Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-07-26


the most gallant but unavailable exevtions
70 check the onward tumult. Il was diff
cult TO believe IN the reality Of our sudden
reverse "What does il all meanF Task
ed Alexander. i means defeat, was his
reply. awe are beateni tits shameful,
g ooWardly retreat Hold up, men he
shouted; ''don't be such internal towards u
aud he rode backW and forwards, plac-
ing his horse across the road, and vainly
trying to rally The running troops. The
teams and wagons confused and dismem-
bered every corps. We were now cut of
from the advance body By the enemy's in
fantry, who had rushed on the slope just
left by us, surrounded the guns and suit
ler's wagons, and were apparently pres
sing up against as. ats no use, Alexan-
DER / said, ayou must leave gith the rest"
aTll be id fl Wili,n vas his sullen re-
ply, and the splendid fellow rode back TO
make his way as best he could. Mean
time saw officers with leaves and eagles
on their shoulder-straps, majors and colo
nels. who had deserted their commands,
pass me galloping as II for dear life, No
enemy pursued Just them but ! suppose
ell we're afraid that his guns would be
trained down the long, narrow avenue and
NOV the retreRting thousands, and batter
to pieces army wagons and every thing else
which crowded il. Only one 1eld officer,
90 far as my observation extended, seemed
to have remembered his duty. Lieut. Col.
Speidel, foreigner attached to q Connec-
ticut regiment strose against the current
for leagHe.,I positively declare that,
with the two exceptions mentioned, all eff
forts made to check the panic before Cen
treviIle was reached, we're confined to eiV-
ilians. saw g nan in citizen's dress who
had thrown of his coat, seized musket
and was trying to rally the soldiers who
came by at the point of the bayonet. In
reply to q request for his name, he said it
was Washburne, and learned thsthe was
the member by that name from Illinois,
The lion. Mr.. kellogg made q similar ef-
fort. Both these eongressmen bravely
stood their ground till the last moment
and we're servioeAble az Centreyille in as
sistinR the halt they ultimately made. And
other oivilians did what they could ( Il
But what q scene and how jterriho the
onset OF that tumultuous retreat, For three
miles hosts Of federal sroOps-all detached
from their regiments, all mingled in one
QlsOIQeElN IOuA-MoEO AGSAAb 1ASAk ~
road, but mostly through the lots on either
side. Army wagons, suffers teams and
private carriages, chOked the passage, tum-
bling against each other, amid clouds Of
dust, and sickening sights and sounds.
Hacks, containing unlucky spectators Of
tbez late afray, were smashed like glass,
and the occupants were lost sight of in the
debris. Horses, flying wildly from the
battle field, many Of them in death agony,
palloped at random forward, joining in the
stampede. Those 0nsfoOt who could catch
them rode them bareback, as much to save
themselves from being run over, as to make
\ Quicker time. Wounded men, lying along
the banks=-the few either left on the field
nor taken to the captured hospitals, sp-
\ pealed with raised hands 10 those who rode
horses, begging tObe lifted behind, but few
I regarded such petitions. The regular cav
| alrV. I record Il to their shame, Joined IN
the melee, adding to its terrorsi for they
rode down footmen without mercy. j saw
an artiIlery-man running between the pom.
derous fore and sfter-Wheels Of his gun
carriage, hanging on with both hands
and yainly striving 10 jump upon the ORD
nance. The drivers we're spurring the
horses; he could not cling much longer
and q more agOnized expression never fixed
the features Of drowning man. The car
riage bounded from the roughnsss Of g
stsep hin leading 10 creek fell and in
an instant the great wheels had crushed
the life out Of him.
Who ever saw such hight1 Could th'
retrea s Bor0dlno have exceeded it in confa'
sion end tunult2 thing not. It did no
slacl, in the leastiuntil CenireYille was reach
ed. There the sight o. the rsssrFe-Ailes
Briqade-formed in order on the bin, seemed
Somewhat to reassure the van. But still th'
teams and foot soldiers pushed on, passing
their camps and heading swifeiy tor the dis
tant Potomac, until for ten miles the roa'
over which the grand army had so l3tel.
passed southwark, gay with unstAined ban
ners, and flushed with surety of strength
vas covered with the fragments OF its retreat
ing forces, shattered and panic stricken in
single day. From the branch route th
trains attached TO Hunters Division ha
caught the contagion Of the fight, and pour
ed into its already swollen current anothe
turbid freshet of confusion and dismay.
Who ever saw riore shameful abandon
: ment of munitions gathered at such vast e1
! pense? The teamsters, many Of them Gu
; the traces of their horses, and galloped frol
the wagons. Others threw out their load
! to accelerate their flight and again, picl
and shoyels; and provisions of every kind Ia
9 trampled in the dust for leagues. Thousand
4 Of n1uskets strewed the route; when some
( US succeeded in rallying body OF fugitive
|, and forming them in q line across the roa
Z hardly one but had thrown away his arm
! II the enemy bad brought up his artillery 81
: served il upon the relreating train, or h'
n intercepted our progress with i've huLdi'
|. of his cavalry, be might have csptur
q enough of supplies for weeks feast
q Thanksgiving. As is was, enough was !
u behind to tell the story Of the panic. I
/ route of the Federal army was complete,
4 Barbarity of the Rebels. ia
y y mall the history Of war, there can
= found no -eruelties surprising those Viii
be the rebels perpetrated in the late battle
IN Bulls Run. They seemed completely ]
y to all humanity, and to have been p
4. sessed Of the spirit Of devils. We are h
o. that during the aght they carried AmeriC
lis flags to deceive our men, and when sm
:. squads that had got separated from th
=. regiments approached these Gags, they "
/ fred upon and slaughtered. The rel
'E also fired upon tie iogHRdsd Standing &
81 81 up 70, targets, and then firing at "a
nd one Of the Connecticut men sqV =
ed done. A number of the I'd \
ms -L.-al..aEs.o