[2] attacks so frequently repulsed, and it was reasonable to believe that the North would be tired out before the South became exhausted.
It will be seen how the perseverance of the free States and the courage of their soldiers succeeded at last in conquering adverse fortune in the course of that year. But, before narrating the decisive events of the month of July which marked the decline of the Confederate power, we shall yet have to record more than one check to the Federal arms.
We will begin by following into new conflicts the two large armies which we have left fronting each other in Virginia, separated by the Rappahannock, and which are about to measure strength once more on the banks of that river before going to seek another battlefield in Pennsylvania.
We shall then return to the operations of which the Mississippi was the theatre during the first six months of 1863. These operations, which were initiated by the Federals in the midst of extraordinary difficulties and terminated by the capitulation of Vicksburg, are so well linked together that we should be loath to interrupt their recital. This will occupy a part of this volume.
It was on the 26th of January that General Hooker assumed command of the Army of the Potomac. The President of the republic had not entrusted him with this command without some anxiety. The manner in which he had criticised his superior officers caused Mr. Lincoln to fear that he might not be able to secure that passive obedience from his new subordinates which is so essential to success, and of which he had himself failed to set an example. General Halleck, whom he had never spared, was secretly hostile to him. But at that time he appeared to be the only man capable of shouldering Burnside's heavy legacy; and, after giving him some good advice,1 the President left him all the freedom of action which he needed. After what we have already said, the reader may form an idea of the difficulties of the task imposed upon him. It is well known in what manner this army was discouraged and demoralized: out of eighty-two thousand soldiers and nearly three thousand officers who were not present for duty, more than one half of them had obtained
