New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-09-09

mails, sir and III deliver them ii die for III Vn,t
are gentleman, and can depend on your word.
ls it safe for me TO go on?' Not knowing the ex-
tent Of the debacie assured him # was, and asked
tne men OF the regiment how they happened to be
there Sure the Colonel himself told as to go of,
every man on his own hook, ard to fly for our lives
replied one of them. TIL email agent, who told me
ne was an Englishman started the cart again. /
sincerely hope no bad result to himself or his charge
followed my advice.u
we rode into Fairfax together. szE-sz55
" reached Fairfax Court House. The peo-,ie :.
black and white, with anxious faces wera al lie
doors, and the infantry under arms. was besieged
With questions, though hundreds of fagtfyes had
passed through before me'J
1t s small matter, this but it marks the char
acter OF the man. Not q que ton was asked of
Mr.. Russell, nor Of us; not fugitive" !" we dare
affirm. had passed that way; the nfantry-a
New Jersey Regiment, if we are not fni.taken---
were at their usual evening parade slpp5sinc. no
doubt, that their companions in arms had won
great victory. s +e
" At one house Istopped to ask for water for my
horse; the owner sent his servant for it cheerfaIy
the very house where we had in vain asked for
something to eat in the forenoon. There's
fright among Them observed, in reply to his
question concerning the commissaFiat drivers.
they're afraid of the enemy's cavalry Are
you an Americana said the man. No. am not,'
Ell, then ne said, there will be cavalry on them
soon enough There's twenty thousand of the best
horseEnen IN the world in Virgfnnv.tn "
At the little one-horae tavern in Fairfax the
horses-MF- Il. s and our oWn-were Yatersd bya
servant; but the reported Conversation gIfd nat
take place. short distance from that inn, Mr.
russell put spurs to his animal and riding fa-
ronsy, left us behind he picked up anpIe mate.
rial for misrepresentation, however, as he went
We point out the greatest fa!sehoed If one false
mood can be greater than another, in the columns
that he has devoted to the villifcation Of our
troops.
Washington was still eighteen miles away. The
road was rough and uncertain, and again my poor
steed was under way; but it was Of no use trying
QHpl lTTd {TlHa ,-TN T
aglned heard guns in the rear but could not he
sure, IN consequence Of the roar af the fight
behind me- II was most surprising to see how far
the foot soldiers had contriyed 70 90 on ii adj
vance,
1t must have been surprising, indeed From the
moment Of meeting the First New Jersey Regiment,
OF which we have spoken, not a soldier, unless one
of a baggage or picket guard. did we see on The
road-not one. The wagons going in were few,
and their progress not such as to indicate that
they were making retreat. We faced train after
train going out with supplies, without guard and
without suspicion that the army was beaten and fn
fight. The defeat was not known to any on the
road, not even to Mr.. Russell, who informed is
that our army would fall back and encanp for the
night, only to renew the battle the next day. The
'roar of the flight behind me is stretch Of the
imagination We were behind me v and heard
the guns and marked the time az Tbs: but save
cur poor old thick-winded steed. there was not
another horse on the road within our sight
few carriages with wounded, few retiring
eivifans--none making haste, none suspecting
the finale that was reached-soon passed US: but
not an armed man, trooper or footnan, was any
where near. Mr.. Russell, in the next paragraph,
confessea as much. s&s
IS 1t was strange ride, through a country now
still as DEATH the white road shining like river in
the moonlight, the trees black as ebony in the
shade; now and then figure fitting By into the
forest or across the road-frighteued friend, or
lurking foe, who could sayz Then the anxious
pickets and sentres all asking, What's the news?,
and evidently prepared for any amount OF 1oss.r
The truth is probably this: The Imaginative cor
respondent left the battle ground before any con
fusion occurred, and when the retrograde moye-
ment was ordered. Hearing the exaggerated
stories of what came to be flight, after he got to
Washington, on Monday, while the excitement was
at its height, he them into his letter as facts
of his own observation The rout was disgraeeful
enough to make any mans blood cold in bis veins,
but it was not what Mr.. Russell describes. Asye
have asserted, he did not see it..