The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-09-06

| SlRcl tOON OUV pIl9OucIo, @AN S~sesuASN
seven pieces of artillery. =
| The battle war renewed by US ut o. clock
on Saturday morning. The disposition of
our forces was about the same as on the
previous day: Heintzelman held the
! extreme right; Porter and Mcdowell the
center, and Banks the extreme left. Sigel
was hello in reserve in the rear of Porters
corps. The fight was sustained on our
part by Porter force until afternoon, when
| the enemy concentrated his entire force
upon Mcdowell. The engagement was
almost entirely with the artillery until
o'clock in the afternoon. Up TO TINS Tune
little damage had been sustained on elmer
side The rebels at length became desPer-
.te and charged with solid columns upon
Porter's men. They did not succeed in
breaking the line, however, and were COM
PEELED 70 fall back to their original position.
| Thsaresult was in our favor, inasmuch as
We drove the enemy, although We suffered
severely in SO doing The rebels loss must
have have been frightful, as our artillerists
fred at excellent range.
At ) p. m. the enemy changed tactics,
and moved the major part Of his force
toward Mcdowell, who was on the left Of
the center. At this point We had station
three batteries-Lapine's Fifth Maine, of
of four pieces; Thompson's New York, of
six pieces. and Howelrs Battery, of four
pieces. For some reason, Lapine' battery,
which was liz the extreme front, was un-
supported by infantry. This was certainly
a great oversight on the part of Mcdowell.
Then again, the troops under Mcdowell
were too much scrttered to effectually
resist an enemy1 advance 1t was partic-
ularly observed that an immense number
Of stragglers were loafing about the field
Stragglees are a nuisance to an army, and
the discipline of troops can be ascertained
by observing if many of them leave the
ranks during a march.
The enemy charged at first upon La
pines battery and succeeded in capturing
it. They then advanced eight columns
deep towards McDowell's force; but,
strange to say, instead of offering any op
position, Mcdowell ordered his men to
fall back, which they Immediately COM
menced doing All three of the batteries
were then left unsupported and of course,
| to fall into the hands of the enemy. Soon
as McDewelfs troops commenced retreat
ing, the cowardly stragglers set up shout
and ran pell nell to the rear. Teamers
and ambulance drivers were the next to
follow, and it was feared that another
Bull Run fight was about to be inaugural
ed. The breaking of the line in the cen
ire of course compelled the right and left
to fall back. If the movement had been
conducted systematically all might have
been well, but the fear of being the last
man seemed to seize the troops, and they
made a rush for Centreville Before reach
| ing Bull Run they were partially rallied,
| which had the effect to hold in check the
advance of the enemy. Several attempts
were made to arrest the fight of the men
between Bull Run and Centreville, bat
they all failed. Men with loaded rifles
and fixed bAyonets behind breastwork
at Centreville were the only barrier suai
GENTLY strong to keep back the troops.
Darkness 500 came on, and it being as
certained that the enemy was not rushing
upon them with the celebrity of lightning,
the men became calm and set about pre-
pairing something to eat.
The battle of Saturday was a loss to US
on account of Encouragement somewhere.
Mcdowell is blamed by both officers and
men for not standing firm upon the APP
proach Of the enemy. His men assert that
they will not fight under him again.
This was up to Saturday evening. Our
Dowells wing, were Withdrawn to Center
vile. Fitz John Porter had not come up
from Manassas, nor had Summers and
Franklin's divisions, witch were on the
way from Alexandria, yet arrived The
enemy had recovered the Bull Run battle
field, and bivouacked on it Saturday night.
Up to this time our loss, in killed, Wound.
ed and. missing, was estimated at 10000,
and that of the enemy was certainly not
less. OF prisoners, our side appear to have
| 80, l,k I. - A.
prisoners were parolled as fast as taken
The enemy during Saturday was reinforced
by at Leaf $1,000 men, which was about
equalled by the reinforcements sent to
Gen. Pope, but which did not arrive until
Sunday.
Sunday morning the enemy renewed
the battle, and it ragged again with fury
all day. Their first attempt was made to
tnrn our right, but the brave Sigel, with
his trusty Germans and the batteries he
knows SO well how to man9uvre, drove the
rebels back with heavy loss. Then a bold
stroke was made on our centre, which was
handsomely repulsed by Mcdowell After
this the rebels seemed to become despe.
rate, and forming in solid mass, advanced
in fearful bayonet charge on our left,
which for the instant was overborne and
hurled back. The disaster would not
have ended here, had not fortunately, at
this juncture, Fitz John Porter's division
arrived from Manassas, (which, pouring a
deadly flank fire into the enemy, drove
him back. Franklin's AID Summers divi
sions now also arrived upon the ground
and being comparatively fresh were march
ed to the front. The troops that had
borne the burden and heat of the morning
were ordered to fall back. After this dis
position, which occupied until or o'cl'k
fighting on Sunday. Gen. Banks, with his
small division, was still at Manassas. Our
line at this time extended north and south,
the extreme left being at Manassas and
the right ia the vicinity of Fairfax Court
House, facing west =.
Next morning (Aonday, Sept ~ intel.
ligence was received at headquarters that
the divisions of Hill and Longstreet in
tended to appear on our right in force and
cut off our supply trains Toprevent this
contamination the division of Gen Reno
was dispatched by Pope to Fairfax Court
House 1t was also deemed prudent to
commence the evacuation of Centreville to
4 cover our base of operations. inasmuch as
Generals Hill and Longstreet were known
to be in force some distance towards WASH
iagton from the battle field of Saturday;
and. as a reconnaissance to the front had
revealed an Anticipated movement In the
same direction by the enemy, the army of