Potomac, occupied the neighbouring town of Alexandria, and began the erection of a chain of forts and entrenchments some eighteen miles in length on the Virginia side, while a complementary system of fortification was also rapidly completed on the Maryland side of the city, rendering the national capital practically impregnable against hostile attack when properly manned. By this time a strong garrison had been gathered in and near Fortress Monroe, the command of which was taken over by General B. F. Butler ; while the bulk of the Pennsylvania quota, with the regiments from other States, was organised under the command of General Robert Patterson, and prepared for a campaign against Harper's Ferry. The popular mind in the loyal States had been greatly inflamed by the quick succession of reverses which attended the beginning of the struggle the loss of Sumter, of Harper's Ferry, and of the Norfolk Navy Yard ; the Baltimore massacre ; the isolation of the capital ; the assassination of Colonel Ellsworth when Alexandria was occupied. To this series of untoward incidents were soon added two others, one occurr- ing on June 17, at a little station called Vienna, near Washington, where two cars filled with troops were incautiously run under fire of a passing Confederate battery; and another on June 10, at Big Bethel, near Fortress Monroe, where a badly ordered attempt to dislodge a rebel battery