The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1861-08-23


muskets rafting and flying along the lanes
or rows in which our soldiers lay. In an
instant, five thousand men were on their
feet, ready to grapple with the cavalry of
the enemy, for that dash of dagoons had
been made against the Federal camp, and
that they were tearing and slashing through
it, thousand strong at least, was the
conviction which at first flashed through
the startled ranks. The jingling of the
bayonets, as the stacked muskets tumbled
one after another, confirmed for few
minutes this conviction, the sound was SO
like that Of sabres slapping against the
heels and spurs of charging troopers. The
darkness Of the hour, moreover, and the
difficulty of discovering what to guard
against or what to strike, heightened the
alarm and threw the camp intot the vaguest
and widest uproar. Several shots were
fred at random-the trumpets of the ar
tillery and cavalry rang out clear and
piercingly through the agitated valley-a
thousand drums gave forth thu long roll
words of command now and then were
heard above the storm which possessed the
valley. 1t was fully half an lour before
the alarm passed off an hour, at least,
before the disordered troops sank into
deep sleep again.
The thick, gray vapor one always sees
in lowlands in hot climates, was still slug
gishly rising from the bed of the valley,
and the air was still damp and raw, when
a squadron Of the United States dragons
trotted out briskly on the road to Centre
vile, heading the division under General
Tyler, of which the First Wisconsin, the
Thirteenth Rochester, the Sixty>Ninth and
Seyenty-Ninth Regiments formed the Sec
ond Brigade. In less than two hours
our march having been through those
same interminable woods we had known
the last two days-the column halted.
10 the right and left Of our Regiment were
marshy bottoms and coarse meadow lands,
flanked by lofty thickets and scanned with
running waters, clear and sweet and plen-
tlful and sweeping right before US in bold
curve were the high hills, on the southern
slope of which, looking towards Manas-
sas. lay the dingy, aged little village of
Centreville. To the left of the road stood
what seemed to be a large aud massive
house. Between this house and the road
"a space of three hundred yards-a for
midable earth-work frowned upon the ad>
vancing troops. To the right, cresting
the hills Of Centreville, were the huts of
the Confederate Camp; and just above
these withered structures, but miles away,
blending softly and glowingly with the
richly~tinted sky, the loftier undulations
of the Blue Ridge met the view. The
Brigade, under Colonel dunter, from Al
exandria, pouring down into the valley
from the belt of woods behind US on the
extreme left, with its varied uniforms and
waving colors, suddenly threw glittering
stream of life into the solemn picture
where it was needed most Every part
of it was now lit up-lit up with broad
veins of bayonets-lit up with the sacred
ensigns studded with the symbolic Stars
of the Republic-lit up with the glorious
sun which seemed to turn everything in
the vast landscape into gold-the green
woods, tie brown waters, the red hills, the
yellow:sh wastes of wilted pasturage and
meadow which formed the valley, in the
heart of which we halted, awaiting the re-
turn Of the dragons who had galloped
towards the earth-works on the hill.
A shout, hearty and prolonged, soon
told US that Centreville, also, had been w.
Gated. The huts, cresting the rising ground
on the left, were stripped to the very leaves
and branches of which they had been built
The redoubt between the house and the
road was emptied, too, nothing falling into
the possession Of the Fedora. troops but
few ammunition boxes. 1t was clean
sweep the Coufederates made, as they fell
back, abandoning position after position,
until they fiercely stood their ground in
that fatal labyrinth bristling, four miles
ahead, between us and Manassas. II was
there they wanted US, and their abandon
ed positons-at Vienna, at Fairfax, at
Germantown at Centrevile, wherever they
had been grouped between Bull Run and
Falls Church up to the evening Of our ad-
vance-but SO many articles, eaborately
arranged along our line of march, to entics
us headlong, brea;hless and breadless ak
most, to destruction.
At noon, the 18th of July, the Stars
and Stripes were flying over Centreville.
The regiments under Colonel Keyes, ac-
comparied by Brigadier General Tyler,
moved down the southern slope of the
biIIs alreadv mentioned and JieanroareI