[Sidenote: Southern preparations. _Source-Book_, 308-311.]
389. The Army of Northern Virginia.--Meantime the government of the Confederacy had gathered great masses of soldiers. There were not nearly as many white men of fighting age in the South as there were in the North. But what men there were could be placed in the fighting line, because the negro slaves could produce the food needed by the armies and do the hard labor of making forts. The capital of the Confederacy was now established at Richmond, on the James River, in Virginia. The army defending this capital was called the Army of Northern Virginia. It was commanded by Joseph E. Johnston; but its ablest officers were Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson).
[Sidenote: McClellan's plan of campaign, 1862.]
390. Plan of the Peninsular Campaign.--The country between the Potomac and the James was cut up by rivers, as the Rappahannock, the Mattapony, and Pamunkey, and part of it was a wilderness. McClellan planned to carry his troops by water to the peninsula between the James and the York and Pamunkey rivers. He would then have a clear road to Richmond, with no great rivers to dispute with the enemy. Johnston would be obliged to leave his camp at Bull Run and march southward to the defense of Richmond. The great objection to the plan was that Johnston might attack Washington instead of going to face McClellan. General Jackson also was in the Shenandoah Valley. He might march down the Valley, cross the Potomac, and seize Washington. So the government kept seventy-five thousand of McClellan's men for the defense of the Federal capital.
[Sidenote: The _Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_. _Hero Tales_, 183, 195.]
391. The _Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_.--On March 8 a queer-looking craft steamed out from Norfolk, Virginia, and attacked the Union fleet at anchor near Fortress Monroe. She destroyed two wooden frigates, the _Cumberland_ and the _Congress_, and began the destruction of the _Minnesota_. She then steamed back to Norfolk. This formidable vessel was the old frigate _Merrimac_. Upon her decks the Confederates had built an iron house. From these iron sides the balls of the Union frigates rolled harmlessly away. But that night an even stranger-looking ship appeared at Fortress Monroe. This was the _Monitor_, a floating fort, built of iron. She was designed by John Ericsson, a Swedish immigrant. When the _Merrimac_ came back to finish the destruction of the _Minnesota_, the _Monitor_ steamed directly to her. These two ironclads fought and fought. At last the _Merrimac_ steamed away and never renewed the fight.