ed, and by threats and reconnoissances in force | port, as having been the original design, caused him to be reenforced. I have accomplished characterizing the movement upon Centreinore in this respect than the General-in-Chief asked, ville as a mere "demonstration." It was all or could well be expected, in face of an enemy far changed by Tyler's "reconnoissance" of the superior in numbers, with no line of communication 18th, by which he brought on the conflict at to protect. * 66 R. PATTERSON." * He really accomplished nothing which the General - in - Chief expected of him. Scott said, in his testimony before the Investigating Committee: "Although General Patterson was never specifically ordered to attack the enemy, he certainly was told and expected, even with inferior numbers,* to hold the rebel army in his front on the alert, and to prevent it from reenforcing Manassas Junction, by threatening manoeuvres and demonstrations; results often obtained in war with half numbers. After a time General Patterson moved from Bunker Hill, and then fell off upon Charlestown, whence he seems to have made no other demonstration that did not look like a retreat out of Virginia. From that moment Johnston was at liberty to join Beauregard with any part of the army of Winchester." Yes, more than this: Johnston, at any moment, was at liberty to join Beauregard so far as Patterson was concerned; and only failed to leave Winchester on the 17th, because of his want of conveyance. He understood the Federal commander more fully than the Department at Washington. Had he moved off on the 17th, Patterson's orders were to push for Leesburg and force a march after him to Centreville; but, it is highly probable that the story of Centreville and Bull Run would have become history before he should have appeared in view of Fairfax Court-House. Views Regarding the Plan of the Battle. As to the plan of the advance, we believe it to have been well ordered. It already has been stated that Heintzelman was to strike off from Sangster's Station, to threaten Manassas by Brentsville, while McDowell should "feel" of Beauregard at Bull Run, and approach Manassas, at the same time, by way of Union Mills and Blackburn's Ford. This Major Barnard refers to in his reSee Appendix, page for citations of evidence before the Committee, regarding the inferiority of Johnston's force to that of Patterson. Blackburn's Ford, on that day. Fearing the worst, that Beauregard was in force at that point, ready to press back the advance if not to occupy Centreville, McDowell hastily left Sangster's for Centreville, ordering Heintzelman to follow with all speed. The flank movement by Brentsville was instantly aban doned. After the 18th, reconnoissances followed; and, from what was learned by them, as well as from residents and scouts, McDowell so far modified his original programme for the descent upon Manassas Junction, as to determine him to turn Beauregard's position at Bull Run, by the right. This would strike the rebel line of reenforcements, and, with McDowell's then disposable strength, would force his enemy back upon Manassas. It was a clear, sensible, well-arranged proceeding, and only failed of success from his having to cope with two well-ordered armies in stead of one As to whether the battle could or could not have been fought a day or two days earlier, is a question for military experts to decide. If the battle had resulted favorably to our arms, every movement unquestionably would have been commended as marked by prudence and military sagacity; and, if victory would have resulted had Patterson's army done its al- The Great Evil. lotted duty, it is but fair to give to McDowell the credit of having well performed his part. The great, glaring blemish which stands out all over the history of that brief campaign, is the want of discipline among officers as well as troops. With Colonels in command of brigades with a Brigadier-General in chief command, there was, from the very date of organization of the several corps, a want of unity, an absence of radical subordination. The prime defect lay in the military system then in force, rendering volunteer commands of the same grade subordinate to those of the regular service, thus creating enmities, conflicts of authority and military jealousies enough to distract any well-laid scheme. It was a The Numbers Engaged on Both Sides. painful spectacle to read official reports where- | engaged, six regiments of in crimination and gross charges against su- Miles' division, and the five periors or equals found place; wherein a regiments of Runyon's briMajor assumed the character of censor and gade, from which we have neither sound nor critic even of the plans and orders of the wounded prisoners. Making all allowances Commanding General; and, when we are for mistakes, we are warranted in saying further informed that, at the council of war that the Federal army consisted of at least called on the evening of the 20th, even new-fifty-five regiments of volunteers, eight comly-made Colonels opposed the plans for the advance, we can scarcely wonder if what left Washington as an army should have returned a rabble. The Numbers Engaged on Both Sides. panies of regular infantry, four of marines, nine of regular cavalry, and twelve batteries, one hundred and nineteen guns." But, taking his own estimate of eight hundred to a regiment, after deducting the sixteen regiments of reserves-nine in Miles' division, six in Runyon's and one in Tyler's --we have but thirty-two thousand as his estimate of the Federal force in action. This is overstated about eight thousand: not to exceed twenty-four thousand were on the field, we are sure. One good came of that defeat: the country was made to realize the importance of a thorough reorganization of our Army System-the necessity for discipline and drillthe futility of the "On to Richmond" cry until a clear, straight-forward and palpable policy was ordained in Administration circles. | The number engaged has been so variously stated, Of the strength of his own force we are that it is now, and doubt- left in much doubt. He states positively less ever will be, a matter of some specula- that he had, on the 21st, twenty-seven thoution. McDowell named eighteen thousand sand effectives, which included sixty-two es the actual number of those who cross-hundred from Johnston's army and seventeen ed Bull Run; but this, we surmise, represented the divisions of Hunter and Heintzelman alone—those who first crossed. Adding the brigades of Sherman and Keyes, afterwards sent over, and we have, for the actual Federal force engaged, about twenty-two hundred, shows how much of the truth four thousand roops, exclusive of the artillery. This would leave fifteen thousand to represent the number of the reserves, considering the entire army to have aggregated forty thousand, which, we believe, was the force set apart for the advance. This did not include the reenforcements dispatched by the Secretary of War after his return to Washington, on the evening of the 20th, but which had not passed Fairfax when the retreat was sounded. Beauregard places the numbers of McDowell at over fifty thousand. He arrives at his estimates in the following manner: "To serve the future historian of this war, I will note the fact that among the captured Federalists are officers and men of forty-seven regiments of volunteers, besides from some nine different regiments of regular troops, detachments of which were engaged. From their official reports we learn of a regiment of volunteers hundred from Fredericksburg. But, the enumeration of his brigades and regiments conclusively proves these figures to be an under-estimate; while the fact that Johnston's reenforcement is set down as but sixty was suppressed-that reenforcement actually amounting to seventeen thousand effective men. It was the arrival on the ground, at three o'clock in the afternoon, of a fresh body of these men, (about five thousand strong,) which gave the Confederates the victory.* * Jefferson Davis, in his speech at Richmond, announcing the victory and its results, stated the Con federate force engaged to have been but eighteen thousand. How near this was to the truth, may be inferred from his further statement, that the captures included "sixty pieces of splendid artillery" and " provisions enough to feed an army of fifty thousand men for twelve months." As the entire Federal artillery on the field consisted of but twenty · two pieces, [See Major Barry's Official Report,] and as McDowell had to keep open his communications with Washington in order to obtain his daily subsistence, the statements of the President may be pronounced so at variance with the truth as to be surprising even for him. ADDRESS OF THE REBEL GENERALS. 273 The Losses on Both Of the actual losses we are The Spoils. rounds of small-arms' am- equally uncertain. There is much discrepancy in the statements of the two commanders, while there are good reasons to doubt the correctness of either. Thus McDowell said: "It will be seen that our killed amounted to nineteen officers and four hundred and sixty-two non-commissioned officers and privates, and our wounded to sixty-four officers and nine hundred and forty-seven non-commissioned officers and privates. Many of the wounded will soon be able to join the ranks, and will leave our total of killed and disabled from further service under one thousand. The return of the missing is very inaccurate, the men supposed to be missing having fallen into other regiments and gone to Washington-many of the Zouaves to New York. In one brigade, the number originally reported six hundred and sixteen, was yesterday reduced to one hundred and seventy-four. These reductions are being made daily. In a few days a more correct return can be made." That correct return never was made, though the figures were given, eventually, as four hundred and seventy-nine killed, one thousand and eleven wounded, and about one thousand five hundred taken | prisoners. Beauregard, giving the data for his estimates, made the Federal loss to have been over four thousand five hundred. His report was accompanied by a list of one thou-five lost after having been brought off safely sand four hundred and sixty of the wounded as far as Cub Run, where they had to be and prisoners. As his report was made out abandoned owing to the obstruction of the over a month after the battle, the list must bridge by an overturned wagon-making six have contained every Federal in his hands. guns lost by it. These comprise every gun If so, his confident assumption that our loss lost-being seventeen in all. Beauregard's exceeded four thousand five hundred, would statement, therefore, of " some twenty-eight make the list of killed reach the extra- field pieces," was a fiction. If his other spoils ordinary number of three thousand. The dwindled down in proportion, the captures killed, as ascertained by company returns were not enough to enrich his treasury. and by a comparison with the lists from Richmond, only reached the figures given above, viz.: four hundred and seventy-nine. Beauregard stated his captures of spoils to have included, in part, some twenty-eight field pieces of the best character of arm, with over one hundred rounds of ammunition for each gun, thirty-seven caissons, six forges, four battery wagons, sixty-four artillery horses, "One week ago a countless host of men, organcompletely equipped, five hundred thousand | ized into an army, with all the appointments which 66 Congratulatory Address of the Rebel Generals. by the two We are prepared, after this sifting of "official" statements, to lay before the reader the Address issued rebel Generals to their troops. It read: "HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, MANASSAS JUNCTION, July 28, 1861. "Soldiers of the Confederate States: 64 Address of the Rebel Generals. modern art and practiced skill | umph and complete victory. We thank you for could devise, invaded the soil doing your whole duty in the service of your counof Virginia. try." "JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON, "Their people sounded their approach with tri"G. T. BEAUREGARD." umphant displays of anticipated victory. Their Generals came in almost regal state. Their ministers, Senators and women came to witness the immolation of this army and the subjugation of our people, and to celebrate these with wild revelry. "It is with the profoundest emotions of gratitude to an overruling God, whose hand is manifest in protecting our homes and your liberties, that we, your Generals commanding, are enabled, in the name of our whole country, to thank you for that patriotic courage, that heroic gallantry, that devoted daring, exhibited by you in the actions of the 18th and 21st of July, by which the host of the enemy was scattered, and a signal and glorious victory was achieved. "The two affairs of the 18th and 21st were but the sustained and continued efforts of your patriotism against the constantly recurring colors of an enemy fully treble our numbers, and this effort was crowned on the evening of the 21st with a victory so complete that the invaders were driven from the field, and made to fly in disorderly rout back to their intrenchments, a distance of over thirty miles. Atrocity towards the Wounded and Dead. It would be well for the memory of the Confederate leaders if the historian were spared the painful task of recording the scenes which followed their victory. A battle-field strewn with the dead and dying, an air echoing with the shrieks of the wounded, it would be supposed were surroundings calculated to excite all the best emotions of the human heart-emotions of pity, the desire to relieve suffering, the wish to soothe the couch of the dying. But, we have the blasting record before us which shows that pity and mercy were dead in bosoms "fired" for the Southern cause; and we read, with mingled feelings of disgust, indignation and shame, that these conquerors on the field treated their dead and wounded enemy and their prisoners, with a refinement of atrocity which only finds its parallel, in the horrors perpetrated by the Chinese Imperalists on their rebel victims, under the eyes and guns of the English. In the report of the Committee appointed under the resolution of April 1st, 1862, to "They left upon the field nearly every piece of their artillery, a large portion of their arms, equipments, baggage, stores, &c., and almost every one of their wounded and dead, amounting, together" collect evidence with regard to barbarous with the prisoners, to many thousands; and thus the Northern hosts were driven by you from Virginia. "Soldiers, we congratulate you on an event which insures the liberty of our country. We congratulate every man of you whose glorious privilege it was to participate in this triumph of courage and truth, to fight in the battle of Manassas. You have created an epoch in the history of liberty, and unborn nations will rise up and call you blessed. Continue this noble devotion, looking always to the protection of the just God, and before time grows much older, we will be hailed as the deliverers of a nation of ten millions of people. "Comrades, our prothers who have fallen have earned undying renown, and their blood, shed in our holy cause, is a precious and acceptable sacrifice to the Father of Truth and Right; their graves are beside the tomb of Washington, their spirits have joined his in eternal communion. We will hold the soil in which the dust of Washington is mingled with the dust of our brothers. We drop one tear on their laurels, and move forward to avenge them. "Soldiers, we congratulate you on a glorious tri treatment by the rebels, at Manassas, of the remains of officers and soldiers killed in battle there," we have all the data necessary to confirm previous insinuations of extreme cruelty practiced upon our wounded and the fiendish usage shown to the remains of our dead by the Confederates after their victory. It appears by the evidence adduced, that our wounded languished for several days, some on the field, others in disgusting and overcrowded quarters, before any attention was paid to them-that our own surgeons, who had voluntarily remained on the field after the battle in order to be permitted to care for their friends, were forbidden to exercise any care for the suffering-that young and inexperienced surgeons were encouraged to "operate" on our woundedthat food and water both were doled out in meagre quantities and in unsuitable quality -that insults of words were unceasing and at times very gross-that in Richmond the REBEL ATROCITIES ON THE WOUNDED AND Ꭰ Ꭼ Ꭺ Ꭰ . 275 prisoners were treated like dogs-and, finally, that the dead were mutilated on the field, in their graves, and at the dissection-table to gratify the malignity of those who professed to claim "chivalry" as exclusively their own. The report of the Committee is frightful to peruse, the evidence is so overwhelming, so damning. We can quote but a few paragraphs that the reader may judge for himself as to the nature of the offense which forever must cover the names of those concerned with infamy. Atrocity towards the Wounded and Dead. After detailing a number of cases of violent injury and outrage inflicted upon the Atrocity towards the Wounded and Dead. the statements of other witnesses. He met a free negro, named Simon or Simons, who stated that it was a common thing for the rebel soldiers to exhibit the bones of the Yankees. I found,' he says, in the bushes in the neighborhood, a part of a Zouave uniform, with the sleeve sticking out of the grave, and a portion of the pantaloons. Attempting to pull it up, I saw the two ends of the grave were still unopened, but the middle had been pried up, pulling up the extremities of the uniform at some places, the sleeves of the shirt in another, and a portion of the pantaloons. Dr. Swalm (one of the surgeons, whose testimony has already been referred to) point ed out the trenches where the secessionists had buried their own dead, and, on examination, it ap living, the report proceeds to consider the tes-peared that their remains had not been disturbed at timony adduced of violence and barbarism toward the bodies of the dead: 'Revolting as these disclosures are, it was when the committee came to examine witnesses in reference to the treatment of our heroic dead that the fiendish spirit of the rebel leaders was most prominently exhibited. Daniel Bixby, jr., of Washington, testifies that he went out in company with Mr. G. A. Smart, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who went to search for the body of his brother, who fell at Blackburn's Ford in the action of the 18th of July. They found the grave. The clothes were identified as those of his brother on account of some peculiarity in the make, for they had been made by his mother; and, in order to identifiy them, other clothes made by her were taken, that they might compare them. "We found no head in the grave, and no bones of any kind-nothing but the clothes and portions of the flesh. We found the remains of three other bodies all together. The clothes were there; some flesh was left, but no bones.' The witness also states that Mrs. Pierce Butler, who lives near the place, said that she had seen the rebels boiling portions of the bodies of our dead in order to obtain their bones as relics. They could not wait for them to decay. She said that she had seen drumsticks made of 'Yankee shinbones,' as they called them. Mrs. Butler also stated that she had seen a skull that one of the New Orleans artillery had, which, he said, he was going to send home and have mounted, and that he intended to drink a brandy punch out of it the day he was married. "Frederick Scholes, of the city of Brooklyn, New York, testified that he proceeded to the battle-field of Bull Run on the fourth of this month (April) to find the place where he supposed his brother's body was buried. Mr. Scholes, who isa man of unquestioned character, by his testimony fully confirms all. Mr. Scholes met a free negro, named Hampton, who resided near the place, and when he told him the manner in which these bodies had been dug up he said he knew it had been done, and added, that the rebels had commenced digging bodies two or three days after they were buried, for the purpose, at first, of obtaining the buttons off their uniforms, and that afterwards they disinterred them to get their bones. He said they had taken rails and pushed the ends down in the centre under the middle of the bodies, and pried them up. The information of the negroes of Benjamin Franklin Lewis corroborated fully the statement of this man Hampton. They said that a good many of the bodies had been stripped naked on the field before they were buried, and that some were buried naked. I went to Mr. Lewis's house and spoke to him of the manner in which these bodies had been disinterred. He admitted that it was infamous, and condemned principally the Louisiana Tigers, of General Wheat's division. He admitted that our wounded had been very badly treated.' In confirmation of the testimony of Dr. Swalm and Dr, Homiston, this witness avers that Mr. Lewis mentioned a number of instances of men who had been murdered by bad surgical treatment. Mr. Lewis was afraid that a pestilence would break out in consequence of the dead being left unburied, and stated that he had gone and warned the neighborhood and had the dead buried, sending his own men to assist in doing so. 'On Sunday morning (yesterday) I went out in search of my brother's grave. We found the trench, and dug for the bodies below. They were eighteen inches to two feet below the surface, and had been hustled in in any way. In one end of the trench we found, not more than two or three inches below the surface, the thigh bone of a man which had evidently been dug up after the burial. At the other end of the trench we found the shin-bone of a man, which had been struck by a |