ginia — as was designated that portion of the State beyond the western
ridges of the Alleghany Mountains. It was designed by the Federal
Government not only to secure this region, but to use it as a base from
which to project columns of invasion into the Yalley of Yirginia and the
rich counties of the Southwest.
THE AFFAIR OF RICH MOUNTAIN.
An army under Gen. George B. McClellan was to be used for this pur-
pose. Its advanced regiments had already penetrated far in upon the line
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ; had driven a small force from
Philippi ; had occupied that town and Grafton, and had pushed forward,
by country roads, from Wheeling and the Ohio River to Buckhannon, in
Upshur County. The movements of McClellan were now directed towards
Beverley, with the object of getting to the rear of Gen. Garnett, who had
been appointed to the command of the Confederate forces in Northwest-
ern Yirginia, and was occupying a strong position at Rich Mountain, in
Randolph County.
But the unskilful distribution of the Confederate forces and their in-
adequate numbers contributed to the success of the enemy. The strength
of Gen, Garnett's command was less than five thousand infantry, with ten
pieces of artillery, and four companies of cavalry. The disposition of these
forces was in the immediate vicinity of Rich Mountain. Col. Pegram
occupied the mountain with a force of about sixteen hundred men and
Bome pieces of artillery. On the slopes of Laurel Hill, Gen. Garnett waa
intrenched with a force of three thousand infantry, six pieces of artillery
and three companies of cavalry.
The plans of the enemy promised a complete success. Gen. Rose-
crans, with a Federal column of about three thousand men, was to gain,
142 THE LOST CAUSE.
by a difficult marcli througli the mountain, Pegram's left and rear, while
McClellan attacked in front with five thousand men, and a number of
pieces of artillery. Oa the 11th of July, before daybreak, Eosecrans'
column was in motion. The path up the mountain was rugged and per-
plexed beyond all expectation ; the weather was uncertain ; often heavy
showers of rain poured down for hours, and when the clouds broke, the
sun appeared and filled the air with heat. Througli the laurel thickets,
clambering up ravines, slipping from stones dislodged and earth moistened
by the rain, the Federals toiled up the n^ountain. As they advanced
through the forest, the Confederate artillery posted on the top of the
mountain, opened upon them, but with little effect, as their lines were con-
cealed by the trees and brushwood. After some sharp skirmishing, Kose-
crans threw out his men on either flank, with the view of surrounding the
small Confederate force. Finding himself with three thousand of the
enemy in his rear, and five thousand in his front, Col. Pegram endeavored
to escape w4tli his command after a small loss in action. Six companies
of infantry succeeded in escaping ; the other part of the command was
surrendered as prisoners of war.
As soon as Gen. Garnett heard of the result of the engagement at Rich
Mountain, he determined to evacuate Laurel Hill, and retire to Huttons-
ville by the way of Beverley. But this plan was disconcerted by a failure
to block the road from Eieh Mountain to Beverley ; and Gen. Garnett
was compelled to retreat by a mountain road into Hardy County. The
retreat was a painful one, and attended with great suffering ; the pursuing
enemy fell upon the rear of the distressed little army at every opportunity ;
and at one of the fords on Little Cheat Piver four companies of a Georgia
regiment were cut off, and Gen. Garnett himself was killed by one of the
enemy's sharpshooters.
The results of the engagements on the mountain and of the pursuit of
the retreating army was not very considerable in killed and wounded —
probably not a hundred on the side of the Confederates. But they had
lost nearly all of their artillery, more than a thousand prisoners, and al-
most the entire baggage of the command, p()rtions of which had been used
in blocking the road against the enemy's artillery.
But this early disaster to the Confederate cause was soon to be more
than retrieved on a broader and more interesting theatre, and by one of the
most decisive and dramatic victories of the war ; and to the direction of
these important operations our narrative now takes us in the regular suc-
cession of events.
On the 18th of July, a despatch reached Gen. Johnston at Winchester,
that the great Northern army was advancing on Manassas. He was im-
mediately ordered to form a junction of his army with that of Beauregard,
should the movement in his judgment be deemed Advisable.
THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS. 143
The " Grand Army," as the Northern newspapers entitled it, was at
last ready to move, and only after a period of impatience on the part of
the Northern people, that was clamorous and insolent with the assm-ance
of victory. " On to Eichmond " had been the cry of ISTorthern newspapers
for weelis ; extreme parties in the Federal Congress urged an immediate
advance ; and it was thought to be so easy an enterprise to press forward
and plant the stars and stripes in the Capitol Square of Richmond, that
men wondered why Gen. Scott, who directed the military movements from
Washington, did not at once grasp the prize within his reach, complete
his reputation, and despatch the war. At last it was given out in Washing-
ton that the Grand Army was ready to move ; and that Eichmond would
be occupied probably in ten days. It was an occasion of peculiar hilarity,
and the prospect of a triumphal entry of the Federal arms into Eichmond
was entertained with every variety of public joy. Politicians prepared
carriage-loads of champagne for festal celebration of the victory that was
to be won ; tickets were printed and distributed for a grand ball in Eich-
mond ; a stream of visitors to the battle-field set out from Washington,
thronged with gay women and strumpets going to attend " the Manassas
Eaces ; " and soon in the rear of McDowell's army was collected an in-
decent and bedizened rabble to watch the battle from afar. Such an
exhibition of morbid curiosity or of exultant hate has seldom been wit-
nessed in the history of the civilized world.
THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS.
The great contest of arms was to be preceded by an affair which,
however intended, proved of some importance. On the 18th of July, the
enemy made a demonstration with artillery in front of Gen. Bonham's
brigade, which held the approaches to Mitchell's Ford. Meanwhile, he
was advancing in strong columns of infantry, with artillery and cavalry on
Blackburn's Ford, which was covered by Gen. Longstreet's brigade. Be-
fore advancing his infantry, the enemy maintained a fire of rifle artillery
for half an hour ; then he pushed forward a column of over three thousand
infantry to the assault. Twice the enemy was foiled and driven back by
the Confederate skirmishers and Longstreet's reserve companies. As he
returned to the contest, Longstreet, who commanded only twelve hundred
bayonets, had been reinforced with two regiments of infantry and two
pieces of artillery. Unable to effect a passage of the stream, the enemy's
fire of musketry was soon silenced, and the afi'aii* became one of artillery.
Gradually his fire slackened, and his forces were drawn ofi" in evident con-
fusion. Sixty of his dead were found on the field. The Confederate
casualties were unimportant — fifteen killed and fifty-three wounded.
144 THE LOST CAUSE.
Whatever the significance of this affair — whether or not it was
intended as a mere " reconnoissance in force," according to the ene-
my''& account — it was considered as a prehide to an important battle,
and, in the artillery duel, which it had brought on, had given the Con
federates great confidence in this unexpectedly brilliant arm 6f their
service. Two days passed without any military event. But on
the night of the 20th of July it was evident that the enemy was
in motion. As the lights around Centreville seemed to die out about
midnight, low murmuring noises reached the Confederate out-posts, as
if large bodies of men were marching towards the Stone Bridge, where
the extreme left of Beauregard's army rested. Tlie bumping of heavy
wagons and artillery was distinctly audible, and words of command could
be faintly heard in the still night.
The sun of the 21st of July rose with more than usual splendour. It
was a calm Sabbath morning. The measured sounds of artillery told that
both armies were on the alert. Smoke curling away from the cannon's
mouth rose slowly into the air ; glistening masses of troops could be seen
on the distant landscape, and far away in the west rose the dark outline
of the Blue Ridge, which enclosed, as an amphitheatre, the woods and
hollows, the streams and open spaces of Manassas Plain.
The night before the battle Gen. Beauregard had decided to take the
offensive. Gen. Johnston had arrived during the day, but only with a
portion of the Army of the Shenandoah ; five thousand of his men hav-
ing been detained, on the railroad for want of transportation. It was
determined that the two forces, less than thirty thousand effective men
of all arms, should be united within the lines of Bull Run, and thence
advance to the attack of the enemy, before Patterson's junction with
McDowell, which was daily expected. But a battle was to ensue, dif-
ferent in place and circumstances from any previous plan on the Con-
federate side.
The Confederate army was divided into eight brigades, stretching for
eight or ten miles along the defensive line of Bull Run. The right of the
line was much stronger than the left, in position and numbers ; the
extreme left at Stone Bridge being held by Colonel Evans with only a regi-
ment and battalion. It had been arranged by McDowell, the Federal
commander, that the first division of his army, commanded by Gen. Tyler,
should take position at Stone Bridge, and feign an attack upon that point,
while the second and third divisions were, by routes unobserved by the
Confederates, to cross the run, and thus effect a junction of three formi-
dable divisions of the grand army, to be thrown upon a force scattered
along the stream for eight miles, and so situated as to render a concerted
movement on their part impracticable.
A little after sunrise the enemy opened a light cannonade upon Col
THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS. 145
Evans' position" at Stone Bridge. This continued for an hour, while the
main body of the enemy was inarching to cross Bull Run, some two miles
above the Confederate left. Discovering, to his amazement, that the
enemy had crossed the stream above him, Col. Evans fell back. x\s
the masses of the enemy drew near, military science pronounced the day
lost for the Confederates. They had been flanked by numbers appar-
ently overwhelming. That usually fatal and terrible word in military
parlance — '-'• fianked'''^ — may be repeated with emphasis.
It is true that Col. Evans, who had held the position at Stone Bridge,
where the enemy's feint was made, had discovered the nature of that
demonstration in time to form a new line of battle, as the main body of
the enemy emerged from the " Big Forest," where it had worked its
way along the tortuous, narrow track of a rarely-used road. But the
column that crossed Bull Run numbered over sixteen thousand men of
all arms. Col. Evans had eleven companies and two field-pieces. Gen.
Bee, with some Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi troops, moved up to
his support. The joint force was now about five regiments and six field-
pieces. That thin line was all that stood between sixteen thousand Fed-
erals and victory. It is wonderful that this small force of Confederates
should have, for the space of an hour, breasted the unremitting battle-
storm, and maintained for that time odds almost incredible. But they
did it. It was frequently said afterwards by military men in Richmond,
that tlie Confederates had been whipped, but that the men, in the novelty
of their experience of a battle-field, " did not know it."
But at last the blended commands of Bee and Evans gave way before
the surging masses of the enemy. The order for retreat was given by
^General Bee. The Confederates fell back sullenly. Their ranks were
fast losing cohesion ; but there was no disorder ; and, at every step of
their retreat, they stayed, by their hard skirmishing, the flanking columns
of the enemy. There were more than five-fold odds against them. The
enemy now caught the idea that he had won the day ; the news of a
victory was carried to the rear ; the telegraph flashed it to all the cities
in the North, and before noon threw Washington into exultations.
General Bee had a soldier's eye and recognition of the situation. The
conviction shot through his heart that the day was lost. As he was
pressed back in rear of the Robinson House, he found Gen. Jackson's
brigade of five regiments ready to support him. It M'as the timely
arrival of a man who, since that day, never failed to be on the front
of a battle's crisis, and to seize the decisive moments that make vic-
tories. Gen. Bee rashed to the strange figure of the Virginia com-
mander, who sat his horse like marble, only twisting his head in a
high black stock, as he gave his orders with stern distinctness. " Gen-
eral," he pathetically exclaimed, " they are beating us back." " Then,
10
146 THE LOST CAUSE.
sir," replied Jackson, " we'll give them the bayonet." The -words were
as a new inspiration. Gen. Bee turned to his over-tasked troops, exclaim- .
ing, " There are Jackson and his Yirginians standing like a stone-wall.
Let ns determine to die here, and we will conquer."
In the meantime, where were the Confederate Generals — Beanreijard
and Johnston ? Tliej were four miles away. Gen. Beauregard had
become involved in a series of blunders and mishaps, such as had been
seldom crowded into a single battle-field. In ignorance of the enemy's
plan of atttack, he had kept his army posted along Bull Run for more
than eight miles, waiting for his wily adversary to develop his purpose
to him. lie had, at an early hour of the morning, determined to attack
with his right wing and centre on the enemy's flank and rear at Centre-
ville, with precautions against the advance of his reserves from the direc-
tion of Washington. Even after his left flank had been so terribly en-
gaged, he supposed that this movement would relieve it ; and in his
official report of the action, he writes : " by such a movement, I con-
fidently expected to achieve a complete victory for my country by 13
o'clock, M."
It was half-past ten in the morning, when Gen. Beauregard learned
that his orders for an advance on Centreville had miscarried. He and
Gen. Johnston had taken position on a commanding hill, about half a
mile in the rear of Mitchell's Ford, to watch the movements of the enemy.
"While they were anxiously listening there for sounds of conflict from the
Confederate front at Centreville, the battle was bursting and expending
its fury upon their left flank. From the hill could be witnessed the grand
diorama of the conflict. The roar of artillery reached there like pro-
tracted thunder. The whole valley was a boiling crater of dust and
smoke. The enemy's design could be no longer in doubt ; the violent
fijing on the left showed, at last, where the crisis of the battle was ; and
now inmiense clouds of dust plainly denoted the march of a large body of
troops from the Federal centre.
Not a moment was now to be* lost. It was instantly necessary to
make new combinations, and these the most rapid, to meet the enemy
on the field upon which he had chosen to give battle. It was evident
that the left flank of the Confederates was being overpowered. Dashing
on at a headlong gallop, Gens, Beauregard and Johnston reached the field
of action, in the rear of the Bobinson House, just as the commands of Bee
and Evans had taken shelter in a wooded ravine, and Jackson's brigade
had moved up to their left, to withstand the pressure of the enemy's at-
tack. It was a thrilling moment. Gen. Johnston seized the colours of
the 4th Alabama regiment, and ofiered to lead the attack. Gen. Beaure-
gard leaped from his horse, and turning his face to his troops, exclaimed :
" I have come here to die with you."
Til 10 BAITLE OF MANASSAS. 147
In llie meantime the Confederate reserves were rapidly moving up
to support the left flank. The movement of the right and centre, begun
by Jones and Longstreet, was countermanded. Holmes' two regiments
and a battery of artillery of six guns, Early's brigade and two regiments
from Eonham's brigade, with Kemper's four six-pounders were oi"dered up
to support the left flank. The battle was re-established ; but tlie aspect of
affairs was }'et desperate in the extreme. Confronting the enemy's attack
Gen. Beauregard had as yet not more than sixty-flve hundred infantry and
artillerists, with but thirteen pieces of artillery, and two companies of
cavalry. Gens. Ewell, Jones (D. R.), Longstreet and Bonham had been
directed to make a demonstration to their several fronts, to retain and
engross the enemy's reserves and forces on their flank, and at and around
Centi'eville. Gen, Johnston had left the immediate conduct of the field
to Beauregard, and had gone in the direction of the Lewis House, to urge
reinforcements forward.
Tlie battle was now to rage long and fiercely on the plateau designated
by the two wooden houses — the Henry and Eobinson House — which
stood upon it. Gen. Beauregard determined to repossess himself of the
position, and formed his line for an assault ; his right rushed to the
charge, while his centre, under Jackson, pierced that of the enemy. The
plateau was won, together with several guns ; but the enemy threw for-
ward a heavy force of infantiy, and again dispossessed the Confederates.
It was evident that the latter were being slowly overpowered by the
weight of numbers. A force, estimated at twenty thousand infantry,
seven companies of cavalry, and twenty-four pieces of artillery were bear-
ing hotly and confldently down on their position, while perilous and
heavy reserves of infaiitry and artillery hung in the distance.
It was now about two o'clock in the afternoon. Fortunately the
reinforcements pushed forward, and directed by Gen. Johnston to the
required quarter, were at hand just as Gen. Beauregard had ordered for-
ward a second effort for the recovery of the disputed plateau. The bri-
gade of Holmes and another were put in the line. Additional pieces of
artillery came dashing uj^, and a new inspiration seemed to be caught by
the Confederates. The line swept grandly forward ; shouts ran along
it ; and steadily it penetrated the fire of the enemy's artillery. The
whole open ground was again swept clear of the enemy ; but it was
strewn with the evidences of a terrible carnage. Gen. Bee had fallen
near the Henry House, mortally wounded. A little further on, Col.
Bartow, of Georgia had fallen, shot through the heart — and one of
the bravest and most promising spirits of the South was there quenched
in blood. But the tide of fortune had changed ; the plateau was now
(irmly in our possession ; and the enemy, driven across the turnpike
and into the woods, was visibly disorganized.
148 THE LOST CAUSE.
But tlierc were to be three stages in the battle of Manassas. "We have
ah-eadj described two : the enemy's flank movement and momentary vic-
tory, and the contest for the plateau. The third was now to occur ; and
the enemy was to make his last attempt to retrieve the fortune of the day.
His broken line was rapidly rallied. He had re-formed to renew the
battle, extending his right with a still wider sweep to turn tlie Confed-
erate left. It was a grand spectacle, as this crescent outline of battlo
developed itself, and threw forward on the broad, gentle slopes of the
rido-e occupied by it clouds of skirmishers ; while as far as the eye could
reach, masses of infantry and carefully-preserved cavalry stretched through
the woods and fields.
But while the Federals rallied their broken line, under shelter of fresh
brigades, and prepared for the renewal of the struggle, telegraph signals
from the hills warned Gen. Beauregard to " look out for the enemy's
advance on the left." At the distance of more than a mile, a column of
men was approaching. At their head was a flag which could not be dis-
tinguished ; and, even with the aid of a strong glass. Gen. Beauregard
was unable to determine whether it was the Federal flag, or the Confed-
erate flag — that of the Stripes or that of the Bars. " At this moment,"
Baid Gen. Beauregard, in speaking afterwards of the occurrence, " I must
confess my heart failed me. I came, reluctantly, to the conclusion that,
after all our efibrts, we should at last be compelled to leave to the enemy
the hard-fought and bloody-field. I again took the glass to examine the
flag of the approaching colmxm ; but my anxious inquiry was unpro-
ductive of result — I could not tell to which army the waving banner
belonged. At this time all the members of my staff were absent, having
been despatched with orders to various points. The only person with me
was the gallant ofiicer who has recently distinguished himself by a bril-
liant feat of arms — General, then Colonel, Evans. To him I communi-
cated my doubts and my fears. I told him that I feared the approaching
force was in reality Patterson's division ; that, if such was the case, I
would be compelled to fall back upon our reserves, and postpone, until
the next day, a continuation of the engagement."
Turning to Col. Evans, the anxious commander directed him to pro-
ceed to Gen. Johnston, and request him to have his reserves collected in
readiness to support and protect a retreat. Col. Evans had proceeded but
a little way. Both officers fixed one final, intense gaze upon the advancing
flag. A happy gust of wind shook out its folds, and Gen. Beauregard
recosrnized the Stars and Bars of the Confederate banner ! At this
moment an orderly came dashing forward. " Col. Evans," exclaimed
Beauregard, his face lighting up, " ride forward, and order General
Kirby Smith to hurry up his command, and strike them on the flank
and rear ! "
THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS. 149
It was the arrival of Kirby Smith with a portion of Johnston's army
left in the Shenandoah Valley, \vhich had been anxiously expected during
the day ; and now clieer after cheer from regiment to regiment announced
his welcome. As the train approached Manassas with some two thousand
infantry, mainly of Elzey's brigade, Gen. Smith knew, by the sounds of
firing, that a great struggle was in progress, and, having stopped the
engine, he had formed his men, and was advancing rapidly through the
fields. He was directed to move on the Federal left and centre. At
the same time, Early's brigade, wliich had just come up, was ordered to
throw itself upon the right flank of the enemy. The tw^o movements were
made almost simultaneously, while Gen. Beauregard himself led the
charge in front. The combined attack was too much for the enemy.
The fact was that his troops had already been demoi-alized by the former
ex])eriences of the day ; and his last grand and formidable array broke
and crumbled into pieces under the first pressure of the assault. A
momentary resistance was made on a rising ground in the vicinity of
wdiat was known as the Chinn House. As the battle surged here, it
looked like an island around which flames were gathering in all direc-
tions. The enemy was appalled. He had no fresh troops to rely on ;
his cannon were being taken at every turn ; lines were no sooner formed
than the Confederates broke them again ; they gave way from the long-
contested hill ; the day was now plainly and irretrievably lost.
As the enemy was forced over the ridge or narrow plateau, his former
array scattered into flight, spreading each moment, until the fields were
Boon covered with the black swarms of flying soldiers. But into this
general and confused rout a singular panic penetrated, as by a stroke of
lightning, and rifted the flying army into masses of mad and screaming
fugitives. As the retreat approached Cub Kun bridge, a shot from
Kemper's battery took effect upon the horses of a team that was crossing ;
the wagon was overturned in the centre of the bridge, and the passage
obstructed ; and at once, at this point of confusion, the Confederates com-
menced to play their artillery upon the train carriages and artillery wagons,
reducing them to ruins. Hundreds of flying soldiers were involved in