Rebels at the Gate: Lee and McClellan on the Front Line of a Nation Divided Read Online Free PDF

without reply. McClellan knew the man, and likely remembered his reputation as a drinker. The scorned officer was Ulysses S. Grant. 34
     
    A twenty-nine-year-old lieutenant of topographical engineers named Orlando Poe had more luck in joining McClellan's staff. Tall and athletic, descended of a legendary Ohio Valley frontiersman, he was sent on a secret reconnaissance into Western Virginia to ascertain “the state of feeling of the inhabitants.” Agents were also sent into Kentucky, under direction of Allan Pinkerton, a Chicago private detective retained to head McClellan's intelligence gathering. 35
     
    There was much concern about Kentucky and Western Virginia. Kentucky's undeclared loyalty had already sparked excitement across the river in Cincinnati. Governor Beriah Magoffin had ignored Lincoln's call for volunteers, yet it was known that his militia was gathering. To Kentucky's neighbors, Magoffin's posture of “armed neutrality” was troubling. 36
     
    The situation in Western Virginia was even worse. Confederate troops were known to be mustering there. A tenuous truce was in effect until May 23, when citizens voted on an Ordinance of Secession. Virginians were expected to vote their state out of the Union, yet many in the western counties remained loyal. There was no accounting for what the westerners might do.
     
    To a general poring over maps, the strategic importance of Western Virginia was inescapable. Her boundary traced the Ohio River for nearly two hundred fifty miles. Her panhandle thrust like a dagger into the heart of the North—dividing the loyal Union states nearly in two. Confederate forces might pour across her mountain ramparts to rupture the vital Baltimore and OhioRailroad or threaten valuable salt works, coalfields, and oil wells on the unguarded frontier. 37
     
    Putting aside his maps, General McClellan sifted through letters from loyal Union men bemoaning the state of affairs in Western Virginia. Many urged occupation by Federal troops; others warned that the arrival of Lincoln's soldiers would merely arouse state pride and “throw many wavering men into the rebel ranks.”
     
    Among those demanding action was George R. Latham, a Grafton attorney. Latham had converted his law office into a Federal recruiting station. “Can anything be done for us?” he implored. “We are now enrolling men and drilling every day, collecting such arms as may be had…and preparing for a fight…. The Union men of [Western] Virginia are becoming more firm every day. They want to see secession put down and the leaders hung.” A Wheeling resident agreed: “The people will welcome the presence of U.S. forces. There is no doubt on this point.…[T]heir spirit and determination in this regard…furnish incontestable evidence that they are now ripe for a movement.” 38
     
    Governor Dennison pledged to “defend Ohio beyond rather than on her border.” In response to these developments, McClellan placed artillery on the Virginia line. As he prepared for hostilities, a dispatch arrived from the War Department. McClellan's face registered astonishment at the news: he had been appointed a major general in United States service, then the highest rank in the army. Thirty-four-year-old George McClellan had received the ultimate soldier's honor—only the venerable Winfield Scott outranked him now. It was stunning tribute for one so young. 39
     
    McClellan's agents reported much disloyalty across the Ohio River. But the pleas of loyal Virginia Unionists could not be ignored. “My letters from Wheeling,” McClellan informed General Scott, “indicate that the time rapidly approaches when we must be prepared to sustain the Union men there.” 40
     

CHAPTER 2
BURY IT DEEP
WITHIN THE HILLS
    “ This difficulty is not going to be settled without a fight.”
    —Francis H. Pierpont, Virginia Unionist
     
    The election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1860 sparked calls for disunion across the South. A writer in the