The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1861-08-01

steadily swelled crowd who learned the
bloody history of this awful battle from
the lips of those heroes, every one of
whom had staid in the very thickest of
the fight till his regiment was all cut to
pieces, and he was left the sole survivor
It was those men who gave to the mass
es in Washington their knowledge of
the terrible defeat the Union forces
had sustained.
From the New York Tribune
THE KILLED AND WOUNDED.
The most wild and startling stories
of the alleged immense number of our
killed and wounded in the late disas-
trous action at Bulls Run and Manas-
sas Gap were invented by those of the
men who were the first to run, and
who, on reaching our reserves, natur-
ally gave the most exaggerated stories
of the dangers to which they had
been exposed, and of the extent to
which they asserted our forces were
cut up, as a justification of their own
flight and unaccountable and uncon-
trollable panic. Investigations since
made show that the estimates of our
losses at first made, and which obtained
general credence, are entirely beyond
the truth, and that though we have to
mourn the loss of several hundreds of
Of our best troops, we have by no
means suffered rout SO complete as
at first represented. Stragglers are
continually coming in, and scarcely an
hour passes that some dozens or scores
of men previously, set down among the
killed, or conceded as prisoners to the
enemy, do not come into their several
camps. For the reason that no regi-
ment can exactly make up it's tally of
returned members on account of their
wide diffusion among the various
camps, it is impossible to get as yet a
report of killed and wounded, of per-
fectly trustworthy correctness. But
the following statement is carefully
made up from such official returns as
have yet been compiled, and from such
other accounts from individuals as can
be most depended on. 1t shows con-
clusively that the number of killed is
fu,, Uy is iiSo iItssns so great as has been sup
posed, and that the number OF missing
is hourly decreasing. I'D
On hill commanding the battlefield
was house, the possession of which
position would have given our men a
decided advantage in operations against
the enemy's batteries. A charge was
ordered to obtain it, but regiment after
regiment came up were broken be the
heavy firing of the enemy, fell back,
and from that moment the fate of the
day was decided.
The Zouaves, after taking one bate.
ry, were rushing upon another, when
those behind it cried out, "For Gods
sake, don't shoot your brothers," Up
on this, the Zouaves resered their fire,
until volley vas poured in upon them
by the battery from which the suppli
cations had come.
AS evidence of the utter folly and in
capacity of Gen. Patterson, he tele.
graphed as late as Saturday night for
reinforcements, that Johnson was close
at hand and in force. His three months
campaign in the course of which he
has marched from Harrisburgh to Har
per's Ferry, via Martinsburg, where
he left no guard closes to-day.
| An Alabama Captain, who was tax
en- prisoner, declared before dying O
his wounds, that the forces at and about
Manassas were 10000.
A Union man living near Fairfax as
sured our informants he had seen the
entrenchments at Manassas, and thai
there were nine miles of batteries there
Gen. Cameron, who went out to Man
} assas, intending to witness the battle
was so impressed with the doubtful
, character of the attempt to force th'
} enemy's position, that he returned il
haste TO Washington to change, i
| possible, the order which had been is
sued for an attack, but arrived too late
} He Immediately pressed forward, how
} ever, all of the available troops t.
strengthen the Reserve Corps. Gu
officers had little hope of winning tn
, battle, on Saturday night. A promi
nent Member of Congress who wa
there, after an interview with Gen
3 Mcdowell and his aids, wrote dow
: his conviction that we should lose il
: and that the commanding General wa
D hopeless at the commencement of tn
: battle. We learn from another souro
: that this was the general feeling anon
: the officers. One captain remonstrs
< ted against the madness of the assault
y Gen. Mcdowell said that a victory a
y this junction was SO important, that
e great risk must be run to win it.
o Some thirty wagons are our Who'll
s loss, half of which were loaded wit
e provisions and half with ammunition
A Massachusetts Colonel was met j
# the retreat three miles ahead of hI
l. regiment which he assured an inquire
y was cut to pieces. No remonstrance
J, availed to induce him to turn back, G
J, to wait for his men. Subsequently h
if excused himself by saying he receive
|. a sun-stroke, the effects of which di
e not seem, however, to have diminishe
v his pace towards Washington. A Wi
s consin Colonel behaved but little bette
r A gentleman who left Centervil
o yesterday forenoon says he passed 200
e Of the troops on the way, with but 1e'
e wounded. The rest were utterly e.
d hausted and too weak to proceed.