July 21, 1861. |
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| Bull's Run battle-ground.1 |
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with the greatest exultation by Jefferson Davis, who had left Richmond that morning, arrived at Manassas Junction at four o'clock, and hastened on horseback to the Headquarters of Johnston.
From the Junction, that night,
he telegraphed to his “Congress,” which had convened in Richmond the day before--“Night has closed upon a hard-fought field.
Our forces were victorious.
The enemy was routed,
and fled precipitately, abandoning a large amount of arms, ammunition, knapsacks, and baggage.
The ground was strewed for miles with those killed, and the farm-houses and the ground around were filled with wounded. . . . Our force was fifteen thousand; that of the enemy estimated at thirty-five thousand.”
2
Why did not Patterson hold Johnston at Winchester, or re-enforce McDowell at Bull's Run?
was a question asked by the people with the severest earnestness, when it was known that to the presence of the former and his troops must be, in a great degree, attributed the disasters that had befallen the National arms.
With better information than the public then possessed, the question may now be answered, with the sanction of official and semi-official records, in these few words:--Because his force was greatly inferior in numbers and appointment to that of Johnston; because he was positively
1 this is from a drawing by Mr. Forbes, already mentioned, made after the evacuation of Manassas by the Confederates, in the spring of 1862. it was taken from near the center of the battle-field, and shows the ruins of Mrs. Henry's house, and to the right of them, through an opening in the distance, looking southeast, is seen Manassas Junction. In the foreground is seen a portion of a small marble monument erected to the memory of General Bee, whose body was buried on that spot. Other graves are seen near; and turkey buzzards, which uncovered many bodies that were put in shallow graves, are seen feasting on the carcass of a horse.
Mrs. Henry, it is said, was confined to her bed, and remained in her house during the battle. Shot and shell went through it, and she was wounded two or three times. She died soon afterward. Robinson was yet occupying his house, with his family, at the close of 1865.2 This was not only an exaggeration but a misrepresentation. From the most reliable authorities on both sides, it appears that, in the final struggle, the Nationals had about thirteen thousand men and the Confederates about twenty-seven thousand. The latter had been receiving re-enforcements all day, while not a man crossed Bull's Run after twelve o'clock to re-enforce the Nationals.
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