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also for his share of praise, although thousands asked: Who is McDowell? When the reports of the Washington Administration claimed a victory at Manassas, the whole nation vociferously chaunted the praises of Scott and McDowell; but when the truth leaked out the day following, not a newspaper in the whole country but vilified them both, calling the first a stupid, ignorant old blockhead, and the latter a traitor. Butler had appeared upon the scene some short time before. Being from Massachusetts, (where none are found, of course, except men of extraordinary talents, genius, veracity, and bravery,) he was going forth from Fortress Monroe to massacre or bag the entire Confederate force at Little Bethel. The press was in ecstasies; a swarm of reporters repaired to headquarters, and Butler could not sneeze but the fact was telegraphed North as something very ominous, and presaging no good to the rebels. Magruder and Hill whipped him completely in half an hour; and the press, as u
distant picket duty at the time, I could not help remarking the effect these Indian yells had on the Yankees. We had crept so close as to see them plainly moving about and hear their conversation. One of the pickets was very valorous in his speech; he was willing to stake any thing in the world that the rebels would evacuate Manassas before morning! He only wished he came across half-a-dozen rebels! He'd show them what fighting stuff Union troops were made of-he'd show them what old Massachusetts could do! etc. Determined to try the metal of this pugnacious individual, two of us crawled through the underbrush, Indian fashion, and waiting an opportunity; seized this bombastic New-Englander, without the shadow of resistance, and, having gagged and tied him, led him into our lines I From this trembling hero we learned that the greater part of McDowell's forces were on the move across country to Stone Bridge or the vicinity, and that the fight would certainly begin at dawn; heavy m
efy all that old Stone can do. In fact, if I had but two or three more regiments, I would cross over and whip the rascals out of Maryland. As October advanced, it became apparent that the enemy were resolved to try once more the fortune of war. McClellan's force was powerful, highly disciplined, and finely appointed; and the clamors of the press seemed to indicate that public opinion would precipitate hostilities. A general of the ranting, raving type of Abolitionism (N. P. Banks, of Massachusetts) commanded Harper's Ferry and the whole line of the Upper Potomac, and it was confidently expected that he would succeed in breaking the backbone of rebellion. On our side, to watch and profit by the false moves of this New-Englander, General Turner Ashby and his cavalry were stationed at Charlestown, in the Shenandoah Valley, and kept continually hovering between that point and Harper's Ferry, intercepting supplies, capturing foraging parties, and making frequent dashes into the enemy
t is, they had always held undisputed possession of the island; yet the mainland was so much higher as to command it, and had our artillery been present in the battle, not twenty men of their whole force could have escaped. When at length the story was truthfully told by the New-York Times and Tribune, the whole North was thrown into consternation and mourning over the massacre, as they termed it, and began reviling each other for urging McClellan to advance at all against Richmond. Massachusetts was particularly affected by the direful news, for two of its pet regiments (the Fifteenth and Twenty-third) had suffered fearfully, and many young men of the first families had fallen, including the promising son of the poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes, most of the men having been enrolled in Boston and Worcester. New-York also felt very much humbled on account of the decimation of the Forty-fourth, one of its crack regiments, which boasted of more professional pugilists and blackguards th
nians use the bayonet with greater good will, for they had met for the first time real Yankees, (Vermont,) who had done more lying and boasting than those of any State in the North-always excepting the arch-hypocrites and negro-worshippers of Massachusetts. Proud as were our men of this affair, all regretted one thing, namely, that the gentlemen in blue had not proved to be Massachusetts men. There was not a regiment in the service but would have willingly marched fifty miles for a fair fightMassachusetts men. There was not a regiment in the service but would have willingly marched fifty miles for a fair fight with double the number of them. Smith, the Federal Commander, kept up the cannonade till long after sundown, but with more destruction to his own wounded than to us; for as we screened ourselves during the fire, it did not cause us the loss of a man. This conduct, if nothing more were added, affords ample justification for the assertions of the enemy that their commander was completely intoxicated during the whole affair, and incapable of conducting it. During the night we endeavored to ex
ter in the day the reports of the rioting in Baltimore and of the rout of the entire force of Banks, by the quick march and overwhelming numbers of Jackson, intensified the excitement. The secessionist sympathizers, too greatly elated to conceal their joy, openly expressed their belief that the host of Jeff. Davis will overrun Maryland and the District within twenty-four hours. One truth about the war told by a Yankee. Wilson, says a Northern journal, one of the Senators from Massachusetts in the Yankee Congress, confessed or charged the other day, in a speech from his desk, that there was an organized system of lying practised in the management of the war. This is probably the first truth that Wilson himself has ever told about the war. It is notorious that old Scott justifies lying as a necessary part of the science of war. To such a mind, treason to his native State, his hereditary sovereign, presented no difficulty. It is probable that he first introduced the system o
nism in the lower counties of the same State. Much of the same hypocritical style was adopted by his opponent Lincoln, who, had he expressed the sentiments in Massachusetts, openly/ avowed in Southern Illinois, would have been mobbed and hooted through the public streets. This is not hearsay, but positive knowledge orally obtainehe old compact was made for the good of the several States making it, nor were local institutions objected to, in the days when Southern troops marched through Massachusetts, and New-Englanders remained at home. There is a decided difference in blood, climate, and predilections, said a third. It is said we are come from a common stock; but certainly the hot blood and high-toned spirit of the South cannot be one with the icy, fanatical, psalm-singing Puritanism of Massachusetts. Is it not rather traceable to the courtly, plumed, and belted cavaliers of Maryland and Virginia-men whose lineage is traceable through heraldic honors, who carried swords by rig
oned at Fredericksburgh, and was promised chief command of this movement when joined by Banks, Blenker, Milroy, Shields, and Fremont from the Shenandoah Valley and Western Virginia, but whose hopes had been destroyed by the rapid marches and victories of Jackson over those generals at various places-now felt extremely humiliated to find his plans and chief command intrusted to one incompetent, and himself rated as a third-class subordinate in the same enterprise; General N. P. Banks, of Massachusetts, being second to Pope. Politics had much to do with these appointments. McClellan was a Democrat, and though opposed to abolitionism, never allowed party feeling to influence him, always taxing his capacity to the utmost to gain success. He had been defeated many times, and still was looked upon as an able man, particularly in the South, where military critics reviewed his course impartially, and awarded that praise which ability and bravery deserved. Pope and Banks were both unco
hero, took great pains to keep from the front, and never allowed himself to ride within two miles of the actual battle. Several of the Federal generals, however, chiefly brigadiers, boldly rode to the front, and cheered on their men. Sickles and Meagher were singled out and disabled. Among hundreds of line officers who fell was Colonel Fletcher Webster, Twelfth Massachusetts Volunteers, eldest and sole surviving son of the great American orator and statesman, Hon. Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts. Wherever I rode along our extended and ever-changing front, prisoners of all grades, cannon, flags, and other trophies were passing to the rear; while every patch of timber was converted into a temporary hospital, where surgeons in blood-stained garments were busily plying the knife. Moans, groans, and death-cries arose on every hand, mingling with the distant roar and rush of battle; while the wounded, both friend and foe, forgetful of all enmity, dragged themselves to the same spring