September 2
No American ever envisioned the U.S. Capitol building as a hospital.
Wounded Union soldiers from the Battle of Second Manassas occupied the Rotunda and halls of the Senate and House. Seats formerly used by senators from the South — men who now headed the Confederate government or fought as Confederate generals — served as stretchers for U.S. soldiers.
Work on the Capitol dome ceased. Workers traded their hammers and wrenches for rifles and bayonets, organizing into a temporary militia company to protect Washington from attack. Nearly 1,800 clerks from government departments left their offices to prepare themselves for the battle to save Washington.
Wall Street noticed the capital chaos. “The nerves of Wall Street were considerably shocked by the alarming rumors,” reported a market observer. Traders whipsawed prices up and down, depending upon the latest telegram arriving in New York. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stock plummeted, as sellers sensed danger to the line. The condition of the Union army did not evince hope. Lt. John Gould of Maine described the army’s depreciation graphically: “a skeleton Corps, of skeleton Divisions, of skeleton Brigades, of skeleton Regiments, of truly skeleton men.”
Lincoln’s Cabinet anxiously awaited the President’s arrival for today’s emergency meeting. The country faced imminent danger. The army was in shambles. The army had no head. Who will lead the troops?
Lincoln appeared and announced his decision — Gen. George Brinton McClellan.
The Cabinet revolted. “This seemed to me equivalent to making [McClellan] Commander-in-Chief,” railed the Secretary of Treasury. “I could not but feel that giving command to him was equivalent to giving Washington to the rebels.”
Lincoln entrenched, explaining no man could better protect the capital than McClellan.
“A terrible and thankless task” was how McClellan labeled his new assignment.
How he performed his task would determine the destiny of the country.
Quotes extracted from Dennis E. Frye’s newest book, “September Suspense: Lincoln’s Union in Peril.” Frye’s other recent release is “Harpers Ferry Under Fire: A Border Town during the Civil War.”
September 1, 1862
September opened on a Monday. It was a bad beginning to a very bad week.
Stonewall Jackson, the most feared Confederate general in the North, pursued a fatigued and beaten Union army, snaring its hindquarter in a ferocious afternoon thunderstorm at Chantilly, less than 25 miles from Washington.
The Yankees were defeated, disorganized and demoralized. Robert E. Lee’s Rebels were victorious, joyous and confident — so confident that they felt unstoppable, even invincible.
Lee had momentum. Abraham Lincoln had chaos. The war to save the Union jammed into uncertainty.
Lincoln’s generals waged war with each other; the president’s cabinet waged war with his generals. For the moment, Lincoln had no general in charge. Talk of treason — diabolical and sinister — gripped Washington.
The Civil War had turned against the warriors from the North, but the people back home didn’t know it.
Saturday’s newspapers had heralded good news for Northerners. The Union army had Stonewall Jackson pinned down at the Second Battle of Manassas, and victory appeared certain. But the papers were reporting yesterday’s news; and when General Lee arrived with his force to bolster Jackson, Sunday turned into a Union rout.
But news of the disaster had not yet reached the home front. News was not instantaneous. Most papers were silent on Sunday, respectful of the Sabbath. The editors preparing the Monday editions knew little, other than three days of consecutive battle had roared near Manassas.
Conflicting reports whipsawed the editors, making headlines difficult. “The rapidly changing aspects of the series of terrific battles in Virginia set all comment at defiance,” observed the Philadelphia Inquirer. “One hour we are in the gloom of disaster, followed on the next by the promise of glorious victory, to be again succeeded by the clouds of reverse.”
Soon they discovered their Union confronting its greatest peril.
Quotes extracted from Dennis E. Frye’s newest book, “September Suspense: Lincoln’s Union in Peril.” Frye’s other recent release is “Harpers Ferry Under Fire: A Border Town during the Civil War.”
