Battle of Washington - September 3rd 1861
With the main Union Army knocked out of existence in Virginia, President Lincoln entered into a deep bout of depression. The Capital was left all but open for the advancing Confederate Armies. Luckily, however, for the sake of the Union - an Army of 75,000 volunteers from New England, fresh off the trains, arrived in Washington, D.C. Of course, the advancing armies knew nothing of this new large force of crack Union troops, ready to defend the capital. Marching out, upon reports of the consolidated Army of the Carolinas, filled with troops from the Army of North Carolina and the Army of East Tennessee, recently merged and put under the command of General James Longstreet. Longstreet had his men on a mission, their stated goal was to capture the Federal Capital of Washington, D.C. but everyone knew their true intention was marching straight into Boston, and raising the Confederate Flag over Massachusetts Harbor.
The Army of the Carolinas was in for a rude surprise when they started to cross into Maryland to flank Washington D.C. by means of passing through Arlington, Virginia. The new Union Army, under the command of General George Meade, aptly named the Army of the Potomac, rushed out of Washington and meet the Confederates in the Battle of Arlington.
The Battle of Arlington was a short affair, with the Confederates laying waste to Robert E. Lee's plantation and home just because they disliked him, and considered him a traitor to the cause. The Army of the Potomac slammed head on into the surprised Confederate Army, where George Meade, some say he was a little mad, kept sending wave after wave into the Confederate lines until they broke and ran. The Battle of Arlington was a Union Victory, and it proved the Confederates could not waltz into the Union unopposed. Not discouraged, General Longstreet reared back and went further into Virginia, wishing to assault Washington D.C. by crossing the Potomac River.
1. The Battle of Arlington, just before the Confederate siege of Washington.
The battle got off to a disastrous start. The soldiers first had to wade through the chilly Potomac River, under constant cannon and gun fire. A beachhead was finally established where one corps was able to get on good footing, until a massive surge of Union troops dislodged it from its position and threw them back into the River. After a day's work of trying to cross, and the Confederate dead causing the Potomac River to turn a nasty shade of red, the battered Confederate Army of the Carolinas shrank away in the night, retreating from their disasters at Arlington and Washington.
2. The Defense of Washington, a sketch by a Union Soldier.
The resulting carnage was yet to be understood by the Confederates, but it was indeed quite understood by everyone that this was truly going to be a very long war. [+45,000 Conscripts to the USA. +15,000 Regulars to the USA. -25,000 Conscripts from the CSA.]