AN IDLE GARRISON
Only once were the elaborate
fortifications about Washington seriously threatened. That was when the
Confederate General Jubal A. Early, with a force of 10,000 men, marched against
the Federal capital in July, 1864, with the intention of capturing it.
Reinforcements were rushed to these works and Early retreated. The constant
compliance with the clamor at the North that Washington be strongly defended was
a serious strategical mistake. The Army of the Potomac was at first superior in
Lee's army of Northern Virginia. It could have
been made overwhelmingly so at the beginning of the war if the troops around
Washington had been added to it. Grant demonstrated the wisdom of this policy in
1864 by leaving only a few heavy artillery regiments, the "hundred days' men,"
and detachments from the Veteran Reserve to defend Washington. He then
outnumbered Lee in the field.