1 62

THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN .

FORT ELLSWORTH. ALEXANDRIA . FORT LYON.

VIEW OF ALEXANDRIA FROM THE CAMP OF THE 40TII NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS.FROM A SKETCH MADE IN NOVEMBER , 1861.

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fectly i'aw, material furnished. Artillery, small-arms, and ammunition were tobe fabricated, or purchased from abroad; wagons, ambulances, bridge trains,camp equipage, hospital stores, and all the vast impedimenta and materialindispensable for an army in the field, were to be manufactured. So greatwas the difficulty of procuring small-arms that the armament of the infantrywas not satisfactorily completed until the winter, and a large part of the field-batteries were not ready for service until the spring of 1862. As soon aspossible divisions were organized, the formation being essentially completedin November.

On the 1st of November, upon the retirement of General Winfield Scott , Isucceeded to the command of all the armies, except the Department of Vir-ginia, which comprised the country within sixty miles of Fort Monroe. Uponassuming the general command, I found that the West was far behind theEast in its state of preparation, and much of my time and large quantities ofmaterial were consumed in pushing the organization of the Western armies.Meanwhile the various coast expeditions were employed in seizing importantpoints of the enemy’s sea-board, to facilitate the prevention of blockade-run-ning, and to cut or threaten the lines of communication near the coast, withreference to subsequent operations.

The plan of campaign which I adopted for the spring of 1862 was to pushforward the armies of Generals Halleck and Buell to occupy Memphis, Nash-ville, and Knoxville, and the line of the Memphis and Danville Railroad,so as to deprive the enemy of that important line, and force him to adoptthe circuitous routes by Augusta, Branchville, and Charleston . It was also