The national Republican., 1861-08-31
CARD FROM A SOLDIER.

Most of the readers of the Republican will
doubtless recollect the amusing description
which Mr.. Russell gives, in his recent letter to
the London Times, of a certain belligerent ofi-
Ger at Bull Rum who. with his sword under his
arm, was boldly making his retreat from the
field of slaughter, and when few struggling
teamsters appeared above the brow of an ad-
joining hill, the worthy representative of Mars
set up II cry Of There they come, there they
come-there comes the Black Horse cavalry
to cut us IN peces.' And with this eXclama.
ton, the warike hero pushed forward to
Washington.
The story is Il laughable one, and is told in
very good style; yet common candOr compelS
us to ask, how far the natural inference from
such a scene is to be relied on as characters.
tic of the events of the day. Then let us say,
once for ALL and in spite of many assertions to
the contrary, that such things form the excep.
tion, and not the general rule which must be
applied to our officers on the occasion. Never
did troops, who were called into existence on
such short notice, fight better and it was only
the pressure of circums ances, of long march.
ing, hunger, and Overwhelming odds of mum.
bers, that finally forced them to retire. AS to
the officers, will freely admit that here and
there coward was to be found lurking among
them, rs Is always the case in Il prOmisCu uous
assembly; yet myself can bear witness to the
repeated efforts of almost every commander,
who came under my observation, To rally his
men. The conduct Of those who were habitu.
ated to the use of arms WAS uniformly good
| and the same remark applies to many of the
volunteers. Official communications are neCes.
sarly confined TO certain modes Of expression,
| yet when General Mcdowell pulogizes the re.
| peated efforts of his personal staff to stem the
rclreating current of fugitveS from Bull Run,
every intelligent reader will readily understand
the encomium. And am sure that the same
who were engaged. The officers who were
| attached to the battery, to which the writer
| has the honor to belong, behaved in truly
noble manner, pointing the guns, serving out
l ,....., II. 4,
AS their presence was Of any practical use.
One of them-Lieut Ames-got wounded early
in the fight yet he still stuck to his section, and
was carried about from place TO place on the
top of 4 caisSon, till eventually another shot
disabled him, and he was forced to retire.
Many other incidents, of a like character, could
be noticed in different parts of the field; and
we only mention this particular one, as kind
of Offset to Mr.. Russell's scapegate acquaint.
ance. But let us now turn to the final issue OF
| the conflict.
Well then, even admitting that we were re-
pulsed; yet we are far from confessing that
jeff. Davis whipped us SO badly rs Mr.. Russell
seems to suppose. At one particular point
where the contest was peculiarly obstinate, we
| were forced back, it is true ; yet, even there
we had the regular infantry, and one or two
| other regiments besides, to cover our retreat,
| and that they did in truly mastery manner
In every other situation, a large proportion of
the force engaged retired In very good order.
| | have sometimes heard it asserted that if Beau
| regard had followed us up, he could have been
| in Washington the day after the battle. Now
this is all sheer nonsense. He could not, under
( any circumstances, have advanced any further
than our entertainments at Centrevillc, while
the event actually proved that he did not get
within three miles oft for at this point Blen.
ker's brigade, which had been in reserve all
day, met him, and drove him back To tell the
truth, the enemy had suffered too much them.
selves to follow us one step further than they
actually did. This is the true state of the case,
divcsted of all trappings or superficial orna.
ments. As regards Mr.. Russell, the fact seems
to be, that he got hemmed in and carried away
by the first crowd of straggCrs, and then took
his impressions from what he saw of hack.
drivers, toamsters and broken down stump
orators in military uniform, who screamed and
shouted at the top of their voice, "We're
whipped! we're whipped! wo'ro badly whip,
ped" Some Of our readers may, perhaps
have heard Of the blind fool in the fable who
could just see half way down his nose, but was
never gratihed with glance at its examinations
and therefore lOndly imagined that his probocis
extended to the far oil eXtremtles OF the earth