[Illustration: 9057]
T Washington all sorts of rumors were plenty. It was generally known,
however, that General Beauregard was making for Bull Run, where the
stream presented a natural barrier. General McDowell left Washington
with a force, whose accompaniments of civilians, following the marching
columns on foot, reporters, congressmen and idle sight-seers in
carriages, was a motley and curious sight. Everyone declared this to be
the battle which was to close out the rebellion, and all were jubilant
at the prospect.
On the army pressed under the brave McDowell, who was planning to
execute a flank movement upon the Confederates' left. A two hours'
engagement routed the Rebels, who fled before the Union charge.
The victory seemed to the Federal troops an easy one, but Generals
Johnston and Beauregard took the field in person, and, planting their
artillery in a piece of woods, they held the open plateau across which
the Federals were advancing, wholly at their mercy. General McDowell
could see nothing of this, owing to the shape of the ground, only by
mounting to the top of the Henry House, where they took their stand, and
where the attack was resumed in the afternoon.
The men on both sides were raw troops; they had not become the machines
that after fighting made them. This was to most of them their first
encounter, and as shot and shell flew rapidly by them, as the Union men
advanced over the open ground upon the enemy, who were concealed
within the woods, only to be picked off, one by one, by the Confederate
sharpshooters, who took the gunners at their batteries, they became
disheartened.
[Illustration: 0058]
[Illustration: 0059]
The {052} fight in the forenoon had exhausted them, and they were
unprepared for the work still to be done.
The battle was fierce; men were falling like hail, in all the agonies
of death. Here a drummer boy was lying face downward, his stiff hand
clutching the stick whose strokes would never wake the echoes again.
There an officer, his uniform dyed with blood, lay prostrate on the
ground, his horse half across his stiffening body, while at every turn
the wounded were huddled together, in the positions in which they fell.
[Illustration: 0060]
Ralph's heart turned sick, as he saw the brave fellows who manned the
batteries tumbling over each other, many of them shot through the heart,
as the Confederates, tempted by their success, stole nearer to the guns.
Captain Griffin, who made the sad mistake of thinking the troops were
his own men coming to his aid, permitted the nearer approach of the
Confederates. He discovered his error when a volley of musketry took
nearly every gunner and stretched Lieutenant Ramsay low in death, as the
rebels rushed in and seized the guns.
{053}
[Illustration: 0061]
The {054}fighting went pluckily on; both sides were in deadly earnest.
The batteries seemed to be the coveted prize, and they were taken and
retaken, first by one army, and then the other.
Worn and harassed, in the confusion that ensued, regiments and companies
became mixed, and thousands of men lost track of their companies and
wandered about, not knowing where they belonged.
In the dense smoke that covered the battle ground, Ralph became lost,
and, making a short turn, found a clump of trees with a thick growth
of underbrush. He heard voices, and threw himself flat upon the ground,
determined not to be taken prisoner.
“Wonder what General Beauregard's next move will be?” The tones were low
and even.
“Well, Lieutenant, we cannot know at present, but it is certain we have
taught the Yanks a lesson this day. They'll never forget Johnston's
brigade. They were so sure of whipping us. It was a hot battle, and
three or four times I thought we had lost. Those fellows fight well, but
they're no match for the South. What's the matter over there? See, our
men are retreating. Don't they know we've won the day?”
It was true. So many times had the victory changed hands, that it was
hard to tell who had won finally and it looked as if the Confederate
line was breaking.
Jeff Davis' heart sank as he came up from Manassas and found that
hundreds of Confederates, under the impulse of fear, were fleeing to
the rear. He kept on, only to find that the Northern army was in
full retreat, and the battle of Bull Run was a bitter defeat for the
Federals.
Ralph lay there in ambush, pale with dread. He feared capture more than
death. He rose quickly as the two officers galloped away, to stay their
men, and looked upon the scene. Lines of men in blue and gray stretched
away in the distance, while the noise of the guns, the neighing of
wounded, horses, the huzzas of the victors, drowning the groans of the
wounded, made him faint with horror, and his cheeks grew white as he
saw men lying on their backs, their glassy eyes staring up to the sky,
{055}their faces ghastly and white, and peaceful, or else distorted with
pain. Here a wounded soldier would half raise himself on one arm, and
beg for water, while others, bleeding and dying, lay uncomplainingly,
their eyes fixed on the blue sky, which nevermore would greet their
waking vision.
[Illustration: 0063]
In the dim light he saw all this, and knew not where to go. The terrible
sights and hideous silence which succeeded the noise of conflict
sickened him, and Ralph, the brave soldier boy, actually fainted.
“What's this? Why, it's Ralph! Is he killed?”
The tones sounded, to the boy's benumbed senses, far away, as a
{056}heavily bearded man knelt down and placed his hand upon his heart.
He saw it was Bill, and the flush of mortification mounted to his brow,
as he tried to rise.
“I was weak--dizzy--and I--”
“I know all about it!” good-humoredly laughed Bill Elliott, for he
it was. “This is your first appearance, and you had a sort of a stage
fright.”
Ralph bit his lips with vexation.
“Oh, that's nothing. You'll make a better showing next time. You'll live
to be a brigadier-general. But I was kinder rattled myself when I saw
you so still. I didn't know but some fellow had tuk good aim at you!”
“I'm not hurt in the least, Bill.”
“Well, boy, come on. We've been whipped bad, and are most unpleasantly
nigh those fellows with the guns over thar, and as I'm pretty tall, they
might choose me for a mark, just to keep their hands in.”
The Federal army, broken and defeated, straggled back to Washington,
footsore, dirty and hungry. No battle during the war was fought with
more desperation, and bravery was shown by both sides--the Union and the
Confederate.
And though the defeat of General McDowell's forces was a blow to the
pride of the North, it carried a valuable lesson; that the South would
not be persuaded back to its old allegiance.
To the boys of this generation slavery is almost a myth. But when the
Civil War broke out the blacks were held in bondage to masters who had
acquired them by purchase or inheritance, and thus they represented
property or wealth.
The South bitterly resented any interference with an institution which
many of them honestly regarded as divine. In the North opinion was
divided, some believing slavery to be wrong, but that it would gradually
die out. All classes were unwilling that it should be extended into new
territory.
This difference of opinion led to the conflict which caused brave men
to take up arms and arrayed brother against brother, in defense of what
each believed to be just and fair.
{057}
[Illustration: 0065]