Chapter 10:
- General McClellan in command of Ohio. -- I am engaged for the War. -- the secret service. -- a consultation. -- Webster starts for Rebeldom.
At the outbreak of the rebellion many difficulties were encountered which the people and their leaders were ill-prepared to surmount, and many expedients were resorted to in order to equip and officer the troops as they arrived. The State of Ohio, the militia of which General McClellan had been called upon to command by Governor Dennison, was no exception to this rule; but that gentleman realized the importance of calling some one to the command of the volunteers, upon whose knowledge, judgment and experience he could place implicit reliance. He therefore turned to Captain McClellan, who was a graduate of West Point, and had been a captain in the regular army, but who had for some years past been devoting himself to the management of a prominent railroad enterprise in the State. The Governor at once sent a communication to the general government, requesting that McClellan should be restored to his old rank in the army, and