The great battle!
Scenes After the Fight — Brief Comments of the Northern Press.
The
Alexandria correspondent of the Baltimore Exchange gives the following in regard to the.
Scenes after the fight.
The scenes I witnessed in
Alexandria, the day after the battle, will never pass from my mind.
Foot sore, blood-brained, weary, and exhausted from exposure and want of food, returned the fragments of regiments.
In many instances they had thrown away knapsacks, muskets, coats, and even shoes; they came back cursing the day, and also the men who had led them into such a trap.
It was then that the chivalric spirit, it of the
South shone forth in the deeds of her children.
As an invading foe, shouting the war cry of ‘"On to
Richmond,"’ they had shrunk from them in diagnst.--At their hands the wives and sisters of the
Southern soldiers had received the most gratuitous insults; but when they returned fallen and crushed, going to and fro a bewildered herd, seeking vainly for their officers and comrades, these Southerners, whom they had Jared, provided food for them, tenderly cared for their wounded, and, in deep pity for their wretched state, seemed to forget that they had been their enemies.
I should never have surmised that such a victory had been gained, or that the men thus tenderly cared for were the same who had invaded their soil, or taken up arms against them.
It is a noted fact that the only houses closed against them were the homes of prominent Union men, and the only hands not stretched forth to aid them were those which in their on ward march had waved the ‘"Stars and Stripes."’
The
Washington correspondent of the same paper says:
‘
It is not credited by military authorities here that the
Confederates either bayonetted the wounded or shelled the hospital, as is asserted by many of the
Northern papers.
On the contrary, it is asserted that the shells of the
Federal were thickly poured into the hospital tent.
A Brevet Captain of the 2d S. C. Regiment, while a prisoner in the hands of the. --
Connecticut regiment, said he would like to have an opportunity to fight rather than be taken prisoner.
He had hardly uttered the words when he was shot through the head by two of the
Fire Zouaves, while hold by the
Connecticut men.
’
A cowardly Colonel.
A
Colonel of a Western regiment, it is currently reported, left his men on the field, jumped into a private carriage, drew his revolver upon the driver, and commanded him to drive on, leaving behind these who had hired the coach.
Upon being interrogated at
Fairfax as to where his regiment was, the brave
Colonel informed his friend that he supposed they had ‘"all gone to h — I."’
Gen. Scott is pained beyond description at the conduct of the officers in command of our forces.
Brief Comments.
The Nation's War Cry.--Forward to
Richmond!
Forward to
Richmond!
The Rebel Congress must not be allowed to meet there by the 20th of July!
By that date the place must be held by the
National Army!--
N. Y. Tribune and Chicago Tribune.
The order of these two Abolition dictators has been obeyed.
An unprepared army began the march to
Richmond, and every lover of the
Union is overwhelmed with shame and indignation, because the ravings of these-in-cendiary journals have been substituted for the ripened genius of the veteran
Scott, and mere politicians have made these ravings the pretexts to precipitate him into movements he would never have originated.
Thus, upon the guilty heads of these journals rests the blood of the slain on the soil of
Virginia.--
Chicago Times.
It is useless now to speculate about the causes, near or remote, of this terrible disaster.
At this writing, we have neither time nor heart for the task.
But of one thing we feel assured.
This result is chargeable to the culpable inactivity of
General Patterson, in allowing
General Johnston to escape from
Winchester and fall back upon
Manassas without annoyance or attention. --
St. Louis Democrat.
The events of Sunday last, which forced the army of the Potomac to resume its old quarters near
Alexandria, show that
Gen. Scott knew what the occasion of taking
Richmond demanded, much better than did
Greeley and those Republican members of Congress who were constantly progging him to a forward movement.--
Cincinnati Enquirer.
Wagons are constantly arriving bringing in the dead and wounded Soldiers are relating to greedy listeners the deplorable events of last night and early this morning.
The feeling is awfully distressing.--
N. Y. Tribune.
If
Gen. Scott did it, he is not the man for the crisis.
If he did it fearfully and hesitatingly, under the clamor of the New York press, he is still not the man he ought to be. On whomsoever the blame lies, it must lie very heavily.
It is no alleviation of the matter to say that the
General may not have known that the enemy was so strong.
It was his business to know at least with an approach of exictness.
Manassas is simply the Great Bethel catastrophe over again, on a very large scale.--
Indianapolis Journal.
It is stated that the loss in killed and wounded on our side will not exceed six hundred.
If such is the fact, why did an army of fifty five thousand men, which it is stated was the largest and best appointed ever raised in this country, (to use the mildest expression) retreat in confusion and fall back upon the
Potomac?
It appears to us that only a terrific slaughter could have caused the conceded demoralization of
General McDowell's corps.--
Indianapolis Sentinel.
Miscellaneous.
The Government loan is at a stand-still in Wall street. Men of money are waiting to get over the astounding intelligence which has Fallen upon them.
Many of the troops are not paid off, and the
Government employees are in a similar situation.
The truth is, that few or none now believe that the
Union can be restored, and hence doubt and uncertainty hang over all financial movements.
The 12th Regiment of New York Volunteers, which read so fast,
Colonel and all, at the late great battle, is from
Oneida county.
It is made up entirely of Republicans.
They had to go over into
Herkimer county to fill up the regiment, and it is confessed on all sides that they made the fastest time off the battle-field that was ever known.
A Republican of New York, who has held a high office heretofore, said: ‘ "I am so d — d mad and mortified that I can't eat or sleep.
Look at it — while the
President of the rebels was leading his troops on to victory, our
President was joking at home or preparing for a pleasure sail in his new gondola." ’
The following items are from the Louisville Courier:
‘
The Virginia Races.--The
Lincoln dispatches yesterday virtually told us that the quickest and best runners from
Manassas.
Sunday, were the members of Congress and others who went over to "see the races." They proved themselves splendid runners, and had no difficulty in keeping far in advance of the terrible and blood-thirsty
Virginians.
The telegraph says the
Southern troops at
Manassas are in a starving condition, but we are reliably informed that they can live a few days at least upon the large quantity of provisions taken from the "grand army."
It took about three months for
General McDowell to march his grand army from
Washington City to
Bull's Run, and it is a remarkable fact that the same army returned to
Washington in the short space of three hours.
If
Gen. McDowell marched from
Washington with 53,000 men, and was afterwards reinforced with 26,000.
Where were all but the 22,000 that were engaged in the fight?
Gen. Johnston joined the Confederate forces at
Manassas the night before the great battle, and the
Kentucky boys under the immediate command of
Col. Duncan doubtless participated in the conflict that terminated so gloriously for the
Southern arms.
About eight hundred of our gallant fellows are attached to
Johnston's division, and we may expect to hear a good account of them when the details of the fight are received.
’
