The Daily Dispatch: July 30, 1861., [Electronic resource]

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A view of affairs after the battle.
[from the Baltimore South, July 24.]

Private intelligence from Washington altogether discredits the idea that any portion of the Federal forces have been able to make a stand at Centreville, or at any point beyond Fairfax C. H. The best opinion seems to be that except stragglers who have been unable to make good their escape, and are hiding in the woods to avoid capture, there are no Federal troops outside of the Alexandria lines which are not extended more than four or five miles from that city. Most of the regiments are within the entrenchments on Arlington Heights. The condition of those who remain in Washington is deplorable in the extreme — many of them hatless, coatless, shoeless, and in some instances without pantaloons — mostly unarmed, having flung away everything in their flight — standing, limping, lying or waiting upon the corners of streets, or the stoops of houses, and appealing to the charity of passengers for means to buy food and tobacco --Much blame is attached to their officers for not making greater efforts to collect these disorganized wrecks of the ‘"Grand Army,"’ but the difficulty in many cases is that the officers themselves are among the missing.

Army officers of capacity and intelligence do not hesitate to pronounce the present army demoralized beyond the possibility of successful reorganization, and express the conviction that the attempt to supply its place with another, will prove an utter failure. The rank and file of the new army, they say, will be worse than that of the old one, which comprised nearly all the uniformed volunteer corps of the Northern cities, and was consequently of the best material, so far as intelligence and some previous knowledge of tactics went, that the country could afford --and as for the officers, they ask, How does the Government expect to find better? To fill the new regiments with the same class of incapables, who received commissions before, is to incur the certainty of similar defeat, while, if Government proposes to appoint none but educated military men to positions in its new army, it will have to wait for a few years until West Point can furnish them; for, at present, there is not a sufficient number of such in the country to officer properly an army of 100,000 men. The old army was but 12,000 or 13,000 strong, and many of is best officers are now in the Confederate ranks — those who were tried in the late battle were the best that Government had to oppose to these — and the result is seen. Such, at least, is the talk in military circles.

A very bitter feeling against the Secessionists is said to exist at present in Washington, which has been inflamed by the accounts which have been disseminated in regard to barbarities alleged to have been committed by the Confederate troops. To such an extent has this feeling arisen, especially among the Federal soldiers, that apprehensions were felt that the few Confederate prisoners who were in the city would be massacred. A violent assault was yesterday made by a mob upon a party of four prisoners, who were brought into the city under an escort of soldiers, and after a hearing before Gen. Mansfield, were being taken to the old Capitol building, which is now used as a guard-house. The crowd threatened to hang them and attempted to take them from the hands of the soldiers. ‘"In front of Willard's,"’ says this morning's Republican, ‘"the excitement was very great: one gentleman (sic) pushed his way through the crowd, and dealt one of the prisoners a powerful blow, nearly knocking him down; at other places on the route there was great trouble in getting them through the crowd."’ In like manner a Dr. Belt, a citizen of Prince George's county, Md., who was arrested for uttering ‘"seditions language,"’ only escaped being lynched by the mob through the active interference of some U. S. cavalry, who charged upon the crowd with drawn sabres.

Beyond additional lists of the killed and wounded, and Munchausen-like stories of the feats of valor performed by individuals during the battle, the Washington papers of this morning contain absolutely nothing; in regard to the present and future plans of the Administration, they are ominously silent. As an illustration of the means which are used to inflame the popular passions, and create another war-fever at the North, we may quote the statement of the official paper, ‘"The Republican,"’ that the Confederates, in the late battle, used balls coated with a substance ‘"supposed to be of a poisonous nature,"’ of which large numbers were found. In like manner the Associated Press lends itself to the same infamous purpose, by giving currency to the story of a Zouave about the cruelties practised upon his comrades-- whom he pretended to have seen tied to tress, as the Indians used to serve their captives, and tortured with bayonets in lieu of arrows.

A deception of a different kind and of a less revolting nature is that attempted to be practiced on the people in regard to the amount of the Federal loss in the late battle. It having been found that the capture of Sherman's Battery, on account of the prestige which has always attached, in this country, to that particular arm of the service, was having a peculiarly depressing effect, six pieces of artillery, which had not been in the battle at all, were produced and are now exhibited on Capitol Hill as Sherman's guns, to satisfy the people that they have not been taken. It is impossible for such a paltry piece of deception to countervail the concurrent statement of every correspondent who witnessed the battle, or has been at any pains to ascertain the facts, that the guns were among the first that fell into the hands of the enemy. In addition to the foregoing, gleaned chiefly from private but altogether reliable sources, we subjoin the following, which appeared in part of our last edition yesterday evening, not having been received in time to appear in the entire edition, part of which had already been worked off.

An officer of the army who arrived from Washington at half-past 4 o'clock this afternoon, states that not less than 1,000 wounded were brought into the various hospitals in Washington to-day. He further states that during the retreat from Bull's Run, a rumor having gained currency that all the Fire Zouaves taken by the Confederates were put to death, a party of Zouaves broke into the hospital at Centreville, and killed the few wounded Confederate prisoners who were there.

A letter from a gentleman in high position in Washington, to a friend in this city, after characterizing the defeat of the Federal army as a complete rout, says that Mr. Russell, of the London Times, gives the following account of the engagement: He says that the Confederate forces completely deceived the Federal Generals. They had thrown up works at Centreville which they never intended to use, and as soon as the army arrived, they would retreat, leaving baggage and provisions, &c., to indicate a hasty retreat — This course was pursued up to Bull's Run, when masked batteries without number played upon the Federal right, left and centre-- If a battery was taken, another opened upon its flank, and the captured battery was soon retaken by the Confederates. The fight continued thus for nine hours, when the Confederate forces charged upon the left wing of the Federalists, and the whole were routed. Mr. Russell says that the loss in killed, wounded and prisoners on the Federal side, must be at least 12,000. He calls it a disastrous defeat.

The same writer says that at the muster of the Fire Zouaves last night, only 103 answered to their names. The 69th brought home 256 out of 1,000, and the 71st 329 out of 1,100. Col. Gorman, of the Minnesota Regiment, says that the Federal forces actually engaged were 40,000, with heavy reserves at Centreville.

It is positively stated that the army moved not only against the advice but the wish of Gen. Scott. The writer adds: ‘"It is acknowledged that the defeat must have a most damaging effect in Europe, as those Governments were only waiting to see the result between the centre of the army and the main division of the Confederates."’