THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 25 bitterness which subsequently was to accumulate so cruelly upon him. Beyond the bridge we found the whole army in motion towards Fairfax Court House, where a great part of it encamped that evening. The cavalry pushed on as far as Centreville and Manassas, which it found abandoned. The enemy was not come up with anywhere; he had had too greatly the start of us. The head-quarters were established , as well as possible at Fairfax, a pretty village, with large frame houses standing apart and surrounded by gardens. The population had fled at our approach, almost without an exception. The next day I accompanied a cavalry reconnoissance to Centreville, where I saw the immense barracks which the Confederates had occupied during the winter, and to Manassas, whose smoking ruins left on the mind a deep impression of sadness. On our return we visited the battle field of Bull Run. General McDowell was with us. He could not restrain his tears at the sight of those bleaching bones, which recalled to him so vividly the cruel recollection of his defeat. While we were making these promenades grave events were occurring in the highest regions of the army. There exists in the American army, as in the English, a commander-in-chief who exercises over the head of all the generals, a supreme authority, regulates the distribution of the troops and directs military operations. These functions, which have been greatly curtailed in the British army, since the Crimean war, were still exercised with all their vigor in America. From the aged General Scott, who had long honorably discharged them, they had passed to General McClellan. We learned on reaching Fairfax, that they had been taken away from him. It is easy to understand the diminution of force and the restrictions upon his usefulness, thus inflicted upon the general-in-chief by a blow in the rear at the very outset of his campaign. Yet tl'.is was but a part of the mischief done him. McClellan
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