Groups of McClellan's army, arriving from Alexandria, met Pope's men in Centreville. They laughed and shouted at the tired, beaten soldiers. Many said they were glad that Pope had lost.
But one large group of soldiers did not get into the battle at all that day. This was the group from McClellan's Army of the Potomac, led by Fitz John Porter.
One of McClellan's Generals, Samuel Sturgis, greeted Pope at Centreville: I always told you, Pope, that if they gave you enough rope, you would hang yourself.
We found similar support from our longtime athletic trainer, Cornell McClellan, a former social worker and martial arts expert who owned his own gym in Chicago.
By midnight of election day, it was clear that Lincoln had won. He got only about a half-million more popular votes than McClellan. But when electoral votes were counted, he got two hundred twelve to McClellan's twenty-one.
Lee decided to hit Pope before McClellan could join him. He left a few thousand troops to guard Richmond, then took the rest north. Lee moved up to the Rappahannock River, across from Pope's army.
Ms. McClellan, who is black, is a longtime Richmond legislator who was already thought to have statewide ambitions and has a close relationship with Senator Tim Kaine.
He said he knew that McClellan was not an aggressive general. But he said McClellan was a good organizer who could build the defeated army into a strong force.
McClellan had planned to move quickly to Yorktown, then push on to Richmond. He would move along the finger of land between the York River and the James River.