CHAPTER VI.
THE result of the battles around Richmond so weakened Federal confidence in General McClellan s ability, that General Halleck was called from the West and made commander-in-chief of their armies. Previous, however, to his assumption of command, the departments of the Rappahannock and the Shenandoah were combined into one army, called the army of Vir ginia, and Maj.-Gen. John Pope assigned to its command. Pope had for corps commanders, Generals Sigel, Banks and McDowell, and, as at first constituted, his army numbered somewhat over 40,000 men.[1] As soon as this army began to threaten Gordonsville, General Lee, as Ropes remarks, "though the whole army of the Potomac was within twenty-five miles of Richmond, did not hesitate, on July 1 3th, to despatch to Gordonsville his most trusted lieutenant, the justly celebrated Stonewall Jackson, with two divisions his own (so-called), commanded by Winder, and Swell s, comprising together about 14,000 or 15,000 men." Then, when it became clear that the peninsula was being evacuated, Jackson was reinforced by the division of A. P. Hill. After Hill s juncture, Jackson s force numbered between 20,000 and 25,000 men, and the commander sought opportunity to strike a favorable blow.
The opportunity soon came. "Having received information," reports Jackson, "that only a part of General
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- ↑ The Army under Pope. Ropes, p. 3.
