Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 5.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[390] substance, that it was not his business to help every body, and he was not going to help Gen. Sigel. I told him that I was not fighting with General Sigel's corps; that my brigade had got out of ammunition some time before and gone to the rear, and that I had been fighting with half a dozen different brigades, and that I had not inquired where or to what particular corps they belonged. He inquired of one of his aids if Gen.------was fighting over there on the left. His aid said he thought he was. McDowell replied that he would soon help him, for he was a good fellow. He then gave the order for a brigade to start; this was all I desired. I dashed in front of them, waved my sword, and cheered them forward. They raised the cheer and came on at double-quick. I soon led them to where they were most needed, and the gallant manner in which they entered the fight, and the rapidity of their fire, soon turned back to the battle. But this gallant brigade, like many others that had preceded it, found the enemy too strong for them, as they advanced into the forest, and were forced back by the tremendous fire that met them. But one of General Burnside's veteran brigades coming up soon after dark, with a battery, again dashed back the tide of armed treason, and sent such a tempest of shot, shell and leaden death into the dark forest after the rebels that they did not again renew the attack.

Perhaps some mighty cheering which I got our boys to send up about that time induced the rebels to believe that we had received such reenforcements as to make further meddling with our lines a rather unhealthy business. Feeling certain that the enemy had been completely checked in their attempt to flank us and drive us from the field, and that we could now securely hold it till morning, by which time we could rally our scattered forces and bring up sufficient fresh troops to enable us to gain a complete victory on the morrow, as I felt entirely certain that the rebels had already put forth their mightiest efforts, and were greatly cut up and crippled, I therefore determined to look up my little brigade and bring them forward into position, where we would be ready in the morning to renew the contest, and act our part in the great closing drama of the war.

I left the field in possession of our gallant boys about eight o'clock P. M., and in company with Lieutenants Este and Niles started back in the darkness, and was greatly surprised upon coming to the place where I expected to find my brigade with thousands of other troops, to find none. I kept on nearly half a mile further, in painful, bewildering doubt and uncertainty. I found you, General, and first learned from you, with agonizing surprise, that our whole army had been ordered to retreat back across Bull Run to Centreville.

Comment is unnecessary. I felt that all the blood, treasure, and labor of our Government and people, for the last year, had been thrown away by that unfortunate order, and that most probably the death-knell of our glorious Government had been sounded by it.

The highest praise I can award the officers and soldiers of my brigade, in all the hard service and fighting through which we have passed, is that they have patiently, cheerfully, bravely and nobly performed their duty. Colonels Cantwell of the Eighty-second Ohio, and Zeigler of the Fifth Virginia, deserve particular mention for their coolness and bravery in the long and desperate fight with the rebels at the railroad on the twenty-ninth ult. In the death of Colonel Cantwell the country, as well as his family, have sustained an irreparable loss. No braver man or truer patriot ever lived. He constantly studied the best interests of the service and of his soldiers, and they obeyed, loved and respected him as a father. Truly the loss of such an officer in these trying times is a great calamity.

I avail myself of this opportunity to return my thanks to the members of my staff--Captains Baird, Flesher, McDonald, and Lieutenants Cravens and Hopper, for their promptness, bravery, and efficiency in the transmission and execution of orders. Captain Baird, unfortunately, in attempting to return to me on the field, on the evening of the thirtieth ult., after dark, in company with one of my orderlies, (Corporal Wilson, of the First Virginia cavalry,) took a wrong path which led them into the enemy's lines, and they were both captured, and are still prisoners. My Brigade-Surgeon, too, Major Daniel Meeker, is always at his post; whether in the field of danger, in the camp, or hospital, his superior science, skill, and patient industry, have proved the greatest blessing to our sick and wounded soldiers. I have sent in lists of my killed, wounded, and missing.

General: I have the honor to submit the following report concerning the part taken by the division under my command in the battles of the twenty-ninth and thirtieth of August.

On the evening of the twenty-eighth of August, my division was encamped south of the turnpike leading from Centreville to Gainesville, near Mrs. Henry's farm. On the twenty-ninth, a little after five o'clock A. M., you ordered me to cross the turnpike, to deploy my division north of it, and to attack the forces of the enemy, supposed to be concealed in the woods immediately in my front, my division forming the right wing of your army corps. In obedience to your order, I formed my division left in front, and, after having forded Young's Branch, deployed, the First brigade, under Colonel Schimmelfennig, on the right, and the Second brigade, under Col. Krzyzanowsky, on the left. There was a little farm-house in front of Col. Schimmelfennig's brigade, which he