From four points the Northern forces were threatening the South. From
the West by a flanking movement which might open the Mississippi River;
from the mountains of Western Virginia whose people were in part opposed
to secession; from Washington by a direct movement on Richmond; and
from Fortress Monroe on the Virginia Peninsula.
The first skirmish before Fortress Monroe, led by B. F. Butler, had been
repulsed with such ease no serious danger was felt in that quarter. The
ten thousand men under Holmes and McGruder could hold Butler
indefinitely.
Davis had seen from the first that one of the supreme dangers of the
South lay in the long line of exposed frontier in the West. If a
commander of military genius should succeed in turning his flank here
the heart of the lower South would be pierced.
For this important command he reserved Albert Sidney Johnston.
The Northern army under George B. McClellan and Rosecrans had defeated
the troops in Western Virginia. In a series of small fights they had
lost a thousand men and all their artillery. General Lee was dispatched
from Richmond to repair if possible this disaster.
The first two clashes had been a draw. The South had won first blood on
the Peninsula--the North in Western Virginia.
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