The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1862-08-21

the road. 1t was intended that we
should turn their position at daylight, AS
we could have done very easily but for
the delay" .,..... ,..,
4. The advancing of our batteries
one thousand yards without adequate
support, and the unfortunate mistaking
of rebel regiment for the batteries
support, was the fourth cause of the
disaster. If these guns had not been
captured and turned upon our own
troops, the strong probabilities are that
We should, at least, have held the field,
and that no panic would have ehsued.
Captain Griffin, of Griffin's battery,
win" had been placed in the advance
position, says:
After l had been there about FIVE
minutes regiment of Confederates
got over the fence on my front, and
some officer-I took to he Colonel
stepped out in front of the regiment,
between it and my battery, and com
menced making speech to them. I
gave the command to one of nv off
GERS to fire upon them. He loaded the
cannon with canister and was just
ready to fire on them, when Major Barry
rode mp to me and said
Captain don't fire ihere-those are
your battery support!' % / said, "They
are COnfe'lerates-as certain as the
world they are Confederates." He re-
piled, :" | know they are yonr battery
support" Sprang TO my pieces ana
told my officer not 10 fire there. He
threw down the canister and commnced
firing again in the same former direc-
tion. After the officer who had been
talking to the regiment had got trough
he faced them To the left and marched
them about fifty yards to the woods,
then faced them to the right and
marched them about forty rods towards
us. and than opened fire upon us and
that was the last Of us.
"l'efore this occurred I started to
timber up my pieces, so thoroughly
convinced was / that they were the
COnfedlerates. But as the Chief of
Artillery told me that they were my
battery support. / was afraid to fire
npon them. Major Barry, know it
is the battery support; il is the regi.
ment taken there by Colonel-.
Every well," said |, and gave the or.
der to fire in another direction with
the battery, but never delivered the
fire-fnr we were all cut down.
Colonel Averill says:
"In going down the hill after the
general break, l saw an officer galop
ing along in front of me. l recognized
Major Barry, and cryed out, H,lloa
Barry, is that you?" He said F" Yes"
| said, "where is Grifiim?" He said, 81
am afraid he is killed." / said, "that
battery is lost. | am afraid we are
gone up" or some remark To that effect
Barry then said, 81 am to blame for
the loss of that battery put Griffin
there myself"
s. The failure TO bring the resrve
into action at the critical moment. The
reason assigned was an insufficient
staff and lack of discipline by bri-
gades.
The foregoing l believe TO be the
true and only reason for the loss of
the battle of Bull Run. | am of the
opinion that the rrrEe.lying of any one
of the five errors would have saved
the field, but it was lost, and scene
too disgraceful for description met the
astonished gaze of the nation. And
yet our losses were small comparative.
ly. Two thousand FIVE hundred men
killed, wounded and missing, in round
numbers, twenty six guns, twenty five
army wagons, twent five ambnlances,
and from six TO eight thousand stand
of arms will cover the whole loss of
that defeat.
Were the people discouraged, de-
pressed? Not at all. Untold thnu-
sands rushed into the shattered ranks,
eager to wipe out the stain an.l stigma
of that defeat. From the East, the
West, the North, and the States, thou
sands and tens of thousands and hun
dreds of thousands came pouring in
until the government said hold,
enough" The army of the Potomac,
dennded in August of the three months
men, scarcely numbered fifty Thousand
efficient men, swclled in September to
over one hundred thousand, in October
to one hundred and fifty Thousand, in
in November To one hundred and
seventy-fve thousand ar, upwards, uu-
til, on the 10th day of December, the
,p,,r,,;p.r rolls showed one hnudred and
ninety five thousand four hundred men,
and thirteen regiments not reported,
chiefly intended for the Burnside ex
peditiOn, bnt all under the command of
General Mcclellan. Duiing the months
"f October, Noyembrr and December,
the weather was delightful and the
roads fine. The question began to be
asked in October, when will the. adj
vance take place? All had the most
unbounded confidence in the army and
its young general, and were anxiously
waiting for Napoleonic stroke. 1t
came, bnt such stroke! That gen.
eral movement was being prepared, the
whole country had known for weeks
but when the terrific blow was To he
struck, no one knew save the comman-
der of the army of the Potomac. The
nation believed in it's young comman-
der: the President relied upon him, and
all, myself included, had the most un-