Lincoln to McDowell: "You are all green -- Fight"

• After the Union victories at Rich Mountain and Laurel Hill in West Virginia, George B. McClellan is eager to press further into Virginia. Accordingly, General Irvin McDowell advances toward Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia, with 40,000 Union troops./1861
• In the harbor of Wilmington, North Carolina, the USS Daylight arrives to establish a blockade. The Daylight cannot handle the job itself, however, and additional vessels will soon be needed./1861

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Irvin McDowell

• Union troops try to cross the Potomac River at Seneca Falls, northwest of Washington but are repulsed by the Confederates led by a company of the Louisiana Tiger Rifles./1861
• US General Irvin McDowell commands the largest army ever assembled by the United States of America at 35,000 strong. But with such little training, the army was little more than an armed mob. President Lincoln wants action to keep the Northern public excited about subjugating the South and the practical reason that many of the three month enlistments will be up on July 22. When McDowell asked for more time for training, the President replied “You are green, it is true; but they are green also. You are all green alike.” When McDowell’s request is proven true in another week on the battlefield, Lincoln will forget his encouragement, and McDowell’s head will roll for losing./1861