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1861.]

PATTERSON AND JOHNSTON.

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woods the next day, and forced to surrender with six hundred men, a few companies escaping. General Garnett, hearing of Pegram's loss, tried to retreat southward, but McClellan cut off his line of retreat, and he was forced to fly eastward over a mountain road. The way was difficult, and being followed closely by the Union army, he had to turn and fight frequently. The last stand was made (July 13) at a ford on Little Cheat River, where four companies of a Georgia regiment were cut off, and General Garnett himself, while trying in vain to rally his men, was killed. The losses in killed and wounded in these engagements were not very great, but the Confederates lost more than a thousand prisoners, with nearly all their stores, baggage, and artillery. The Unionists thus gained control of Western Virginia through the skill of General McClellan, whose ability soon won for him a wider field of action.

While these things were going on in Western Virginia, MajorGeneral Patterson, in command of the United States forces at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, had begun to move toward the Potomac. General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Army of the Shenandoah, feeling that Harper's Ferry could not be held, burned the great railroad bridge and other buildings there which might be useful to the enemy, and withdrew his troops (June 13) to Winchester, in the Shenandoah Valley. Patterson crossed the Potomac three days afterward, but on the 18th the troops were all ordered to fall back into Maryland, and part of them were called to Washington. Johnston then sent General Jackson, afterward called "Stonewall," with a brigade and General J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry, to Martinsburg, to destroy all he could of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. On the 2d of July General Patterson again crossed the Potomac at Williamsport, where the water was only waist deep, and took position at Martinsburg. Jackson fell back toward Johnston, keeping up a running fire with the Union forces as he retreated. Patterson had then about eighteen thousand men, while Johnston had only about eight thousand; but instead of advancing on Winchester and attacking the enemy, as he was expected to do, he turned toward Harper's Ferry after reaching Bunker's Hill, and marched (July 17) to Charlestown. This left Johnston free to move where he pleased. How he improved the opportunity and what effect it had on the Union cause will be shown in the next chapter.

CHAPTER VII.

BULL RUN.

FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND MORE VOLUNTEERS.-GENERAL MCDOWELL.-ON TO RICHMOND.-THE MARCH BEGUN.-BEAUREGARD'S POSITION.-BATTLE OF BULL RUN.-STONEWALL JACKSON.—— JOHNSTON AIDS BEAUREGARD.-DEATH OF GENERAL BEE.-MRS. HENRY'S HOUSE.-A DISGUSTED IRISHMAN.-THE STARS AND STRIPES OR THE STARS AND BARS.-KIRBY SMITH AND EARLY TO THE RESCUE.-THE UNION ROUT.-DAVIS VISITS THE BATTLE-GROUND.-THE CENTREVILLE PICNIC.-CONFEDERATE EXAGGERATIONS.-A LONG RETREAT.-DEN I GOT OFF.-CONFEDERATE HOPES.—THE NORTH PREPARES FOR WAR IN EARNEST.-MCCLELLAN IN COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.-THE BULL RUN MONUMENT.

THE

HE extra session of Congress called by President Lincoln met July 4, approved of the President's acts, and empowered him to accept the services of half a million more volunteers for three years. Washington was then safe from attack, but the main Confederate force still lay at Manassas Junction, within marching distance of the Capital, and people who for weeks had watched the gathering there of what they looked upon as a resistless force began to wonder why the Grand Army, as the crowd of volunteers was fondly called, did not at once move upon and crush the "rebels." General Irvin McDowell, who, under General Scott, was at the head of this force, had never commanded a large body of men in the field, but he had had a thorough military training, and had seen European armies, and he was well aware that his troops were in no condition to meet an enemy. He had worked hard to organize them, but the regiments were formed of men from all grades of life, commanded principally by civilians without military knowledge. In most cases, so little drilling had they had that they scarcely knew their commanders, and some of the brigadiergenerals had never seen their brigades in line. A large part of the men, too, were three months' volunteers, whose term of service had nearly expired. General Scott, then seventy-five years old and too weak in body to take the field, was of the same opinion with General McDowell. He knew that the army was in no condition to move, but the people and the press started the cry "On to Richmond!" and he was at last forced to yield to public opinion and make an advance when his judgment told him it was wrong.

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MARCH TO MANASSAS.

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It may be said that the Confederates were no better offthat their troops, too, were new to military service, and equally without organization. But this would be only partly true, for most of them had been longer under arms than the Union troops, who were made up chiefly of raw levies pushed forward hastily to defend the Capital. The Confederates, too, were acting on the defensive in a country well known to themselves, and were occupying a strong military position. A glance at any good map of Virginia will show that the Confederate armies at this time held very advantageous positions, where they were enabled not only to threaten the Union forces, but also easily to aid each other. Beauregard, with the main army, occupied a line along a stream called Bull Run, his headquarters being at Manassas Junction, about thirty-five miles from Washington, where he was within easy communication with Johnston in the Shenandoah Valley, distant about seventy miles by railroad, and with the troops in the Peninsula and at Richmond, distant seventy-five miles by railroad. The Confederates thus held what is called an interior line, with their troops at three different points within easy reach of each other, while the Union forces were arrayed against them in an exterior line, in which the several bodies of troops were at much greater distances from each other. In this the Confederates had a great advantage; but to overcome this, General Butler at Fortress Monroe was expected to keep the enemy in the Peninsula busy, and General Patterson was ordered to so occupy Johnston that he could not send reinforcements to Beauregard.

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IRVIN MCDOWELL.

General McDowell began his march toward Manassas in the afternoon of Tuesday, July 16. He had about twenty-eight' thousand men, in four divisions: the First Division under the command of General Tyler, the Second under Colonel Hunter, the Third under Colonel Heintzelman, and the Fifth under

Colonel Miles. The Fourth Division, under General Runyon, was left to guard the defences on the Potomac opposite Washington. The First Division, which led the advance, did not reach Centreville until the morning of the 18th. General Tyler had been cautioned not to bring on a battle; but thinking that he was strong enough to go through to Manassas, he pushed on to Bull Run, which he reached at a place called Blackburn's Ford. From the heights he opened an artillery fire on a Confederate battery opposite, and finally advanced a brigade to the stream. But the Confederates under General Longstreet easily drove him back, and he was obliged to retire with a loss of nearly a hundred men, the enemy losing about sixty. The effect of this skirmish was bad for the Unionists, while the Confederates were greatly elated by it.

The next two days (July 19 and 20) were passed in studying the ground and the position of the enemy. Beauregard was found to be strongly posted on the other side of Bull Run, a stream too deep to be crossed excepting at the fords, which were from a half-mile to a mile apart. His lines were about eight miles long, from Union Mills to Stone Bridge, where the Warrenton Turnpike crosses. These two points and the other fords between them were defended by batteries behind breastworks of felled trees, and supported by foot-soldiers, mostly hidden by the woods. After a thorough survey of the position, General McDowell determined to make a false attack on Beauregard's right below, and to make the real attack on his left above the Stone Bridge. It must be understood that as the two parties in a battle face each other, the enemy's right is always opposite the left of the attacking force.

In accordance with this plan, Colonel Miles was ordered to hold Centreville with his division and to make a false attack at Blackburn's Ford at the same time. Early on the morning of Sunday, July 21, the First Division, under Tyler, moved from Centreville by the Warrenton Turnpike to Stone Bridge, with orders to threaten the Confederates at that point, and to cross when possible. The Second and Third Divisions, under Hunter and Heintzelinan, were ordered to march further up Bull Run, and cross by a ford at Sudley Spring, which it was found the enemy had left unguarded; then, coming down on the other side of Bull Run, to attack the defences of the Stone Bridge in

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STONEWALL JACKSON.

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the rear. All these movements were executed, but so slowly that Hunter and Heintzelman did not get across Sudley Ford until ten o'clock. The Confederates were found strongly posted, but the Union troops were superior in number, and after a stubborn fight forced them back little by little until Tyler was enabled

to cross at Stone Bridge. The Confederate left was thus turned-that is,the Union troops had got around it so as to attack it behind. This was a great advantage, for with good management the Union troops could defeat this end before Beauregard could get up his other troops, many of whom were opposing the false attack several miles below.

The Confederates, under Generals Evans and Bee, gave way and

fell back slowly. It was afterward said at Richmond that they were whipped at this time, but that the men did

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not know it. General Bee, however, felt that the day was lost. As he was retreating with his troops, he came upon General Jackson, who had brought several regiments to his support. "General," he cried, "they are beating us back!" "Then, sir," replied Jackson, "we'll give them the bayonet." Bee

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