In the White House, the official residence of the President of the United States in Washington, the atmosphere has never been as gloomy as it is now. The members of Congress and cabinet ministers who were still in Washington and had not evacuated were sitting in the conference room in a daze. The secretaries who were coming in and out were even more confused.

I was more frightened than anyone else, and the news they brought was also more terrifying.

A bad thing. It turned out that those confident officials and congressmen were like eggplants beaten by frost. They stared and couldn't believe everything that happened in just a few dozen hours. They were still in a state of disbelief when they left Washington.

The proud Army of the Potomac has almost ceased to exist!

First, the main forces of the three armies were defeated by the Confederate army in Poolesville, a small town on the east bank of the Potomac River. The number of losses was too high to be counted. Only a few thousand of the 50,000 to 60,000 troops fled back to Washington in embarrassment.

The whereabouts of the dozens of congressmen and journalists who went to cheer for us are unknown, and we don’t know if they were captured by the Southerners.

Later, Maryland militiamen discovered that a fierce battle was taking place on the other side of the Potomac River in the Great Falls section. The cannons roared for several hours, and there were intensive gunshots and shouts of death. As for the result, now

I don’t know yet, but I think the First Army will not end well! The three corps previously commanded by McDowell are finished, how can we expect Mansfield to perform any miracles with one corps?

However, McDowell's move to divide the troops was not without its use. It at least contained part of the main force of the Confederate Army. There is very little news coming from various aspects, but one thing is certain. The Confederate Army's Northern Virginia Army was able to defeat the wave.

After the main force of the Tomac Army, they did not immediately march towards Washington, which was empty of troops. They probably turned around to annihilate the First Army. This gave the federal government in Washington some time to consider war or peace... Of course

There is also an organized retreat!

The current federation only has more than 200,000 navy and army troops, and they are scattered over a vast territory. They can be used for the troops around Washington, that is, the 80,000 Army of the Potomac and the more than 10,000 militiamen of Maryland and a small number of troops.

The Washington garrison. Now the main force has been defeated. The losses are countless, and the remaining troops are no longer enough to defend the capital of the United States. If the Federation is unwilling to sue for peace, then retreat will be inevitable...

In a corner of the conference room, a heated argument took place, and the sound tended to get louder and louder.

"...This disaster must be ended now! The Federation has been defeated, and the Army of the Potomac is finished. This is the main army of the Federation! Even if we can still collect some new troops, it will be difficult to defeat them in the short term.

Becoming more powerful than the Army of the Potomac, the Yankees can still easily defeat them! So we must seek a political solution, the war can no longer be fought!"

, his gray hair was fluttering with his fierce movements. The vice president who was so arrogant yesterday has now become a complete pessimist. Of course, his pessimism is also very reasonable - according to reports from the front

The information that came back was not comprehensive. The Confederate Army in the South had two powerful weapons. A gun that could fire in rapid succession... The rate of fire was likely to reach hundreds of rounds per minute! Federal soldiers were overwhelmed by this weapon.

Down with the piece!

Another possibility is some kind of rifled gun, and the rate of fire is equally astonishingly fast, far exceeding the Federal Army's hexagonal gun! What's even more frightening is that this rifled gun can also use explosive shells, and the Federal Army's infantry phalanx is destroyed by this kind of rifled gun.

The artillery was blown to pieces. The number of casualties was too many to count, probably as high as tens of thousands!

"The Federation cannot admit defeat! We still have the capital to continue fighting!" Several voices sounded almost at the same time. The tone was fierce and the attitude was rude, and they did not care at all about the feelings of President Lincoln sitting next to them.

"The Union cannot lose the eleven states in the South! And now it is not only the South that is tending to secede, but Utah and California are also likely to secede from the Union, and New Mexico and Arizona are close to enclaves after the independence of Utah.

We will definitely secede from the Union! In addition, West Virginia, which is rich in coal mines, will definitely be lost. In this way, we will lose more than half of the country... and it is still very rich land. The United States cannot bear such a loss!"

, he said: "80% of the United States' exports rely on cotton and tobacco from the South. Most of the gold and silver used to mint the U.S. dollar comes from gold and silver mines in California and Utah. The U.S. steel industry also needs coal from West Virginia. If we lose cotton and tobacco,

, gold and silver, and West Virginia coal, and over 50% of the land. What else does America have?”

"But we can't win!", "If we continue to fight, not only will Washington not be able to defend it, but the entire state of Maryland will fall, and maybe not even Philadelphia and New York!"

"So what?" "Mr. Vice President,?"

Hamlin was stunned. "If the South occupied Washington, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Philadelphia and New York, would they still be hillbillies from the South?" The U.S. Treasury Secretary paused, then

Dao, "The economy of the northern United States is a whole, New York, Philadelphia, Boston

Dayton is the heart and brain. The coal mines of West Virginia, the steel mills of Pennsylvania, the iron mines on the shores of Lake Superior, and the farms on both sides of the Mississippi River are all an indivisible whole...The Southerners either take nothing, or they take nothing.

We have to win them all! In this case, the United States will still be the United States!"

President Lincoln shook his head and said with certainty: "This is not what the South wants, nor is it what Britain, France and China want... I think, he is not Napoleon, and the American people will not bow to power rule. The people of the North will not bow to power rule."

No, neither will the people in the south!"

The President of the United States stood up, his thin face once again filled with a determined expression. He loudly said: "Gentlemen, now we are leaving Washington, leaving this capital named after the surname of the founding father of the United States, and temporarily heading to New York.

Temporary! Because the final winner of this civil war must belong to the Union and the American people!

The American people, who are born with a yearning for freedom, cannot be enslaved by anyone. What the British cannot do, the rebels in the South cannot do either. Even if they occupy Washington, New York, Philadelphia, or even the entire North.

, as long as he cannot turn the American people into slaves, the final victory will still belong to us!

Belong to a united, prosperous, and powerful United States of America! Because such an America is in the interest of all American people, including the people of the South. Therefore, we must choose to fight and fight to the end, even if it means sacrificing our lives, and we will never give in.

!As long as we don’t give in, victory will definitely belong to us!”

Finally, the US president raised his arms and shouted: "Long live the United States of America! Long live the unity!"

After making this impassioned speech, the "Conscription Act" authorized the federal government to recruit up to 1 million soldiers across the United States to form more troops! At the same time, he issued a "Federal Emergency Evacuation Order", abandoning the capital Washington and moving

Various departments of the federal government, both houses of Congress, and the Supreme Court and other institutions moved their offices to New York. Washington was also declared an "undefended city."

On June 13, 1861, four days after the first decisive battle between the North and the South in the United States, known as the "Battle of Poolesville" in history, the "Seven Stars and Stripes" symbolizing the Confederate States of America was displayed at the White House.
Chapter completed!