From Corinth to Stone River 147

the sake of which everything had been thus indis-criminately sacrificed was almost immediatelyrendered useless by the events which forced Buellnorthward into Kentucky

On the lfitli of July, before the nature or extentof the mischief had become apparent, Halleckstarted for Washington. President „,, ,

° Halleck ap-

Lincoln felt the need of a general-in- pointed gen-chief for all the armies of the United eral ' m ' cluef -States, in the hope of securing unity of operation.Comparatively little had been accomplished thusfar in the East, whereas much had been accom-plished in the West; and it seemed logical tochoose the western commander-in-chief for thesupreme control of the armies. The departure ofHalleck left Grant in command at Corinth . Popewas now called eastward to take charge of theforces hitherto scattered about in northern Vir­ ginia , and his place was filled by one of his divi-sion-commanders, William Stark Rosecrans, whoafter distinguishing himself in the early campaignsin West Virginia had taken part in the recentadvance upon Corinth . On arriving at Washing-ton, Halleck’s supreme capacity for doing thewrong thing was illustrated by a step whichthreatened the Union cause with speedy andirretrievable wreck. The Seven Days’ battlesnear Richmond had seriously damaged McClellan’s