THE ENEMY'S FLANK TURNED. 115 had become much exhausted. The enemy had got information of this movement, and from high points of observation large masses of troops could be seen moving rapidly towards the threatened point. The roar of artillery soon announced that Hunter was engaged with the enemy. Heintzelman immediately pushed forward his division, but finding it slow work to get it over in a body, he ordered the regiments to break off and cross separately. The men, however, suffering from thirst, stopped to drink and fill their canteens which delayed the march. McDowell, having stationed himself where he could the most quickly receive reports from the different divisions, had at length flung himself on the ground to get a little rest, as he was suffering from illness. At half past ten a courier dashed up to him, and announced that Hunter was across Bull Run. He immediately sprang to the saddle, and galloped off to accompany the column on which the fate of the day depended. The brave Porter, the gallant Burnside, and the chivalrous Sprague were in the advance of Hunter, driving the enemy steadily before them. Soon Heintzelman appeared also on their left, and the amazed enemy saw their position turned. The advancing columns were at last seen from the lookouts at Tyler's position, and huge columns of smoke rising in the summer air and waving to and fro in the sunlight showed where the encountering hosts were struggling for victory. Then all along that sluggish stream, for five miles in extent, the artillery opened, and the columns were put in motion. Tyler's left wing swept forward, the famous Irish regiment, sixteen hundred strong, leading the van. With the quick-step at first, then the double-quick, they, with shouts that shook the field, flung themselves forward, skirting with their glittering steel the edge of the forest. Coats, haversacks, everything that could impede their progress were cast loose. Meagher galloped at their head, and shouting, "Come on, boys; you have got your chance at last," led them fiercely on the foe. The Seventy-ninth Highlanders, the Thirteenth New York, and Second Wisconsin, followed. It was now high noon, and the battle began to rage with terrible fury. Hunter had been wounded, but his and Heintzelman's divisions kept on their terrible way, steadily pushing the enemy before them. Rickett's battery, after losing nearly every man at the guns, fell into the hands of the enemy. Out of the woods volumes of smoke writhed fiercely upwards, telling where bodies of infantry struggled for the mastery-regiments on the doublequick streamed across the open meadows, and the next moment, like two thunder clouds charged with lightning, burst in flame on each other, while the incessant roar of cannon shook the earth. The surrounding inhabitants grew pale with affright, and the deafening reverberations rolled sullenly away, till they broke with a muffled sound over Fairfax and Alexandria, and even Washington itself, blanching the cheeks of listeners, and filling their hearts with vague fears. Those stationed near Tyler's position listened with intense eagerness to Hunter's and Heintzelman's charges in the northern woods, and ever and anon cheers were heard mingling with the roar of artillery. Some regiments flinched through want of proper officers, and Rickett's battery was lost by the cowardly flight of the Fire Zouaves who had boasted of the deeds they would perform beforehand. Others came gallantly into the fight for a while, but soon broke and fled in dismay; a few stood firm until all was lost. The Second Minnesota, ordered to the extreme right, moved for a mile across the field of battle at the quick and double-quick, and drew up within close pistol shot of a superior foe. Heintzelman was everywhere present-now in talking distance of the foe, and now dashing amid the wavering battalions to steady them. Where such men as he, and Porter, and Burnside, and Sprague led, there could not but be deeds of heroism; THE REPULSE. and by two Many of the 117 and where such batteries as Griffin's, and Rickett's, and the Rhode Island, were directed by their respective commanders, the harvest of death was reaped fast. By little after noon these two flanking divisions had worked their desperate way down the farther banks of Bull Run until they were opposite Tyler's position at the Stone bridge. The enemy hurried up regiment after regiment to arrest the reversed tide of battle, but all in vain. Tyler, sending forward reinforcements across the stream, brought help to the exhausted, thirsty troops which had been marching and fighting ever since two o'clock in the morning of this hot July day. Sherman and Keyes led their brigades gallantly forward, o'clock the battle was to human view won. enemy were already in full flight-the whole army borne back a mile and a half-and Beauregard was preparing to retreat to his lines at Manassas Junction, when clouds of dust, rising in the distance, told him that reinforcements were hurrying to his relief. As Blucher stole away from Grouchy at Wavres, to decide the fate of the battle of Waterloo, so had Johnston beguiled Patterson, and pushing his troops forward by railroad, had now come to make a Waterloo defeat to the Federal arms. Hunter and Heintzelman, after their long march and long fight without rest or food, and part of the time without water, now found a fresh enemy approaching on their right flank, and partly in their rear. It matters not whether this was the cause of the panic that followed or not, it made the loss of the battle certain. Ten thousand fresh troops thrown suddenly on these two divisions, that had been marching and fighting without any respite for thirteen hours, could have but one result. It must be remembered that those thirteen hours told heavier on our raw troops, fresh from the counting house and workshops, than twenty-four would have done on old soldiers. An orderly retreat might have been effected but for the panic, nothing more. The brave and dauntless Heintzelman galloped among the broken ranks in vain. Porter, Burnside, and others were helpless in the loosened, refluent flood. Griffin, raging like a young lion at, as he believed, the useless loss of his guns, turned savagely back, powerless to stay the reverse tide of battle. The gallant young governor of Rhode Island, seeing that all was lost, spiked; with his own hands, the guns of his regiment before he fled. McDowell, hearing heavy cannonading down. by Blackburn ford, and fearing his left flank would be turned, which would secure the total annihilation of his force, galloped thither, and drew up the reserve under Miles to arrest the progress of the enemy. The spectacle now in the center was painful in the extreme-hosts of Federal troops--some detached from their regiments, all mingled in one disorderly rout, were fleeing along the road and through the fields on either side. Army wagons, sutlers' teams, and private carriages, choked the passage, tumbling against each other amid clouds of dust. Hacks, containing unlucky spectators of the battle, were smashed like glass, and the occupants lost sight of in the debris. Horses flying wildly from the battle-field, many of them in death agony, galloped at random forward, swelling the tumult, while wounded men, lying along the banks, appealed with raised hands to those who rode horses to be lifted behind. Then the artillery such as was saved, came thundering along, smashing and overturning everything in its passage. The regular cavalry joined in the melee, adding to the accumulated terrors, for they rode down footmen without mercy. The trains from Hunter's division soon came rushing in from a branch road, and from every side fresh torrents swelled the confused and onrolling tide. The wounded were left to the tender mercies of the victors, and the roads and fields, along which, on this early Sabbath morning such a confident imposing array had passed, were black with terrified fugitives, and cumbered with abandoned cannon, THE KILLED AND WOUNDED. 119 wagons, arms, and accoutrements. It was a wild flight. The calm presence of the reserve under Blencker, drawn up in line of battle at Centreville, checked the hitherto uncontrollable terror, but not sufficient to allow McDowell to make a stand there, and the turbulent stream rolled on towards Washington. As night deepened the rain came down in torrents, drenching the living and dead alike. All night long the weary, straggling army, toiled on, and at morning began to pour in tumultuous masses over Long bridge, carrying consternation to the Capital. Some regiments, however, preserved their order, and marched into Washington with ranks unbroken. The news of this terrible disaster traveling over the electric wires, made every cheek turn pale, and sent a shudder throughout the north. Not only was a great battle lost, but "the Capital is lost," trembled on every tongue. On the heels of such a routed host, a mere section of the rebel army could enter Washington. But it did not follow up its success. Whether the severe beating it had received up to the last moment, or ignorance of the extent of the panic, or fear of losing all it had gained by pressing forward in the darkness on unknown dangers, restrained it-at all events it attempted no pursuit, and the discomfited army had nothing but its own terrors, the darkness, storm, and hunger, and weariness to contend with. The battlefield presented a sickening appearance-the dead and wounded were everywhere, and citizens of a common country, of the same lineage-the blooming youth and the gray-haired man lay, side by side, sprinkled with each other's blood. The pitiless rain came down upon the sufferers whose low moans loaded the midnight air. Our loss in killed, and wounded, and missing, amounted to nearly two thousand, of which one thousand four hundred. and twenty-three were taken prisoners. Among the killed were Colonel Cameron, brother of the Secretary of War, |