For a moment this monotony was interrupted by the ill-conducted engagement at Ball’s Bluff.  On October 21 nearly 2000 troops were sent across the Potomac by the local commander, with the foolish expectation of achieving something brilliant.[146] The actual result was that they were corralled in an open field; in their rear the precipitous bank dropped sharply to the river, upon which floated only the two or three little boats which had ferried them across in small parties; in front and flank from the shelter of thick woods an outnumbering force of rebels poured a steady fire upon them.  They were in a cruel snare, and suffered terribly in killed and drowned, wounded and captured.  The affair was, and the country at once saw that it was, a gross blunder.  The responsibility lay upon General Stone and Colonel Baker.  Stone, a military man by education, deserved censure, but he was treated in a manner so cruel, so unjust, and so disproportionate to his deserts, that his error has been condoned in sympathy for his wrongs.  The injustice was chargeable chiefly to Stanton, in part to the Committee on the Conduct of the War.  Apparently Mr. Lincoln desired to know as little as possible about a wrong which he could not set right without injury to the public interests.  He said to Stanton concerning the arrest:  “I suppose you have good reasons for it, and having good reasons I am glad I knew nothing of it until it was done.”  To General Stone himself he said that, if he should tell all he knew about it, he should not tell much.  Colonel Baker, senator from Oregon, a personal friend of the President, a brilliant orator, and a man beloved and admired by all who knew him, was a favorable specimen of the great body of new civilian officers.  While brimming over with gallantry and enthusiasm, he was entirely ignorant of the military art.  In the conduct of this enterprise a considerable discretion had been reposed in him, and he had, as was altogether natural, failed in everything except courage.  But as he paid with his life on the battlefield the penalty of his daring and his inexperience, he was thought of only with tenderness and regret.

This skirmish illustrated the scant trust which could yet be reposed in the skill and judgment of subordinate officers.  The men behaved with encouraging spirit and constancy under severe trial.  But could a commander venture upon a campaign with brigadier-generals and colonels so unfit to assume responsibility?

Nevertheless impatience hardly received a momentary check from this lesson.  With some inconsistency, people placed unlimited confidence in McClellan’s capacity to beat the enemy, but no confidence at all in his judgment as to the feasibility of a forward movement.  The grumbling did not, however, indicate that faith in him was shaken, for just now he was given promotion by Mr. Lincoln, and it met with general approval.  For some time past it had been a cause of discomfort that he did not get on altogether smoothly