THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. Military events succeed each other rapidly in America, and the public follows them with an attention which is all the more anxious that it does not always understand them, partly through lack of knowledge of the organization of American armies and of the character of their commanders and their soldiers; but above all, through the difficulty of getting at the impressions of persons who, being competent to observe these memorable struggles, actually took part in them themselves. The pages here offered to the reader, will perhaps meet this legitimate public curiosity. They are the sum and setting forth of the notes of an officer, who took part in the last battles in Virginia, and who has never ceased to watch and follow up the grand operations of the war, in respect to which, he will, no doubt, give us new details; our duty is simply to gather up and group the impressions and the recollections scattered through the numerous letters, and the private journal of the officer in question. I. Cbc Creation of fbt ^rnui. On my arrival in America, the curtain had just fallen on the first act of the secessionist insurrection. The attack on Fort Sumter by the people of Charleston, had been the prologue, then came the disaster of Bull Run. The army of the
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