NOTES TAKEN ON THE BATTLE-FIELD. regard, Johnston, and Bonham have just come to the hill where I have been standing. The whole scene is before us-a grand moving diorama. The enemy have sent a ball from their rifled cannon at us. Another. They pass over us with a sound that makes our flesh crawl. All have left the spot but Gens. Beauregard, Bonham, and Johnston, and their aids. Tho column. It is renewed again, nearer, I think, to the enemy. Another ball exactly over our heads. A very sustaining force follows our flanking column. The enemy, firing at our generals, has dropped a shot among the wagons in the edge of the woods below, and they dash off. Another shot follows them as they fly, and plunges in the ground but a few feet behind one of them. 11 o'clock. them, and they stand stationary for a long time; but at last the enemy's column goes back-a column of dust arises in their rear-a shout rises that roars loud as the artillery from our men-the enemy's fire slackens-our reserves advance-the dust rises on to the position lately occupied by the enemy-we triumph, we triumph, thank God! The dust still rises in the rear of the enemy, as though they were retreating rapidly. BULL RUN, Sunday Morning, July 21-10 o'clock. It seemed to be conceded that this was to be the day of trial for which we have been working for many months past, and, in common with the immense mass of men assembled here, I have taken my position upon Bull Run, to share the fortunes of the contest. The scene a moment since, and yet, is unut-firing has ceased at the head of our flanking terably sublime. Upon the hill, just one and a third mile off, the enemy are placing their artillery. We see them plunging down the Centreville road to the apex of the eminence above Mitchell's ford, and deploying to the right and left. Dark masses are drifting on with the power of fate in the road. We see the columns moving, and, as they deploy through the forests, we see the cloud of dust floating over them, to mark their course. When the dust ceases we are sure that they The firing has been awful. The heads of have taken their position. The firing now the flanking and resisting columns are distinctcommences from two batteries to the rightly visible from the smoke that rises above and left of the road. It is constant, and an- | other has been opened about a mile lower down. That, however, has been firing for an hour past. The guns are served with great rapidity and precision, and, as we are within range, and uncertain, therefore, when they will favor us, there is quite an interest in the position. Our own troops are in the dense forest that lies below us on Bull Run. They are still, not a gun has yet been fired, and there would seem to be nothing to indicate their presence. Of their presence and their readiness the enemy is advised, however, and is making all the headway he can. Of the precise position, however, they are still unadvised; and in every clump of trees, and all along the line, they are plunging shots. So far, however, none have told. Our own batteries are in reserve, ready for a spring to any point that may come to be available. The hospital is again the object for their fire; and the battery I mentioned as a mile below the Again the enemy has fallen back to another ford, having heavier guns than mere field-point, half a mile in the rear; and the spirals pieces, and one at least rifled, is now playing in the background. The whole scene is in the of the smoke curl up the side of the mountain Piedmont valley, which I have often noticed to have slept so sweetly to the west of Centreville, and sweeping on down to the south. It is nearly level, or seems so, and the Blue Ridge rises to form the dark background of a most magnificent picture. upon it. The object, however, of the most intense interest is a line of dust that begins to rise above the mass of forest lying for miles away to the right of the enemy. That it is a moving column is evident, but whether of our own or the enemy is the principal question. If ours, we are taking the enemy in flank; if theirs, they outflank us. It moves towards the enemy, and a courier that joins us reports that it is the brigade of General Cocke. On it goes. There is no corresponding column of the enemy. The movement promises success. The enemy may have stationed a force in anticipation, but if not we fall upon their flank. Quarter before twelve o'clock. The enemy make another stand. Again, there is the roar of musketry, long like the roar of distant and protracted thunder. Again the roar, but always at the head of the enemy's column. A column of dust rises to the left of our forces and passes to the enemy's right. It must be intended to flank them. It is fearful the work that now goes on-how many brave to think how many heart strings are wrung by men must be mangled and in anguish. Twelve o'clock, Noon. The batteries first opening have been silent for half an hour, and the whole extended valley is now the thick of the fight. Where the enemy last took his stand retreating, the fight is fearful; the dust is denser than the smoke. It is awful. They have been repulsed three timesso it is reported by a courier-and now they have taken their bloodiest and final stand. Half-past twelve o'clock. Half-past 10 o'clock, a.m. There is firing on our flanking column. The The firing now is at its height. Never, until enemy have opened their battery upon it half-now, have I dreamed of such a spectacle; for way. The column responds. The firing be- one long mile the whole valley is a boiling comes rapid-musketry-rapid. Gens. Beau- crater of dust and smoke. One o'clock. engage Column after column is thrown in from all along the line of Bull Run to fall upon the left flank of the enemy, and the firing is again renewed, as though nothing had been done. An effort would seem to have been made to outflank us, and it has brought on another ment further off, but on a line with the first. The cannon established on the hill was a feint at Mitchell's Ford, while of both armies the effort was to outflank. These guns now but play at the columns of dust as they rise from the infantry and cavalry as they tramp past; and as those columns are near the point where I stand, they have brought a dozen balls at least within 100 yards. Fifteen minutes past one o'clock. The firing has almost entirely ceased, but still our reserves are pouring in. The enemy seems to be making an attempt to cross at Mitchell's Ford. All at Mitchell's Ford is a feint, and it is now certain that the grand battle-ground for empire is now to the west, beyond the Stone Bridge, on Bull Run, and I go there. Evening. At two o'clock I arrived on the ground; but of the further scenes of this eventful battle I have nothing more to say, save this only, that at five o'clock the enemy was driven from the field, leaving most of the guns of Sherman's battery behind them, with an awful list of dead and wounded. off far to the north. As they retreated on the Braddock road to Centreville a charge was made upon them by a portion of our cavalry, and I think of the Radford Rangers. They dashed upon them about a mile away, and dust above them for ten minutes rose up as from the crater of a volcano. The punishment was severe and rapid. Colonel Hampton's Legion suffered greatly. It came last night, and marched directly into battle. When I went upon the ground I heard that Colonel Hampton and Johnson were both killed, but afterwards I met Colonel Hampton riding from the field, wounded badly, but exhilarated at the thought that his men had exhibited surpassing intrepidity, and that General Beauregard himself had relieved him and led his legion into battle. Colonel Sloan's Fourth regiment South Carolina Volunteers suffered as much. They stood decimated at every fire until reinforcements came, and they exhibit a sad remnant of the noble body of men that entered into battle. The Second regiment, Colonel Kershaw, did fearful execution at the crisis of the contest, but suffered less. The Fourth Alabama regiment, Col. Jones, and the Eighth Georgia regiment, Col. Gardner, suffered greatly. Wearied and worn, and sick at heart, I retired from the field whose glory is scarce equal to its gloom, and I have not the strength now to write more. I send my field notes as they are. President Davis came upon the ground just as the battle ended, and the wildest cheering greeted him. He rode along the lines of warworn men who had been drawn off from action, and he seemed proud of them, and of his right to command such noble men, but it was tempered with a feeling of regret that their right to his respect had been vindicated at so dreadful a sacrifice. Many wounded still stood in the ranks, and exhibited the unalterable purpose to stand there while they had strength to do so. It will be evident to any one who becomes familiar with the events of the day that I misapprehend many of the occurrences. The attack was made at a point above the Stone Bridge, on Bull Run, by the whole disposable force of the enemy, led by General McDowell. The importance of the movement was not at first estimated, and it was met by Gen. Evans, with only the Fourth South Carolina regiment, How many of the enemy were killed we Colonel Sloan, the Independent Louisiana bat- have no means of knowing, but it must have talion, Major Wheat, and two guns of the been much greater than our own. Our men Washington Artillery. The charge of the ene-shot with the utmost possible coolness and my was met with an intrepidity that was be- precision, and they must have claimed this yond all praise, and the whole column of the compliment. enemy was held at bay until reinforcements came. These were led on by Colonel Jackson, Colonel Bartow, General Bee, and General Jones. The conflict went on in a fierce and terrible struggle of the Confederate troops against great odds and amidst terrible slaughter. At the crisis of the engagement two regiments of South Carolinians-Kershaw's and Cocke's were ordered to advance. Kemper's battery was attached to Kershaw's. As these troops advanced, they were joined by Preston's regiment of Cocke's brigade. A tremendous charge was made, which decided the fate of the day. After acts of incredible valor, the enemy was driven We took Sherman's battery, sixteen guns, and three guns from those batteries that opened upon us first above Mitchell's Ford. These are facts reported to me on the ground at sundown, but they are not necessarily correct. I have hesitated to state any thing, but upon the whole have thought it best. I will send a corrected list of our casualties to-morrow. There was an engagement at the batteries above Mitchell's Ford, in which the Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth South Carolina regiments were engaged, but the facts have not transpired beyond the taking of guns. -Charleston Mercury. ANOTHER SOUTH CAROLINA REPORT. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, CAMP PICKENS, Monday, July 22, 1861. plain of battle at Stone Bridge. The rest, in reserve at the several crossings for five miles down, were inactive, suspended on contingen movement on the enemy's position. I gave you yesterday, as well as the circum-cies for movement until too late for a direct stances would permit, my first impressions of the great battle at the Stone Bridge, and, after a day of constant inquiry, and as much reflection as was possible, I will attempt to give a more perfect outline of that most brilliant military achievement. The action, as I have stated, was commenced by a feint on the hills above Mitchell's Ford, upon the top of which the enemy industriously exhibited large masses of his forces; and the demonstration was followed up, as I have stated, by a movement round by Stone Bridge to our left flank. This movement was anticipated by a like movement of ours to take him upon his right flank; and thus the two flanking forces meeting, monopolized the interest, and became the leading actors in the splendid military drama. Our force, however, was a detachment; theirs was their main body. They had determined to force a crossing at that As I stated, the battle was expected. All things indicated the approach of an impending crisis. The moral atmosphere was heavy with its awful import, and without being able to say what it was precisely that induced conviction, yet conviction of the contest had become a faith with all, and men rose in the morning to a day pregnant of death to men, and of the fortunes and the fate of the Republic. Nor did the realization of this conception de-point-to conquer fate to that object; and to pend upon the action of the enemy. They that end they had sent forward, it would seem, took the initiative, and came to meet us; but if their entire force, beyond that necessary for they had not, we would have gone to them. It the demonstration, and as the letter which is now reasonably certain that matters here was found on a prisoner, and a copy of which were so matured that the military authorities I send you, states their force at 130,000-too were ready and determined to advance, and it much, perhaps. It is certain it was large, and was with a feeling of relief, perhaps, that the that not less than 80,000 were despatched upon first booming of the cannon at McLean's Ford this mission. To meet this, we had only the removed from us the responsibilities of that brigade of Gen. Evans, consisting of the Fourth movement. We were not entirely prepared- South Carolina, and Wheat's Louisiana Batas well prepared, at least, as we might have talion, and two guns of the Washington Artilhoped to be. The forces of Gen. Holmes, from lery, sustained by Col. Cocke's brigade, conFredericksburg, and of Gen. Evans, from sisting of Cols. Cocke's Nineteenth Virginia Leesburg, were in the battle; and so, also, regiment, Wither's Seventeenth Virginia, and were the most of those from Gen. Johnston. Preston's Twenty-eighth Virginia. The disadBut two brigades of Gen. Johnston's force-vantage, therefore, was in the fact that the Gen. Smith's and Col. Elzey's-had not arrived. Hampton's Legion and Wynder's Sixth regiment of North Carolina had not arrived the night before. Many that had arrived from the sources mentioned above were without the provisions of a military life, and were too wearied for the most efficient military service; but still our forces had been greatly strengthened. At least 15,000 men had been added to our too small force. The enemy, in not renew-lieved, were in the action, as also some three ing the attack, or offering to bury their dead, would seem to have been demoralized; and under the circumstances, therefore, it would seem that our generals had resolved to strike and drive the invader back, or challenge fate upon the open field of battle. To this end it would seem to have been their purpose to lead an attacking force directly on the road to Centreville, by Mitchell's Ford, where Gen. Bonham, with his brigade, had been posted, and a flanking force by Stone Bridge, and along the line which the enemy himself selected for a flanking force on us. This action of the enemy induced a necessary change in our plans. From attacking, we were forced to a defence, and it may be a question whether the result was better than it could have been. Our whole available force would then have been in action. As it was, only those were in that could be thrown upon the great disproportion of our column left it exposed to an accumulated and concentrated fire, which occasioned a mortality disproportioned to what might have been anticipated from a more equal number. In addition to this, the enemy had posted his column with all the available regulars in the service. The Second and Third Infantry, at least, and Doubleday's battalion, late of Patterson's column, it is be three thousand collected at Washington for service. [Not one of these men were in the action.-ED. TIMES.] Staking the fate of his army on this attack, it was truly severe. Never did men fight as our men did. The Fourth regiment and Wheat's battalion stood until almost cut to pieces under a concentrated fire from flank and front, and they did, in fact, as I thought they did, force the enemy to recoil; but the utmost they could expect was to induce but a temporary check to such a moving mass. It still rolled on, and, as brigade after brigade was subsequently thrown in, it but sustained the check; and, as they were successively cut up by the more abundant ordnance of the enemy, they still left to him the advantage of his numbers. To exhibit the circumstances under which reinforcements were effected, I would state a little more explicitly the position of our forces. Gen. Evans was on the extreme left, and above the Stone Bridge; Col. Cocke was next; Col. Jackson, with his brigade from Gen. Johnston's forces, I think, was next; Bartow was next; Gen. Bonham next; Gen. Jones was next, and Gen. Ewell and Col. Easley, with their respective brigades, completed the display to the right at the Union Mills. These forces covered Bull Run from above the Stone Bridge to the point of crossing by the railroad, a distance of about six miles. Bull Run, as I have had occasion to remark in former letters, is one of the branches of the Occoquan. They hold the Manassas Junction in the fork, and about three miles from either. From Centreville, as one may see from looking at the map, all the roads cross the run. That by Mitchell's Ford, being the most direct, is seven miles, and all the others longer. The fight occurring on the extreme right, all the reinforcements were necessarily thrown from along this line, and time was necessary; and as a considerable time elapsed after the engagement at the Stone Bridge, before the precise character of the enemy's movement appeared, it was late and long before all the movements could be made to meet it. When it was ascertained what was the full meaning of the enemy to the left, I have reason to believe it was at once determined to throw a column from Mitchell's Ford upon the batteries above, and taking them, to fall upon the enemy's rear. Why it was not done I am not able to state, but it was not. And standing near Generals Beauregard, Johnston, and Bonham, on the hill of which I spoke yesterday, in the beginning of my report, I heard Gen. Beauregard remark, pointing to the fight to the west,There is the battle-ground." Soon after orders were despatched, and the generals, with their aids and attendants, dashed on to enter on the scene of conflict. The apparent retreat of the enemy was, in fact, his extension to the right, to gain our flank, and sorely was that point contested. The fight began nearly in front of a house owned by a man named Lewes. Against the hill on which that house is situated; the enemy had planted his battery, and it was against that that many of our brave men fell. There the Fourth South Carolina and Wheat's battalion were slaughtered; there the gallant Bartow fell; and that for many of the bloody hours of the contest was the corner-stone of the structure. From this it extended on by successive efforts to outflank for two miles to the west. Brigade after brigade, as they successively fell in, took new ground. The Washington Louisiana Artillery, as the other sections of it came, took ground still to the left, and Shield's and Pendleton's each took its hill for special thunder, and each contributed its contingent to the mass of slaughter. When I entered on the field at 2 o'clock, the fortunes of the day were dark. The remnants of the regiments, so badly injured, or wounded and worn, as they staggered out, gave gloomy pictures of the scene, and as, up to this time, after four hours of almost unprecedented valor and exertion, no point had been given, as each addition but seemed to stem the current of the enemy, but could not turn it back, as our forces were not exhaustless, as the distances to be traversed were continually greater, and as the enemy stood in possession of almost unlimited military power, and even the event was doubtful. We could not be routed, perhaps, but it is doubtful whether we were destined to a victory. But at this point the fortunes of the day were changed. The God of Battles seemed to stoop to our relief. By an order of Gen. Beauregard, Gen. Bonham sent Col. Kershaw's regiment, with Kemper's battery of four guns annexed, and Col. Cash's regiment, to the rescue. On they came from four miles below, at a rapid march, driving great masses of the enemy before them, and making fearful execution in their ranks. Hill after hill was passed with the same result, until they reached the Stone Bridge. Here Gen. Beauregard halted them, reinforced them with a Virginia regiment, Hampton's Legion, what of it was in condition for service, some Marylanders and Louisianians, and started them again after the retreating foe, who fought and broke until the retreat became a rout. Cavalry came in now to finish. They were pursued by our forces to Centreville, some seven miles, leaving the road filled with plunder. The cavalry followed, cut down and captured, until late in the night. While this was transpiring at one point, other events took place further on in another part of the field. I mentioned that two brigades of Gen. Johnston's forces were behind, having been delayed by a collision on the Manassas railroad. The brigade of Gen. Smith, consisting of 1,800 men, arrived at Manassas after the fight began and hurried to the field. And at the instant when the regiments of the Fourth Carolina, Fourth Georgia, Fourth Alabama, Hampton's Legion, and others were struggling back for a moment's relief, and to fire again, they rushed with deafening shouts to the field of action. Col. Elzey, another portion of Gen. Johnston's force detained upon the railroad, was coming down. As he neared Manassas he heard the firing; he saw from the direction he could reach the scene of action sooner, and stopping the cars he ordered out the men, pushed directly on a distance of but a few miles, for the ene my's object, doubtless, was to reach the Manassas railroad in our rear. His line of travel brought him directly to the point where there was the effort to outflank again. The enemy, again and again defeated, and met by superior numbers, seemed at once to lose the spur of the contest when driven back. They did not face again over the rising grounds-beyond lines of dirt arose. What was their purpose did not appear. The sinking sun threw his sunlight over the magnificent landscape. The dead and dying lay about. The masses of horse lay under cover of the hills for the occasion that should invoke their action. Men stood to their arms along that bloody line, and looked a strange interest on the enemy. Was he to return and continue a fight of eight hours' duration? was he to change the point of his attack, and force them, wearied and broken as they were, to another field? or, were they, broken and outdone, about to retire from a field in which they had become assured by experience there was no harvest of power or glory to be won, but where they were, indeed, welcomed by bloody hands to hospitable graves? That this was their purpose, at length appeared. A shout arose upon the conviction, from 10,000 throbbing and exultant hearts. The cavalry poured down upon them. The dust, as from the crater of a volcano, marked the point of contact. With a singular propriety of occurrence, the honored Chief Magistrate of the Confederacy arrived upon the ground almost as the shouts of victory died upon the distance. They rose again for him, and again and again for the gallant military chieftains under whose able leadership the action had been won. And there was not one who looked upon that field, strewn with the fragments of war, and glittering in the beams of sunset, and upon those long lines of begrimed and bloody men, and upon the dark columns of the insolent invader, as crushed and cowed, he crawled from the field, who did not feel that he stood upon another historic point in human history. We stood upon one some six months since when we proclaimed the truths of our political faith; we stood upon another when we witnessed the solemnities of their vindication. There was no unbecoming demonstration-no heartless exultation. The common feeling was of sadness, rather that right and liberty, in the inscrutable ways of an overruling Providence, should only be purchased at so dear a price. But there was gratitude and trust, and an honest confidence of a future, which we had not scrupled to purchase at the sacrifices the God above us had seen proper to exact. The movement on the right wing of our army upon the batteries in front, which seemed to have been resolved on early in the action, was at length made. About the time of our final charge upon the enemy's right, which drove them from the field, Gen. Jones, with the Fifth South Carolina regiment, Col. Jenkins, and the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Mississippi regiments, Cols. Featherston and Burt, moved round to gain the rear of the batteries over the hill, above Mitchell's Ford. Gen. Bonham, with the Third and Seventh South Carolina regiments, Cols. Williams and Bacon, moved up the hill in front. The enemy, though in considerable force, at once recoiled from the encounter; and, unlimbering their artillery, they made their way with the utmost rapidity in the direction of Centreville. It was too late for pursuit-too late to intercept the retreating columns from VOL. II.-Doc. 12 the west, already under rapid headway; and, with no serious loss, and after but a short and spirited engagement on the enemy's left, in which the Fifth Carolina regiment suffered to some extent, they returned to their positions. Of the many personal incidents of the battle, I have not time to speak to-night. My estimable friend, R. McKay, of Greenville, separated from his company, Capt. Hokes, came upon four of the enemy in charge of three of our prisoners whom they had taken, and was uncomfortably conscious he was about to add to their number; to be certain of the fact, however, he exclaimed interrogatively, "Prisoners, boys?" A Zouave answered, "We don't know exactly who are prisoners here." "Oh, you, of course," said our ready friend; whereupon demanding their arms, they laid them down, and were marched off to the rear. Six horsemen, detached from their company, dashed forward and came upon a company of the enemy all armed, forty-five in number, demanding a surrender as the best means of avoiding their own capture. The enemy complied, and the six men with sabres only marched them in. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, NEARY, JANYSSA", Tuesday, July 23. I have visited again to-day the scene of conflict, and am able to add still other particulars of that most memorable action. Your readers will remember that the battle was begun by a feint at Mitchell's Ford, on the road from Centreville to Warrenton. This, however, was only true in part. To that point the mass of the enemy's immense columns was indeed directed, but that also was another feint. Planting bat teries against the forces guarding that bridge he exhibited a purpose to force a crossing; but, while seeking to induce that impression, he in fact made a detour of more than a milo above, and further to the west; and when our attention was directed to the bridge, they sought to come upon our rear. To Gen. Evans, as I have said, the task of defending the bridge had been committed. He soon detected the enemy's purposes, and advanced to counteract them. Under him, as I have said, were the Fourth South Carolina regiment, Col. Sloan, Wheat's battalion, two guns of Latham's battery, (not the Washington Artillery, as I was at first informed,) and two companies of Radford's Cavalry. These he advanced to Sudley's Ford, but had hardly placed them in position before he saw the enemy in overwhelming masses on his flank, having already crossed. To resist them successfully was beyond a reasonable hope. A portion of his small force had already been detached to defend the bridge, and with the rest, not more than 1,100, he could not hope to stand against the accumulated thousands on his left; but he knew that victory or death was the determination for the day; he could at least arrest them, and ordering round his two pieces of artillery, and rapidly throwing forward his forces to the left, in the face of the enemy's |