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commander in chief, and on July 11th ordered that Major-General Henry W. Halleck be assigned to command the whole land force of the United States as general in chief, and that he repair to the capital.
The Confederates were re-enforced by these appointments of Halleck and Pope.
If the latter was, as Swinton, the historian of the Army of the Potomac, puts it, “the most disbelieved man in the army,” the former was a perpetual stumbling-stone in the path of the field commanders of the Federal army.
His position was a most difficult one to fill.
Mr. Lincoln's attention was drawn to him by his past record.
Halleck graduated at the United States Military Academy in the class of 1849, and was forty-seven years old when summoned to Washington.
Like Lee, McClellan, and Pope, he was an engineer officer, but resigned in 1854 to practice law, and was so engaged in San Francisco, Cal., when the war began.
General Scott had a high opinion of his ability.
A lawyer, a soldier, and an author, he had written on both military and legal topics.
He had many of the qualifications necessary for his trying office.
This appointment was made by Mr. Lincoln immediately after a personal inspection of McClellan's army on the James River.
On that visit, July 8th, the Northern President ascertained that the Army of the Potomac numbered 86,500 men present and 73,500 absent to be accounted for. The tri-monthly return for July 10th fixed the number of men present equipped for duty at 98,631. “To make this army march to Richmond with any hope of success it must be re-enforced by at least 100,000 good troops; any officer here whose opinion is worth one penny will not recommend a less number,” wrote one of his corps commanders on the day of this return, and strongly advised the removal of the army to Washington.
Whether to re-enforce Mc-Clellan or Pope was the question.
The former could not well be attacked in his fortified camp, nor could he assault with much prospect of success Lee's lines, as they were much stronger now than when he was last in front of them.
Burnside, who had been ordered from the South to re-enforce McClellan, was halted at Newport News, ready, as Mr. Lincoln informed McClellan
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