The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-07-29

/ VIM CUHsVVUPUETY, CATrted out,
hey were enabled 10 rsioin the main body.
aotiy pursued by our men. Gen. Jacksonis
SrsEads had been lying for hours sustaining
Eith unhtnchtne courage most terrific hre.
The 9~neral had bis horse shot under aim
md finger OF the left hand shot OH, but cool
~ cucumber he stiil ureeu his boys" to be
steady" and steady they were when they
charged and batchAred the Fire Aouaves and
,ther regiments right and left. The General
has way Of holding his head up very straight,
md bis almost invariable response to any
remark IS very WELL" whilst his chin seems
Tying ~ get up towards the top OF his head
The writer remembers, in the midst of the
hSht, to have seen tho General rallyiny his
men, whilst his chin seemed 10 stick out
further and his livery wells seemed to sound
more euphoniously than ever, and when the
writer wished to pour a little W hiskey upon
the shattered finger, he was told that it was
of no consequence" and away went the
}eperat with a battery folio wing him To ia X.
position Al some ed ar tassous spot If any
me was ever entitled to soubr ust, the
General certainly deserves that of cool
An incident ,nnec ted with this battle is
worth iien aionins 4 young gentleman from
Kentucky, 20 years OF age, named Thomas G.
Dnncan, was very DESTROYS oi being in the
light, 30 by request of the writer he was
placed alongside Of Oapt. Trigy of the Mont
somery tencibles. Tom received a good Min
hie musket and went for his ammunition but
express cd doubts after receiving it whether he
had enough. Upon inc uiry, after ascprtaining
hat he had oaly 81 rounds, the writer told
MIN to quit shooting after he had exhausted
That amount After laying exposed TO the
enemy's lire for a long time, this regiment,
tCol. J arnss l.. Irestons) was ordered to
charge the Fire Xouayes. and well they did IL
Tom in the front rank leading, pyxs the first
man shot few minutes later the writer
met Tom going to the rear with q Minnie ball
through his shoulder, and the great source OF
dissatisfaction upperAost in his mind, WAS
hat lac had been shot whilst charging hayo-
nets and had not bse7. aiLoaoed time 10 IRE a
san le on. of his.tGHs. 1t lods really too bad.
Ibis regiment Of Col Pr.ston's behaved
admirably, as its long list OF killed and
wounded will testify but it woald be in Id.
ious 10 praise any portion of an army To the
exclusion OF others, where all did so well. 1t
worthy OF mention. that in al the vicissi-
tudes OF the battle to- enemy III ll8 tt8!e too.
u oar pieces Of artillery, and they lllun-
dered away all the time, doing great execH-
ton and carrying dismay into the the hear is
q. the Yankees.
The scene OF carnage was beyond d4ecrip-
ton, Here pile of dead ADD dying men
here snuggl ling. crippled horses and over
the surface OF the hitherto peaceful fields the
surging angry waves of battle still adding
is victims to the long list. Our light artn-
lery batteries seem 10 have been more than 8
match for the rined cannon at the short dis
lance, tor our guns would be Hired three or
four times 10 their once. But i. must be ad-
United that some OF their batteries were fired
with the precision, almost, Of 4 ri1is at QUE
hundred yards distance. During the retreat,
{. single gun was planted IN the skirt of IL
wood, mile distant from OF our guns,
which was firing shell into the retreatiug col
umn. Bang went their first gun, ana the
shell exploded about twenty feet be FOND ours
and directly in a line over it. The second
shell was thrown about three feet farther,
and ms tead of moving our gun q few steps,
the artIle7sts kept firing in the same posi-
ton. Being only thirty yards distant, the at
tertion of the writer had been drawn TO this
precision. when bang came the third gun,
taking CT the head of the officer in command
OF our gun. Then our piece was rapidly
mi 10 IN lar tn
save the life of c gallant Oil er.
There was constant struggle during the
day over the ensmys batteries. Time and
again were they captured by our men, and
very often retaken by the enemy The most
excited creature On the battle field was the
Rev. Mr.. Repetto, Captain of the Page Ccun
~ va Grays, who claimed The honor OF
taking Ricketts, tSherman's) Battery. OF his
whole company, neariy loo strong, ne had
only Is Ininl ured. Another Of our Reyerends,
Col Pendleton, q graduate OF West Point,
resident OF Lexington, Virginia and an Episco-
palian Munster, was quiIe busy during the
DAY. ana doubtless did more thaa any one else
20 check the advancing enemy. The inquiry
among the prisoners Was very general who
the DiyIL commanded that battery OH the left,
that killed SO many OF our men 7" Our reply
was that il w's Saint named Pend!eton
About i've O'Clock our anxious minds were
relieved by the cessation of ccnnonading from
| their side. whilst upon ours the thnnders still
rolled out long and load. Then we kae,o we
! had them. 4 long line Of dust towards Cen =
! trevi!le proclaimed that the stripes had been
| pirn teously administered to the proteges of
Lincoln, aud the stars and B:rs" waved
| triumphant over the Iisld. long line of Iu-
gtti,es defied across the delds, ard Inc csvsl-
ry Were ordered to pursue. The history of
that pursuit upon our part could well be
written in words OF blood, tor more men were
killed then and there than had fallen in the
battle Our infantry hurried on as ra pidly
as possible, whilst our batteries gave part
ing g fire in the rear. 1t was " Sauue
La h;
| and gnapsacks, guns. everything that in
| commode speedy flight were gotten rid of
| as quickly as possible The amount Of plumber
| stTe~n upon the road is almost Incredible
| The quantity Of arms AIKEN it is hard to get
| ct. aB many OF them are in the hands Of those
| who frst took th.m. For instance. one Con, :.
| pany OF virginia troops, in returning from
| tue pursuit, captured enough Minnie mus.
| kets to arm the whole command-60 strong
| Il Is estimated, however, that L. 900 small
| arms will be added to stock OF ordnance
| Enough powder was taken TO supply the
| army for another big battle and &c pieces Of
artillery, with the caissons full of projec tiles
,chtch ioill be returned shortly ,oitl our com
| Jttasnts, to their former masters Many
hundreds OF our brave boys now sport .plen-
did blue overcoats, the owners OF which
didn't have time to call for them
There is no earthly doubt that our army
was overcome several times between twelve
and three, and that the bulletins sent by the
enemy are IN the main correct; but alas !
" the best laid plans of men and mice aft gang
sglee''-and in this instance, verify, WAS there
great " slip between the cup and the lip -
With all their preparations made, their
''srand army" complete in every department,
it is too bad that destruction shOu Id CONS up
on them when victory seemed perching upon
their standard. And they cannot Jay the
blame this time upon those " Internal masked
batteries" They chose their own ground and
We met them in the open field with no other
entertainments hut bright steel bayone ts abe We
| our brave hearted soldiers. The whole plan
had hnA,1 ,,
by q splendid map OF the entire country,
| which the writer received from Col. Wilcox,
| OF Michigan, commanding The Second Brigade.
Upon that map, which haQ been drawn up by
| order of the War Department from the coast
survey records, show wing the topography of
the country from Washington to Manassas, il
wa. evident that the plan of actiOn had
been mapped ont by old Scott. At Sud-
| three columns tadicGted that the crossing
| ,oas to be made there The number o,
| men actually engaged upon our side was
Is 900, though some think it was less
| The number engaged upon the other side,
| taken from the admissions OF captured OH
| ceIs, was about 81 900. What was the secret
| OF onr success, agalnst such odds The enemy
| fought braVely. There can be but one opinion
| about that and forced our lines back more
| than half mile. Our success can aIoue be
| attributed, (beyond that which Divine Provi.
dence acceded TO u.s. 10 the dauntiess ou:I
| dog courage of our men. They ,oould not qnil
| 6ohting. Said one OF the Lincoln officers
| What sort OF men are yours, We broke
| your Reg iments all to pieces and yet we
| didn't whip YOU" And so it was. Sc.t
| tered As they were, every man went to fight
Ing on his own hook, and you could have
| shock a thousand at any time out of the pius
| thjckets, who didn't know where their com
| panies were, but kept loading and blazing
| away. From these scattered fragments Of
| companies General Johnston gathered sew
| eral hundred, and requested Col Thomas te
| take them TO G. position, which he indicated
a, of in
service that this gallant gen tleman fell pierced
TO the heart