The battle was indeed one of which General Lee had good reason to be
proud. It would be hard to find a better instance of that masterly
comprehension of the actual condition of things which marks a great
general than was exhibited in General Lee's allowing our formidable
attack, in which more than half the Federal army was taking part, to
be fully developed and to burst upon the exhausted troops of Stonewall
Jackson, while Lee, relying upon the ability of that able soldier to
maintain his position, was maturing and arranging for the great attack
on our left flank by the powerful corps of Longstreet.--_John C.
Ropes, in "The Army Under Pope."_
The battle of Cedar Mountain was but a prelude to the far greater one that
was to take place three weeks later on the banks of the little stream that
had given its name, the year before, to the first important battle of the
war; and here again the result to be registered was similar to that of the
preceding year--a result that brought dismay to the people of the North
and exultation to the adherents of the Southern cause. The three
intervening weeks between the battles of Cedar Mountain and the Second
Bull Run were spent in sparring, in marshaling the armed hosts, in heavy
skirmishing and getting position for a final decisive struggle.
Two events of this period invite special attention. The respective heroes
were J. E. B. Stuart, the daring Southern cavalry leader, and "Stonewall"
Jackson. The victim in each case was General Pope. Before relating these
incidents, however, we must take a general view of the field. General
Pope's headquarters at this moment were at Culpeper, with a large part of
his army, but he had left much of his personal baggage and many of his
private papers at Catlett's, a station on the Orange and Alexandria
Railroad between Culpeper and Manassas Junction, while his vast store of
army supplies was at the latter place.
Pope's great source of uncertainty lay in the fact that he did not know
whether Lee would move against him or would follow McClellan in the
latter's retreat from the Peninsula; nor did he know when the
reënforcements promised from McClellan's army would reach him. Meanwhile
Lee had decided to let McClellan depart in peace and to advance against
Pope, with the whole Confederate army. To this end Longstreet was ordered
to the scene and with his corps he reached Gordonsville on August 13th.
A few days later the two Confederate generals, Lee and Longstreet,
ascended to the top of Clark's Mountain, from which, through powerful
field-glasses, they obtained a good view of Culpeper, about twelve miles
away. They saw that Pope's position was weak and determined to attack him
without delay. Lee ordered his army to cross the Rapidan. He also sent a
courier to gallop across the country with an important dispatch to General
Stuart, disclosing his plans. It was now that General Pope met fortune; he
captured the courier and learned of Lee's plans. Pope knew that he was not
in position to meet Lee's army at Culpeper, and he withdrew from that
place and took up a strong position behind the Rappahannock. Lee had
strained every nerve to get at his antagonist before the latter left
Culpeper and before he could be reënforced by McClellan's army. But sudden
rains changed the Rappahannock from a placid stream into a rushing
torrent. The Confederates were delayed and meantime the reënforcements
from the Peninsula began to reach Pope's army. General Reno with a part of
Burnside's corps was on the ground by August 14th. One week later came
Generals Kearny and Reynolds--both splendid leaders, both destined to give
their lives for their country within a year--to join the Army of Virginia
with some thousands of additional fighters from the Army of the Potomac.
Lee was completely thwarted in his purpose of attacking Pope before his
reënforcements arrived. But he was not idle. He sent the dauntless cavalry
leader, J. E. B. Stuart, to make a raid around the Union army. Stuart did
this effectively, and this was the first of the two notable events of
these weeks of sparring. Crossing the Rappahannock at Waterloo Bridge with
fifteen hundred mounted men as bold and dauntless as himself, Stuart
dashed up the country, riding all day and all night. After the coming of
night on the evening of the 22d, in the midst of a torrential rainstorm,
while the darkness was so intense that every man was guided by the tread
of his brother horsemen, Stuart pounced upon the Federals near Catlett's
Station, overpowered the astonished guard, captured nearly two hundred
prisoners, scattering the remainder of the troops stationed there far and
wide in the darkness, and seized Pope's despatch-book with his plans and
private papers. Stuart took also several hundred fine horses and burned a
large number of wagons laden with supplies. Among his trophies was a fine
uniform cloak and hat which were the personal property of General Pope.
These were exchanged on the following day for General Stuart's plumed hat
which a few days before had been left behind by that officer when
surprised by Federal troops.
Stuart's bold raid proved a serious misfortune for the Union army. But Lee
had far greater things in store. His next move was to send Jackson to
Pope's rear with a large part of the Confederate army. Stealthily Jackson
led his army westward, shielded by the woods, the thickets, and the low
hills of the Blue Ridge. It was a quiet rural community through which he
passed. The great majority of the simple country folk had never seen an
army, though it is true that for many days the far-away boom of cannon had
reached their ears from the valley of the Rapidan. Now here was a real
army at their very doors. Nor was it a hostile army, for their sympathies
were Southern. With baskets and armfuls of bread and pies and cakes they
cheered as best they could the tattered and hungry men on the march.
General Lee in the meantime had kept Longstreet in front of Pope's army on
the Rappahannock to make daily demonstrations and feints and thus to
divert Pope's attention from Jackson's movements and lead him to believe
that he was to be attacked in front. The trick was eminently successful.
"Stonewall" Jackson suddenly, on August 26th, emerged from the Bull Run
Mountains by way of the Thoroughfare Gap and marshaled his clans on the
plains of Manassas, but a few miles from the site of the famous battle of
the year before.
Pope had taken alarm. He was astonished to find Jackson in his rear, and
he had to decide instantly between two courses to abandon his
communications with Fredericksburg on the one hand, or with Alexandria and
Washington on the other. He decided to keep in touch with Washington at
all hazards. Breaking his camp on the Rappahannock, he hastened with all
speed to lead his forces toward Manassas Junction, where he had stored
vast quantities of provisions and munitions of war. But he was too late to
save them. Jackson had been joined by Stuart and his cavalry. On the
evening of the 26th they were still some miles from Manassas and Trimble
was sent ahead to make sure the capture before Pope's army could arrive.
Through the darkness rode these same hardy men who had a few nights before
made their bold raid on Catlett's Station. Before midnight they reached
Manassas. They met little opposition. The guard was overpowered. The
spoils of this capture were great, including three hundred prisoners, one
hundred and seventy-five horses, ten locomotives, seven long trains of
provisions, and vast stores and munitions of war.
Next morning the weary and hungry foot soldiers of Jackson's army came
upon the scene and whatever else they did they feasted as only hungry men
can. An eye-witness wrote, "To see a starving man eating lobster-salad
and drinking Rhine wine, barefooted and in tatters, was curious; the
whole thing was incredible."
The amazement at the North when the news of the capture of Manassas became
known cannot be described. But the newspapers belittled it, declaring that
it was merely a bold raid and that for any large force to get between
Pope's army and Washington before Pope became aware of the attempt was
simply impossible.
Jackson had done an astonishing thing. But his position was precarious,
nevertheless. Pope was moving toward him with a far larger army, recently
augmented by Heintzelman's corps from the Army of the Potomac, while Fitz
John Porter with an additional force was not far off. It is true that
Longstreet was hastening to the aid of Jackson, but he had to come by the
same route which had brought Jackson--through Thoroughfare Gap--and Pope
thought he saw a great opportunity. If he could only detain Longstreet at
the gap, why should he not crush Jackson with his superior numbers? To
this end he sent orders to Porter, to McDowell, and to Kearny and others
whose forces were scattered about the country, to concentrate during the
night of the 27th and move upon Jackson. McDowell sent Ricketts with a
small force--too small to prevent Longstreet from passing through
Thoroughfare Gap, and hastened to join the main army against Jackson. But
that able commander was not to be caught in a trap. He moved from Manassas
Junction by three roads toward the old battle-field of Bull Run and by
noon on the 28th the whole corps was once more united between Centreville
and Sudley Spring. Late in the day he encountered King's division of
McDowell's corps near the village of Groveton, and a sharp fight was
opened and kept up till an hour after dark. The Confederates were left in
possession of the field.
The following day, August 29th, was the first of the two days' battle,
leaving out of account the fight of the evening before and the desultory
fighting of the preceding ten days. General Pope was still hopeful of
crushing Jackson before the arrival of Longstreet, and on the morning of
the 29th he ordered a general advance across Bull Run. As the noon hour
approached a wild shout that arose from Jackson's men told too well of the
arrival of Longstreet. Far away on the hills near Gainesville could be
seen the marching columns of Longstreet, who had passed through the gap in
safety and who was now rushing to the support of Jackson. The Confederate
army was at last to be reunited. Jackson was greatly relieved. Pope had
lost his opportunity of fighting the army of his opponent in sections.
The field was almost the same that the opposing forces had occupied a year
and a month before when the first great battle of the war was fought. And
many of them were the same men. Some who had engaged in that first
conflict had gone home and had refused to reënlist; others had found
soldiers' graves since then--but still others on both sides were here
again, no longer the raw recruits that they were before, but, with their
year of hard experience in the field, they were trained soldiers, equal to
any in the world.
The two armies faced each other in a line nearly five miles long. There
was heavy fighting here and there along the line from the early morning
hours, but no general engagement until late in the afternoon. The Union
right pressed hard against the Confederate left and by ten o'clock had
forced it back more than a mile. But the Confederates, presently
reënforced in that quarter, hurled heavy masses of infantry against the
Union right and regained much that it had lost. Late in the afternoon
fresh regiments under Kearny and Hooker charged the Confederate left,
which was swept back and rolled in upon the center. But presently the
Southern General Hood, with his famous Texan brigade, rushed forward in a
wild, irresistible dash, pressed Kearny back, captured one gun, several
flags and a hundred prisoners. Night then closed over the scene and the
two armies rested on their arms until the morning.
The first day's battle is sometimes called the battle of Groveton, but
usually it is considered as the first half of the second battle of Bull
Run. It was a formidable conflict in itself. The Union loss was at least
forty-five hundred men, the Confederate was somewhat larger. Over the gory
field lay multitudes of men, the blue and the gray commingled, who would
dream of battlefields no more. The living men lay down among the dead in
order to snatch a little rest and strength that they might renew the
strife in the morning.
It is a strange fact that Lee and Pope each believed that the other would
withdraw his army during the night, and each was surprised in the morning
to find his opponent still on the ground, ready, waiting, defiant. It was
quite certain that on this day, August 30th, there would be a decisive
action and that one of the two armies would be victor and the other
defeated. The two opposing commanders had called in their outlying
battalions and the armies now faced each other in almost full force, the
Confederates with over fifty thousand men and the Union forces exceeding
their opponents by probably fifteen thousand men. The Confederate left
wing was commanded by Jackson, and the right by Longstreet. The extreme
left of the Union army was under Fitz John Porter, who, owing to a
misunderstanding of orders, had not reached the field the day before. The
center was commanded by Heintzelman and the right by Reno.
In the early hours of the morning the hills echoed with the firing of
artillery, with which the day was opened. Porter made an infantry attack
in the forenoon, but was met by the enemy in vastly superior numbers and
was soon pressed back in great confusion. As the hours passed one fearful
attack followed another, each side in turn pressing forward and again
receding. In the afternoon a large part of the Union army made a
desperate onslaught on the Confederate left under Jackson. Here for some
time the slaughter of men was fearful. It was nearing sunset. Jackson saw
that his lines were wavering. He called for reënforcements which did not
come and it seemed as if the Federals were about to win a signal victory.
But this was not to be. Far away on a little hill at the Confederate right
Longstreet placed four batteries in such a position that he could enfilade
the Federal columns. Quickly he trained his cannon on the Federal lines
that were hammering away at Jackson, and opened fire. Ghastly gaps were
soon cut in the Federal ranks and they fell back. But they re-formed and
came again and still again, each time only to be mercilessly cut down by
Longstreet's artillery. At length Longstreet's whole line rushed forward,
and with the coming of darkness, the whole Union front began to waver.
General Lee, seeing this, ordered the Confederates in all parts of the
field to advance. With wild, triumphant yells they did so. It was now dark
and there was little more fighting; but Lee captured several thousand
prisoners. Pope retreated across Bull Run with the remnant of his army and
by morning was ensconced behind the field-works at Centreville.
There was no mistaking the fact that General Pope had lost the battle and
the campaign. He decided to lead his army back to the entrenchments of
Washington. After spending a day behind the embankments at Centreville,
the retreat was begun. Lee's troops with Jackson in the advance pursued
and struck a portion of the retreating army at Chantilly.
It was late in the afternoon of September 1st. The rain, accompanied by
vivid lightning and terrific crashes of thunder, was falling in torrents
as Stuart's horsemen, sent in advance, were driven back by the Federal
infantry. Jackson now pushed two of A. P. Hill's brigades forward to
ascertain the condition of the Union army. General Reno was protecting
Pope's right flank, and he lost no time in proceeding against Hill. The
latter was promptly checked, and both forces took position for battle.
One side and then the other fell back in turn as lines were re-formed and
urged forward. Night fell and the tempest's fury increased. The ammunition
of both armies was so wet that much of it could not be used. Try as they
would the Confederates were unable to break the Union line and the two
armies finally withdrew. The Confederates suffered a loss of five hundred
men in their unsuccessful attempt to demoralize Pope in his retreat, and
the Federals more than a thousand, including Generals Stevens and Kearny.
General Kearny might have been saved but for his reckless bravery. He was
rounding up the retreat of his men in the darkness of the night when he
chanced to come within the Confederate lines. Called on to surrender, he
lay flat on his horse's back, sank his spurs into its sides, and attempted
to escape. Half a dozen muskets were leveled and fired at the fleeing
general. Within thirty yards he rolled from his horse's back dead.
The consternation in Washington and throughout the North when Pope's
defeated army reached Arlington Heights can better be imagined than
described. General Pope, who bore the brunt of public indignation, begged
to be relieved of the command. The President complied with his wishes and
the disorganized remnants of the Army of Virginia and the Army of the
Potomac were handed to the "Little Napoleon" of Peninsula fame, George B.
McClellan.
The South was overjoyed with its victory--twice it had unfurled its banner
in triumph on the battlefield at Manassas by the remarkable strategy of
its generals and the courage of its warriors on the firing-line. Twice it
had stood literally on the road that led to the capital of the Republic,
only by some strange destiny of war to fail to enter its precincts on the
wave of victory.
[Illustration: THE UNHEEDED WARNING