386.  Nature of the Conflict.—­The overthrow of the Confederate states proved to be very difficult.  The Alleghany Mountains cut the South into two great fields of war.  Deep and rapid rivers flowed from the mountains into the Atlantic or into the Mississippi.  Each of these rivers was a natural line of defense.  The first line was the Potomac and the Ohio.  But when the Confederates were driven from this line, they soon found another equally good a little farther south.  Then again the South was only partly settled.  Good roads were rare, but there were many poor roads.  The maps gave only the good roads.  By these the Northern soldiers had to march while the Southern armies were often guided through paths unknown to the Northerners, and thus were able to march shorter distances between two battlefields or between two important points.

[Sidenote:  Plan of campaign.]

[Sidenote:  Disaster at Bull Run, July, 1861. Source-Book, 305-308.]

387.  The Bull Run Campaign, July, 1861.—­Northern soldiers crossed the Potomac into Virginia and found the Confederates posted at Bull Run near Manassas Junction.  Other Northern soldiers pressed into the Shenandoah Valley from Harper’s Ferry.  They, too, found a Confederate army in front of them.  The plan of the Union campaign is now clear:  General McDowell was to attack the Confederates at Bull Run, while General Patterson attacked the Confederates in the Valley, and kept them so busy that they could not go to the help of their comrades at Bull Run.  It fell out otherwise, for Patterson retreated and left the Confederate general, Johnston, free to go to the aid of the sorely pressed Confederates at Bull Run.  McDowell attacked vigorously and broke the Confederate line; but he could not maintain his position.  The Union troops at first retreated slowly.  Then they became frightened and fled, in all haste, back to Washington.  The first campaign ended in disaster.

[Illustration:  GENERAL MCCLELLAN.]

[Sidenote:  The Army of the Potomac, 1862.]

388.  The Army of the Potomac.—­While the Bull Run campaign was going on in eastern Virginia, Union soldiers had been winning victories in western Virginia.  These were led by General George B. McClellan.  He now came to Washington and took command of the troops operating in front of the capital.  During the autumn, winter, and spring he drilled his men with great skill and care.  In March, 1862, the Army of the Potomac left its camps a splendidly drilled body of soldiers.

[Sidenote:  Southern preparations. Source-Book, 308-311.]

[Sidenote:  Richmond.]

[Sidenote:  Army of Northern Virginia.]

389.  The Army of Northern Virginia.—­Meantime the government of the Confederacy had gathered great masses of soldiers.  There were not nearly as many white men of fighting age in the South as there were in the North.  But what men there were could be placed in the fighting line, because the negro slaves could produce the food needed by the armies and do the hard labor of making forts.  The capital of the Confederacy was now established at Richmond, on the James River, in Virginia.  The army defending this capital was called the Army of Northern Virginia.  It was commanded by Joseph E. Johnston; but its ablest officers were Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson).