 After the defeat of the Union forces at Bull Run on July 21 , 1861 , Lincoln summoned McClellan from western Virginia , where McClellan had given the North the only engagements bearing a semblance of victory . He traveled by special train on the main Pennsylvania line from Wheeling through Pittsburgh , Philadelphia , and Baltimore , and on to Washington , D.C. , and was greeted by enthusiastic crowds that met his train along the way . 
