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 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 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 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 times. When the North felt they could not win, Lin-coln said, “We shall win!”