by a division which crept over the mountains farther north, and is marching south towards Bristoe Station. In the morning McDowell and Sigel were in the best possible position, but now there is nothing to prevent the union of Longstreet and Jackson.

It is August 29, 1862, and the sun is rising. General Pope is at Centreville. He has made the mistake of thinking that Jackson is retreating, but is glad to hear that he has halted. He does not know that Longstreet's troops are pouring through Thoroughfare Gap. He has been in pursuit of Jackson, has found him, and now will crush him. Couriers ride with orders to the commanders of the different corps and divisions. Heintzelman, with Hooker's and Kearney's, are at this hour between Centreville and Bull Run. Crossing Stone Bridge and riding west, we come to the field of the first Bull Run battle. One mile beyond it, south of the turnpike, near Groveton, we find Reynolds's division of Pennsylvania Reserves, Sigel's corps, and Milroy's independent brigade. Now, turning south, and riding along a country road through woods and fields,. we come to the railroad near Manassas, where we find the troops of FitzJohn Porter. He is three miles distant from Sigel and Reynolds. McDowell is near him. Banks is three miles farther south, at Bristoe Station, guarding the trains, moving slowly, when he ought to be moving rapidly, towards Bull Run.

The army under Pope is not a compact body; the troops have very little confidence in him as a commander. His own troops have not forgotten the unfortunate order which he issued when he took command, and are beginning to suffer for want of the provisions which Jackson destroyed. The troops which have been serving under McClellan are prejudiced against him. There is want of harmony among the corps and division commanders. Under such circumstances General Pope proposes to fight a great battle. He will crush Jackson, and then fall back towards Washington and reorganize and revictual his army.

Reynolds is near Groveton, within a mile of the field where King fought so bravely the night before. East of him, next in line, are Schenck's and Schurz's divisions, and then Milroy's brigade, facing north

west.

With the rising of the sun the battle begins. The Confederate troops are the same that fought the previous night-Taliaferro's division, commanded now by Starke, and Ewell's, commanded now by Lawton. Confederates drive back Schurz's division, but are driven in turn. of Schurz's brigades gains the railroad embankment and holds it.

The One

At half-past five in the morning, General Porter receives an order to

march at once to Centreville; but it is half-past seven before he is ready to move. Then he receives an order to march towards Gainesville. The troops turn north-west and march along the railroad leading to Gainesville. At half-past eleven they are at Dawkin's Branch, a little stream running south. They can see the shells bursting in the air two miles north of them; the rattle of musketry falls upon their ears. Porter has twelve thousand men. An officer comes to him with this despatch from General Buford, commanding the cavalry, who is near Gainesville, on the left flank of Reynolds: "9.30 A.M.-Seventeen regiments, one battery, and five hundred cavalry passed through Gainesville three-quarters of an hour ago on the Centreville road. I think this division should join our forces, now engaged, at once."

What should Porter and McDowell do? The order from Pope was to march to Gainesville; but Longstreet was already at Gainesville. His advance had joined Jackson, according to this despatch. Should they turn off from the road, strike through the woods, and find a route due north to Reynolds?

Porter and McDowell rode out a little distance and saw that the ground was uneven, that the troops would find it difficult marching. Farther east is the road leading to Sudley Springs. King's and Ricketts's divisions are already on it, and at noon they take up their line of march towards the sound of the cannonade.

General Porter's skirmishers are in the woods west of Dawkin's Branch, his cannon are planted along the east bank, and his troops are in line. He sees a cloud of dust west of him. What is the meaning of it? Is Longstreet swinging his troops south to attack him?

The Confederate pickets immediately in front of Porter are Rosser's cavalrymen who have been sent by Longstreet to raise a great dust in front of Porter, to make him think that his whole force is moving towards Manassas. The cavalrymen have tied bundles of brush to the tails of the horses, and are riding up and down the road.

General Porter did not like to receive orders from Pope, and his prejudice is seen in his despatches to McClellan.

"We are working," he writes, "to get behind Bull Run, and I presume will be there in a few days, if strategy does not use us up. The strategy is immense, and the tactics in the inverse proportion. . . . I believe the enemy have a contempt for the Army of Virginia. I wish myself away from it, with all our old Army of the Potomac, and so do our companions."

Through the afternoon Porter waits. The order directing him to move

to Gainesville was a joint order to himself and McDowell. McDowell has moved up the road to Sudley Springs, and reaches the field of battle in season to be of service, but Porter does not follow. He is but two miles from the conflict; a fleet horse would take him to Pope's headquarters in half an hour; no messenger is sent to obtain instructions. Through the afternoon Porter remains motionless, Pope the while supposes that Porter is obeying the order already sent.

It is four o'clock before Heintzelman is in position to attack A. P. Hill, who holds the left of the Confederate line. He selects Grover's brigade of Hooker's division to lead.

"Advance till you receive the fire of the enemy; deliver your own, then charge bayonets!" are the orders.

The brigade, which has been in all the battles of the Peninsula, moves across the fields towards the woods and the railroad embankment, behind which the Confederates are lying. First a rattle, then a roar of musketry and of Confederate cannon. The line in the field comes to a halt; the muskets fall to a level; a line of light runs the entire length. With a hurrah they go up to the embankment, driving the Confederates back upon the second line.

Now is the time to hurl in the reserves, break the Confederate line at the centre, fold it back, and crush the divided wings. But no troops

come to their support. For twenty minutes they struggle, and then are compelled to fall back, leaving more than six hundred killed and wounded on the field.

Kearney was to advance at the same moment that Grover attacked, but for some reason he did not till later, when he rolled back the Confederate line.

"For a while victory trembled in the balance," are the words of Hill. Gregg's Confederate brigade loses six hundred and thirteen killed and wounded, including every field-officer excepting two. Hill's troops are protected by the railroad embankment. He orders up Lawton's and Early's brigades, and Kearney is driven from the position which he has gained. ·

It was noon when King's division started from Dawkin's Branch to march north; and now, at six o'clock, just as the sun is going down, the troops which in the last night's gloaming turned from the turnpike west of Groveton and attacked Jackson's right wing, once more advance to attack, not the worn and wearied troops of Jackson, but Hood's division of Longstreet's corps the troops which Buford saw pouring through Gainesville at half-past nine. Here they are, with three batteries lining the edge of the forest. Darkness once more is coming on when King's troops move to the attack. General King is not able to sit in his saddle, and General Hatch commands the division. For three-quarters of an hour they struggle, when, outnumbered, they are obliged to retire, leaving one cannon in the hands of the enemy. Night closes upon a bloody scene. The Union troops have attacked, have driven the enemy from his chosen position.

General Pope believed that the tarrying of Porter at Dawkin's Branch was the cause of all his subsequent failure and disasters, and that officer subsequently was relieved of his command, was tried by court-martial, and dismissed from the army, to be reinstated again by Act of Congress in 1886. History doubtless will acquit Fitz-John Porter of being disloyal; but as the years go by, and as the secret history of the war is unfolded, it will be seen that the prejudices engendered in the Army of the Potomac by undue favoritism on the part of General McClellan had much to do with the train of disasters on the field of the second Manassas.

How easy it is to make mistakes, and in war how terrible sometimes are the consequences! General Pope is confident that the enemy is retreating, when, instead, Lee is posting his troops to renew the battle. On this Saturday morning Pope, instead of attacking, might have had his whole army east of Bull Run, on the heights of Centreville, resting his wearied

soldiers and obtaining fresh provisions; but, on the contrary, at midnight he issues his orders for an advance "in pursuit" of the enemy. Porter had arrived, and the army, with the exception of Banks's corps, was at last concentrated.

On the ground occupied by the Confederate army in the first battle of Bull Run are the Union troops. There are woods with cleared fields; two swells of land-that on which stands the house of Mr. Henry, and west of it, a mile distant, Bald Hill and Mr. Chinn's house. On the north side of the turnpike were the troops of Generals Heintzelman, Reno, Sigel, King, and Porter. General Pope knew that Jackson was still along the line of the railroad embankment, and massed his troops to attack him, not suspecting that Lee was moving Longstreet south of the turnpike to turn his own right flank.

Through the forenoon both armies have been getting ready for the conflict. Just before Porter advances to attack Jackson, Reynolds and Ricketts discover the troops of Longstreet creeping round the left flank, and Reynolds forms his division to meet him.

The brigades of Barnes and Butterfield, of Porter's corps-fresh troops that have had no part in the battle since they came from the Peninsula— are first engaged. King's division, a great deal smaller than it was fortyeight hours ago, also advances.

"I am hard pressed, and must have reinforcements," is Jackson's message to Lee.

An officer rides to Longstreet with Lee's message: "Jackson needs assistance. Send him what troops you can spare." The troops will have to march nearly three miles to get there. Longstreet has a better plan. The Union troops advancing against Jackson face north-west. Longstreet is south of Groveton. He sees that he can bring his artillery into position to fire north-east, and that the shot and shells will enfilade Porter's line.

"I saw that if I were to open fire the attack against Jackson could not be continued ten minutes. I made no movements with my troops," said Longstreet to me after the war.

A battery wheels into position and the shells scream through the air, bursting in Porter's ranks, and doing such execution that in ten minutes Butterfield and Barnes are falling back. Had not Longstreet opened at the very moment, Jackson would without doubt have been driven from the position.

General Pope has not yet discovered what Lee is about to do, and makes the mistake of ordering Reynolds to cross the turnpike and assist