A picture taken in the fall of 1861, when McClellan was at the
headquarters of General George W. Morell (who stands at the extreme left),
commanding a brigade in Fitz John Porter's Division. Morell was then
stationed on the defenses of Washington at Minor's Hill in Virginia, and
General McClellan was engaged in transforming the raw recruits in the
camps near the national capital into the finished soldiers of the Army of
the Potomac. "Little Mac," as they called him, was at this time at the
height of his popularity. He appears in the center between two of his
favorite aides-de-camp--Lieut.-Cols. A. V. Colburn and N. B.
Sweitzer--whom he usually selected, he writes, "when hard riding is
required." Farther to the right stand two distinguished visitors--the
Prince de Joinville, son of King Louis Phillippe of France, and his
nephew, the Count de Paris, who wears the uniform of McClellan's staff, on
which he was to serve throughout the Peninsula Campaign (see page 115). He
afterwards wrote a valuable "History of the Civil War."
[Illustration]
RAMPARTS THAT BAFFLED McCLELLAN. (Hasty fortifications of the Confederates
at Yorktown.) It was against such fortifications as these, which Magruder
had hastily reënforced with sand-bags, that McClellan spent a month
preparing his heavy batteries. Magruder had far too few soldiers to man
his long line of defenses properly, and his position could have been taken
by a single determined attack. This rampart was occupied by the
Confederate general, D. H. Hill, who had been the first to enter Yorktown
in order to prepare it for siege. He was the last to leave it on the night
of May 3, 1862.
[Illustration]
WRECKED ORDNANCE. (Gun exploded by the Confederates on General Hill's
rampart, Yorktown.) Although the Confederates abandoned 200 pieces of
ordnance at Yorktown, they were able to render most of them useless before
leaving. Hill succeeded in terrorizing the Federals with grape-shot, and
some of this was left behind. After the evacuation the ramparts were
overrun by Union trophy seekers. The soldier resting his hands upon his
musket is one of the Zouaves whose bright and novel uniforms were so
conspicuous early in the war. This spot was directly on the line of the
British fortification of 1781.
[Illustration]
ANOTHER VOICELESS GUN. (Confederate ramparts southeast of Yorktown.) A
32-pounder Navy gun which had been burst, wrecking its embrasure. The
Federal soldier seated on the sand-bags is on guard-duty to prevent
camp-followers from looting the vacant fort.
[Illustration]
THE MISSING RIFLE. (Extensive sand-bag fortifications of the Confederates
at Yorktown.) The shells and carriage were left behind by the
Confederates, but the rifled gun to which they belonged was taken along in
the retreat. Such pieces as they could not remove they spiked.
[Illustration]
GUNS THE UNION LOST AND RECOVERED. (A two-gun Confederate battery in the
entrenchments south of Yorktown.) The near gun is a 32-pounder navy; the
far one, a 24-pounder siege-piece. More than 3,000 pieces of naval
ordnance fell into the hands of the Confederates early in the war, through
the ill-advised and hasty abandonment of Norfolk Navy Yard by the
Federals. Many of these guns did service at Yorktown and subsequently on
the James River against the Union.
[Illustration: COPYRIGHT BY PATRIOT PUB. CO.]
THE CONFEDERATE COMMAND OF THE RIVER. (Battery Magruder, Yorktown.)
Looking north up the river, four of the five 8-inch Columbiads composing
this section of the battery are visible. The grape-shot and spherical
shells, which had been gathered in quantities to prevent the Federal fleet
from passing up the river, were abandoned on the hasty retreat of the
Confederates, the guns being spiked. The vessels in the river are
transport ships, with the exception of the frigate just off shore.
[Illustration: THE GOAL--THE CONFEDERATE CAPITOL]