Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 13.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

‘ [31] enemy. The brave Federal troops dashed forward over all impediments and rolled the first line of the enemy upon his right. It was the beginning of victory, it presaged success, but that was all. The force was too light, the wave was spent and began to recede. General Stevens, of Reno's command, was on the ground on Kearney's left. He saw that assistance was needed, and he charged forward in support, but in vain. He did not have the numbers.’

General Gordon adds in a note to page 276: ‘As appears from previous pages, the superiority of numbers in front of Kearney were greatly on Hill's side.’

Now General Gordon has certainly endeavored to be fair in his story of this day, and appreciating how hard it is to see and to write impartially, when we are describing such scenes in which our sympathies and interest are all on one side, I think we may well say that he has been eminently so, barring an occasional outburst against individuals. But let us see as to the disparity of the force with which Kearney attacked us at this time.

By General Hill's field return, on the 20th July we had in our division of six brigades, ten thousand six hundred and twenty-three men present for duty.¹ Our division lost at Cedar Run, 9th August, one hundred and ninety-four killed and wounded,² leaving us ten thousand four hundred and twenty-nine, with which we commenced the march to Manassas. Our division had been fighting and marching for several days, and it is safe to say that at least five hundred of the six hundred and nineteen, we lost out of our brigade alone that day, had already fallen before Kearney's attack. We had fought Sigel's corps all the morning, and that corps Pope estimated at nine thousand,³ and Schurz's division was so completely exhausted by its fight with us by noon that it took no further part in the action of the day.⁴ We had fought Hooker's division of Heintzelman's corps, which, it appears, was five thousand five hundred⁵ strong, together with a brigade at least of Reno's, say one thousand five hundred more. And now came Kearney, with four thousand five hundred⁶ comparatively fresh troops, and with him Stevens' division of Reno's corps, also fresh troops. Reno's corps was estimated by Pope as seven thousand, but estimated by Ropes as eight thousand