His camp table was
filled with exquisite flowers which flanked and sometimes covered his
maps and plans. He used his bouquets for paper weights.
It was not to be wondered at, therefore, that the cold intellectual
standard by which Davis weighed men should have found Beauregard wanting
in the qualifications of supreme command.
The President turned his eye to the flower-decked tent of his general
with grave misgivings. Yet he was the man of the hour. It was fair that
he should have his chance.
CHAPTER XVII
THE FATAL VICTORY
On the banks of the Potomac General Scott had massed against Beauregard
the most formidable army which had ever marched under the flag of the
Union. Its preparation was considered thorough, its numbers all that
could he handled, and its artillery was the best in the world. All the
regular army east of the Rockies, seasoned veterans of Indian campaigns,
were joined with the immense force of volunteers from the Northern
States--fifty full regiments of volunteers, eight companies of regular
infantry, four companies of marines, nine companies of regular cavalry
and twelve batteries of artillery with forty-nine big guns.
In command of this army of invasion was General McDowell, held to be the
most scientific general in the North.
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