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though the official report made the number somewhat less.
The Confederates, who held the field, lost not less, it is believed, than twenty-five hundred, though Beauregard in his Report gave the number about nineteen hundred.1
Such was the immediate and most dreadful result of this first great conflict of the Civil War, known as the battle of Bull's Run.2 We shall hereafter observe its effects upon public sentiment — how it increased the arrogance of the conspirators, and the number of their adherents — how it quickened into powerful and practical action the feeling of nationality and intense love for the Union latent in the hearts of all loyal Americans — how it produced another and more important uprising of the faithful People in defense of the Republic, and how it made the enemies of the Union in Europe hopeful that it would utterly perish in the struggle then earnestly begun.
1 In the compilation of this account of the battle of Bull's Run, I have drawn the materials chiefly from the various official Reports of Generals McDowell, Beauregard, and Johnston, and their subordinate commanders. McDowell reported his loss at four hundred and eighty-one killed, and one thousand and eleven wounded. Of the missing, many of whom afterward re-appeared, and a large portion were prisoners, he made no report. They were estimated at about fifteen hundred, which would make the total National loss two thousand nine hundred and ninety-two. Beauregard reported his loss three hundred and seventy-eight killed, one thousand four hundred and eighty-nine wounded, and thirty missing--in all, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven. His estimate of missing is much below the mark. More than one hundred, captured during the day, were sent to Washington.
Among the killed of the National Army were Colonel James Cameron, of the Seventy-ninth New York (Highlanders); Colonel John Slocum and Major Ballou, of the Second Rhode Island; and Lieutenant-Colonel Haggerty, of the New York Sixty-ninth (Corcoran's Irish Regiment). Among the wounded were Colonels Hunter, Heintzelman, Wilcox, Gilman, Martin, Wood, H. W. Slocum, Farnham, and Corcoran, and Major James D. Potter. Wilcox, Corcoran, and Potter, were made prisoners.2 The Confederate commanders, and the writers in their interest, call it the battle of Manassas. It was fought much nearer Bull's Run than Manassas, and the title above given seems the most correct. About four years after the battle, when the war had ceased, National soldiers erected on the spot where the conflict raged most fiercely, a very few yards southward from the site of Mrs. Henry's House, a substantial monument of stone, in commemoration of their compatriots who fell there. A picture of it is given on the preceding page. It is made of ordinary sandstone, found near Manassas Junction. Its total hight is twenty-seven feet, including the base, and it stands upon an elevated mound. On each corner of the base is a block of sandstone, on which rest elongated conical 100-pounder shells, the cone pointing upward. The top of the shaft is also surmounted by one. On one side of the monument are these words:--“in memory of the patriots who fell at Bull Run, July 21, 1861.” On the other side:--“erected June 10, 1865.” It was constructed by the officers and soldiers of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Light Battery, Lieutenant James McCallom (who conceived the idea), and the Fifth Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, Colonel Gallup. Generals Heintzelman, Wilcox, and others, who fought in the battle, were present at the dedication of the monument at the date above named. The picture is from a photograph by Gardner, of Washington City. A hymn, written for the occasion by the Rev. John Pierpont, then eighty years of age, was sung. The services were opened by Rev. Dr. McMurdy, of Kentucky; and several officers made speeches.
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