Lincoln, the unknown

142•LINCOLN THE UNKNOWNhe protested, he telegraphed excuses, he recalled corps that hehad sent ahead, and he "exhausted all the resources of a diabolicalingenuity in order to keep Pope from receiving reinforcements.""Let Mr. Pope," said he, contemptuously, "getout of his own scrape."Even after he heard the roar of the Confederate artillery, hestill managed to keep thirty thousand of his troops from goingto the aid of his obnoxious rival.So Lee overwhelmed Pope's army on the old battle-field ofBull Run. The slaughter was terrible. The Federal soldiers againfled ina panic.It was the story of the first Bull Run over again: once morea bloody and beaten mob poured into Washington.Lee pursued them with his victorious troops. And even Lincolnbelieved the capital was lost. Gunboats were ordered upthe river, and all the clerks in Washington—civilian and governmentalike—were called to arms to defend the city.Stanton, Secretary of War, in a wild panic, telegraphed thegovernors of half a dozen States, imploring them to send alltheir militia and volunteer forces by special trains.Saloons were closed, church bells tolled; men fell on theirknees, beseeching Almighty God to save the city.The old people and the women and children fledin terror.The streets resounded with the hoofs of hurrying horses, withthe rattle of carriages dashing away to Maryland.Stanton, preparing to transfer the Government to New York,ordered the arsenal stripped and all its supplies shipped North.Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, ordered the nation's silverand gold transferred in feverish haste to the sub-Treasury inWall Street.Lincoln, weary and discouraged, exclaimed with a mingledgroan and sigh:"What shall I do? . . . What shall I do? . . . The bottom isout of the tub, the bottom is out of the tub."People believed that McClellan, in order to get revenge, hadlonged to see "Mr. Pope" defeated and his army crushed.Even Lincoln had already called him to the White House andtold him that people were accusing him of being a traitor, ofwanting to see Washington captured and the South triumphant.Stanton stormed about in a rage, his face fiery with indignationand hatred. Those who saw him said that if McClellan had