McCLELLAN, GEORGE B. 



555 



GEORGE BRINTON MCCLELLAN. 



West Union, and forcing Pegrara to surrender 

 the same night. Garnett's retreat was rapid 

 and disorderly, and his escape was due to the 

 slowness of the co-operating column. Pursuit 

 ceased at Carrick's ford on Cheat river, where 

 the Confederate general made a stand with his 

 rear-guard and was beaten in a smart skirmish, 

 losing his life at the close of the action. These 

 operations, though conducted with small forces 

 and involving no great losses, " closed a cam- 

 paign, dispersed a rebel army, recovered a dis- 

 puted State, and permanently pushed back the 

 military frontier." 



Success achieved so neatly and so rapidly 

 added greatly to the professional reputation 

 that McClellan had already won in the regular 

 army, and on July 22, the day after the disas- 

 trous defeat at Bull Run, he was ordered to 



turn over his command to Rosecrans and re- 

 port at Washington. He was then engaged in 

 preparing to push a column to the Kanawha, 

 but he reported at Washington, July 26, and was 

 put in command of the Department of North- 

 eastern Virginia, including Washington, and 

 all the troops on both banks of the Potomac ; 

 which command was called, Aug. 17, the De- 

 partment of the Potomac. When he reached 

 the capital, the defenses were imperfect. 

 There were no fortifications on the Maryland 

 side, and nothing on the Virginia side but de- 

 tached works controlling the principal roads ; 

 so that the enemy might have occupied Alex- 

 andria heights and shelled the city, or per- 

 haps taken it by a dash of a cavalry regi- 

 ment. There was nothing that could be called 

 an army, though about 50,000 men were scat- 



