[Illustration: EVE OF THE CONFLICT.]
Stone Church, Centreville, Virginia.--Past this little stone church on the
night of July 20, 1861, and long into the morning of the twenty-first
marched lines of hurrying troops. Their blue uniforms were new, their
muskets bright and polished, and though some faces were pale their spirits
were elated, for after their short training they were going to take part,
for the first time, in the great game of war. It was the first move of the
citizen soldier of the North toward actual conflict. Not one knew exactly
what lay before him. The men were mostly from New England and the Middle
States. They had left desk and shop and farm and forge, and with the
thought in their minds that the war would last for three months the
majority had been mustered in. Only the very wise and farseeing had
prophesied the immensity of the struggle, and these were regarded as
extremists. Their ideas were laughed at. So on they went in long lines
down the road in the darkness of the night, chattering, laughing and
talking carelessly, hardly realizing in the contagion of their patriotic
ardor the grim meaning of real war. The battle had been well planned, but
who had had the experience, even among the leaders, to be sure of the
details and the absolute carrying out of orders? With the exception of the
veterans of the Mexican War, who were regulars, there was not one who had
ever maneuvered a thousand men in the field. A lesson lay before them and
it was soon to come. The surprising battle that opened early in the
morning, and whose results spread such consternation through the North,
was really the result of popular clamor. The press and the politicians
demanded action, and throughout the South the same confident and reckless
spirit prevailed, the same urging to see something done.
[Illustration: HERE "STONEWALL" JACKSON WON HIS NAME.]
Robinson House, Bull Run.--"Stonewall" Jackson won his name near this
house early in the afternoon of July 21st. Meeting General Bee's troops
retreating in increasing disorder, he advanced with a battery to the ridge
behind the Robinson House and held the position until Bee's troops had
rallied in his rear. "Look at Jackson standing there like a stone wall,"
was the sentence that gave birth to his historic nickname. It was General
Bee who uttered these words, just before he fell, adding, "Rally on the
Virginians."
[Illustration: WHERE THE CONFEDERATES WAVERED.]
Center of Battle of Morning--July 21, 1861.--North of this house, about a
mile, the Confederate Colonel Evans met the columns of Burnside and Porter
in their advance south from Sudley Ford. Though reinforced by General Bee,
he was driven back at noon to this house in the valley near Young's
Branch. Here a vigorous Union charge swept the whole battle to the hill
south of the stream. General Bee sent for reinforcements, saying that
unless he could be supported "all was lost."
[Illustration: AFTER BULL RUN--GUARDING THE PRISONERS.]
Inside Castle Pinckney, Charleston Harbor, August, 1861.--In these
hitherto unpublished Confederate photographs we see one of the earliest
volunteer military organizations of South Carolina and some of the first
Federal prisoners taken in the war. The Charleston Zouave Cadets were
organized in the summer of 1860, and were recruited from among the
patriotic young men of Charleston. We see in the picture how very young
they were. The company first went into active service on Morris Island,
January 1, 1861, and was there on the 9th when the guns of the battery
turned back the _Star of the West_ arriving with reinforcements for
Sumter. The company was also stationed on Sullivan's Island during the
bombardment of Sumter, April 12-13, 1861. After the first fateful clash at
Bull Run, July 21, 1861, had taught the North that the war was on in
earnest, a number of Federal prisoners were brought to Charleston and
placed for safe-keeping in Castle Pinckney, then garrisoned by the
Charleston Zouave Cadets. To break the monotony of guard duty Captain
Chichester, some time in August, engaged a photographer to take some
pictures about the fort showing his men. Gray uniforms with red stripes,
red fatigue caps, and white cross belts were a novelty. The casemates of
the fort had been fitted up with bunks and doors as sleeping quarters for
the prisoners. Casemate No. 1 was occupied by prisoners from the 11th New
York Zouaves, who had been recruited almost entirely from the New York
Fire Department. The smaller picture is a nearer view of their quarters,
over which they have placed the sign "Hotel de Zouave." We see them still
wearing the uniform of the battlefield: wide dark-blue trousers with socks
covering the bottoms, red flannel shirts with the silver badge of the New
York Fire Department, blue jackets elaborately trimmed with braid, red fez
caps with blue tassels, and a blue sash around the waist. Their regiment,
the famous "Ellsworth's Zouaves," was posted at Bull Run as a support for
Pickett's and Griffin's Batteries during the fierce fighting of the
afternoon on the Henry House hill. They gave way before the charge of the
Confederates, leaving 48 dead and 75 wounded on the field. About 65 of
them were taken prisoners, some of whom we see here a month after the
battle. The following October the prisoners were exchanged. At the
beginning of the war the possession of prisoners did not mean as much to
the South as it did later in the struggle, when exchanges became almost
the last resource for recruiting the dwindling ranks. Almost every
Southerner capable of bearing arms had already joined the colors.
[Illustration: THE PRISONERS--11th NEW YORK ZOUAVES.]
[Illustration: THE CIVIL WAR SOLDIER AS HE REALLY LOOKED AND MARCHED