Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1867-05-09
lFron The 0id unard,l
rHE SECO.y'D MANASSAS.

M a station on the Orange railroad
& bout four miles from Manassas, came
,e long, continuous thunder of artil.
by
il was Ewol's. That commander
ad been sent to hold the front, while
ackson proceeded to destroy the
kreat depot at Manassas, and he was
carcely in position when the head OF
General Pope's advancing army struck
him. 1t was commanded by General
NJ Hooker, whom Jackson was to over
Ehem at Charlottesville
A rough wrestle followed. Ewell
threw forward three regiments, open
ID with artillery, and attacked so
II boldly that General Pope seems to
\ have believed that. he had in front OF
T him the entire Confederate force. He
consequently paused, hurried forward
his main body, and prepared for bat
& lie. Ewell continued to roar defiance
Il with his artillery, to show an unmoved
e front. Pope advanced a heavy force
81 Ewell advanced to meet it; the two
columns seemed about to close in a de-
cisive struggle, when flames were seen
To rise from the bridge over Broad
n Run, between the opponents, and when
the smoke drifted away, Ewell had
disappeared, laughing grimly, doubt
a less, after his fashion, at the result.
He had kept General Pope off of
Jackson's rear while Manassas was
4 burning; that point was evacuated ;
when General Pope rushed in on the
next morning, his great adversary
had disappeared. Nothing greeted
him bat burning store houses and
4 blackened ruins, from which a few
cavalry vedettes retired at his ap-
4 proach, disappearing in the woods.
The bread, meat, and forage of his
army was a heap of ashes.
This destruction of his stores was
truly unfortunate for the Federal
commander; but that was not ALL
His enemy had vanished. Where
was he? General Pope had fully ex.
pected to find him at Manassas and,
on the preceding day, had written to
Mcdowell: of you will march prompts
ly and rapidly at the earliest moment
down upon Manassas Junction, we
shall bag the whole crowd"
But cat the earliest darn" Of the
2sth Jackson had disappeared, leaving
General Pope greatly bewildered in
reference to his whereabouts. The
cotcmporary opinions expressed by
the subordinates of that officer are
not complimentary.
"All that talk about bagging jack
son." wrote. General Porter, "was
bosh That enormous gap, Manassas,
was left open, and the enemy jumped
through" "Jacksoh's forces" he ad-
ded, "were reported to be wandering
around loose, but | expect that they
know what they are doing, which is
more than any one here, or anywhere,
knows" On the 2sth, General Pope
is declared to have hastened toward
Centreville, "not knowing at the time
where was the enemy"
And yet that enemy ought to have
been looked for l0here he ought to hare
been. He ought to have been where
he could form a junction with Lee,
then approaching Thoroughfare-that
is to say, near Groveton. Thither, in
fact, jackson had moved after the
destruction of Manassas, on the night
Of the 9th, thus escaping General
Pope, who rushed into the great
smouldering pandemonium during the
forenoon OF the 2sth, only to find that
the bird had flown.
Let us glance now at the situation
on that August morning, Never was
anything more dramatic" Cam
paigns are often dull, halting, and
inconsequential. This one was rapid,
fiery, with day linked to day by great
events-the whole tending, as though
driven by the Greek Necessity, with
her iron wedge, toward the bloody
catastrophe. Jackson had advanced
from tho Rappahannock, as rapid and
resistless as some baleful meteor and
the meteor had fallen upon Manassas,
the great storehouse of the Federals,
and consumed it. Then warned of
his danger, General Pope had hasten
cd back, intent on hurting his great
column against the audacious intruder
and crushing him in the very hour of
his triumph. He would "bag the
whole crowd if he could only reach
Manassas on the 2Sth He reached it
on the 2stb, but the game had flown.
Then, on that morning, Pope was
at Manassas Jackson at Groveton,
with his left at Smiley; Lee was ad-
vancing toward Thoroughfare Gap
with the veteran corps OF Longstreet
unless Pope could crush jackson be-
fore Lee arrived, he must engage the
whole southern army. As 10 fright
ening the man of Kernstown, Port
Republic, and Cold Harbor into full
retreat, that was hopeless. That
trained and resolute gladiator had
only fallen back far enough to get
out Of his adversary's clutches for the
moment; no. too far to render posi-
DIE junction with Leo, if little time
only a little time were given him.
AT bay on the old battlefield of Ma
nassas, the dangerous game awaited
the attack of the buntsman, ready to
show his teeth, and resist a toutrancc.
The precious hours hurried on nowj
every instant counted the merest
novice in war could have told General
Pope that the great, the Indispensable
thing was to intorpose force between
Lee and jackson, hold Thoroughfare
Gap, and thus fight the southern ar
my in detail But some evil demon