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WAR PREPARATIONS IN THE NORTH.

what he was, a railway superintendent in his business clothes. At the time,his name was a good deal associated with Beauregard’s, and they were spokenof as young men of similar standing in the engineer corps of the army, andgreat things were expected of them both because of their scientific knowledgeof their profession, though McClellan had been in civil life for some years.McClellan’s report on the Crimean war was one of the few importantmemoirs our old army had produced, and was valuable enough to give a justreputation for comprehensive understanding of military organization, andthe promise of ability to conduct the operations of an army.

I was present at the interview which the governor had with him. The des-titution of the State of everything like military material and equipment wasvery plainly put, and the magnitude of the task of building up a small armyout of nothing was not blinked. The governor spoke of the embarrassmenthe felt at every step from the lack of practical military experience in his staff,and of his desire to have some one on whom he could properly throw thedetails of military work. McClellan showed that he fully understood thedifficulties there would be before him, and said no man could wholly masterthem at once, although he had confidence that if a few weeks’ time for prepara-tion were given, he would be able to put the Ohio division into reasonable formfor taking the field. The command was then formally tendered and accepted.All of us who were present felt that the selection was one full of promise andhope, and that the governor had done the wisest thing practicable at the time.

The next morning McClellan requested me to accompany him to the Statearsenal, to see what arms and material might be there. We found a few boxesof smooth-bore muskets which had once been issued to militia companies andhad been returned rusted and damaged. No belts, cartridge-boxes, or otheraccouterments were with them. There were two or three smooth-bore brassfield-pieces, 6-pounders, which had been honey-combed by firing salutes, andof which the vents had been worn out, bushed, and worn out again. In a heapin one corner lay a confused pile of mildewed harness which had been onceused for artillery horses, but was now not worth carrying away. There hadfor many years been no money appropriated to buy military material or evento protect the little the State had. The Federal Government had occasionallydistributed some arms which were in the hands of the independent uniformedmilitia, and the arsenal was simply an empty store-house. It did not takelong to complete our inspection. At the door, as we were leaving the build-ing, McClellan turned, and, looking back into its emptiness, remarked, halfhumorously and half sadly, “A fine stock of munitions on which to begin a‘great war! ”

We went back to the State House where a room was assigned us, and wesat down to work. The first task was to make out detailed schedules andestimates of what would be needed to equip ten thousand men for the field.This was a unit which could be used by the governor and Legislature in esti-mating the appropriations needed then or subsequently. Intervals in thislabor were used in discussing the general situation and plans of campaign.Before the close of the week McClellan drew up a paper embodying his own