As previously mentioned, General McClellan, on taking charge of the Army of the Potomac and, later on, charge of the whole Federal forces, found affairs in Washington in a truly deplorable condition. The infantry numbered less than fifty thousand, the cavalry about a thousand, and the artillery less than seven hundred, with only thirty field pieces, many of them hardly fit for use. Added to these facts was the still more important one that officers and men were alike slack in military discipline, coming and going very much as suited their convenience. This was all changed as rapidly as such a huge work could be performed. Officers were made to pass a regular examination to determine their fitness for their positions, men were drilled every day and had regular hours for doing things assigned to them, and each new command as it came in was made to feel that it must live up to the spirit as well as the letter of the military law. Whatever else may be said of General McClellan’s fitness for the absolute leadership in a great campaign, the fact must forever remain that he was one of the best army organizers this country, or any other, has ever produced. Firm almost to the point of harshness, he was still a friend to all, and his men understood this so well that they would have followed him anywhere. To thousands he was “Little Mac,” and for a long while the very idol of the army. By February, 1862, General McClellan’s forces were ready for an advance upon the Confederates. Over fifty thousand soldiers were stationed in and around Washington, below the city at Alexandria, above upon the Potomac, and at several places to watch the valley of the Shenandoah. Outside of these the great army numbered 158,000 men, of which not quite five thousand were regulars and all of the rest volunteers. By this it will be seen that in less than ten months the Northern States had converted into trained soldiers over two hundred thousand men who had previously been clerks, farmers, mechanics and followers of kindred occupations. During the same time the seceded States had turned out about half that number of soldiers from somewhat similar sources. This work was a wonder in itself and is well worth a moment’s contemplation.