do too much when they attempted to hold the line of the Ohio. Vicksburg was the only strong post which they retained on the Mississippi. On sea they were more successful. They nailed iron rails on to the hull of the old United States warship _Virginia_, and sent her forth in March from the Navy Yard at Norfolk as the _Merrimac_ to spread terror through the Federal transport fleet. The United States ironclad, _Monitor_, however, fought her on the 9th of March and drove her into port. At close quarters the shot glanced off the protected sides of the ships, and it was not till the _Monitor_ fired into the unprotected part of the _Merrimac’s_ hull that she disabled her. This action--as we have seen--aroused naval critics in England, and convinced them that the “wooden walls” of the country were obsolete. Meanwhile great expectations had centred in the Army of the Potomac. Its leader, McClellan, was one of the most highly trained and scientific soldiers in the service of the Federal Government. Its numbers were overwhelming, and yet month after month passed by and it did nothing. It permitted the Confederates to retreat unmolested from their lines at Manassas in spring, when McClellan pursued them for two days. He then suddenly returned to Washington, and made arrangements to convey his army from the Potomac to the peninsula between York River and James River. From that point he meant to deliver a crushing blow against Richmond, the Confederate capital. At this moment President Lincoln deprived McClellan of the Command-in-Chief, and gave Generals McDowell and Fremont independent commands in Northern Virginia. It is not fair to forget, therefore, in criticising McClellan’s movements, that he thus lost the right to dispose of McDowell’s division as he pleased, for the protection of his left flank. McClellan’s campaign was unfortunate. General Joseph Johnston artfully seduced him into the swamps of the Chickahominy River, where he settled down and entrenched himself behind earthworks, while Stuart, with the Confederate cavalry, worked round the Federal right, looted part of their camp, and returned in safety to Richmond. General Jackson--“Stonewall” Jackson--dashing through the Shenandoah Valley, had driven the Federals under Banks back to the Potomac, and was menacing Washington. McDowell, who was hastening to McClellan’s aid, was suddenly recalled to protect the Federal capital, and McClellan, whose position was now hopeless, had to retreat, after repeated attacks, to Harrison’s Landing, on the James River--a manœuvre which was termed by the New York Press “a strategic movement to the rear.” He then embarked his army at Aquia Creek, and took it to Alexandria. To cover McClellan’s retreat, Pope advanced from the Rapidan to the Rappahannock, but was met by the Confederate General, Robert Lee, who fought a drawn battle with him at Cedar Mountain on the 9th of August. Jackson, by a rapid movement westward, crossed the Blue