The national Republican., 1867-04-04
THE FIRST BULL RUN BATTLE.

The hrst battle OF Bull Kun was not as
sanguinary by great deal Of killing and
woundng as were very many Of the subse-
quent battles Of the war Of the rebellion. 1t
will however, occupy forever a prominent
place in the history Of that unhappy war, for
various reasons. II was our first serious
battle, and in it the officers on both sides
measured their men and measured each
other. II was defeat which stimulated, or
rather stung the North to the putting forth
Of new energies, while ii led the South to
underrate the fighting force Of Northern
troops, and correspondingly to underestimate
the force which they would be obliged to
bring into the contest in order to achieve
success. In the end it was productive Of
much more harm than good to the Southern
cause.
General JosEHH JOHNSTON has recently
published q long letter, in which he corrects
some wrong impressions which have pre-
vailed at the South concerning this battle.
He and General BEAuREGARD have both been
censured because the victory was not fol.
lowed up by an attack upon Washington.
But he affrms that it was impossible to do
this. There were, he says, twenty-five thou.
sand fresh Union troops to counteract such a
movement on their part. When the cavalry
did press forward in the direction Of Alex.
andria they "were driven back by the solid
resistance of the United States infantry"
I'VE could not" he asserts, "have carried
tha int ,htna ts rl hol ~ q thn
to besiege them our assault would have
been repulsed, and the enemy, then become
victorious, would have resumed their march
to Richmond. But il we had captured the
intrenchments, river, mile wide, lay be-
tween them and Washington, commanded by
the heavy guns of Federal feet" The
Federal masses" he says, were less disor.
ganized by defeat than our army by tri.
umph."
This assertion bears out the Northern
statements made at the time, to the effect
that victOrs and vanquished were equally
punished; that the retreating soldiers, though
depressed and disheartened, were in reality
not a whit more demoralized than those who
remained in possession Of the field Of strife
AS a'proof Of the disorganization which fol
lowed in the Southern army, General JoHN
sToN speaks Of thousands who went homC
in the belief that their victory had termi
mated the war The substantial fruits o
the victory" General JOHNSTON asserts, IVA
the preservation Of the Confederacy," and n,
more could or should have been hoped for
He adds; "The defeat Of the Confederat
army would have involved the immediat
overthrow Of the Confederacy." The Con
tederate forces at Bull Run, he says, amounted
to thirty-two thousand, including the clever
thousand reinforcements from Winchester
Eighteen hundred and ninety. three men wert
lost in the battle. The total losses by deser
tion and otherwise, however, were about five
thousand, which more than counterbalancet
the total Union losses, including killed
wounded, and prisoners. 1t has general!
been supposed at the South that the numbe
OF reinfOrcements received soon after tn
battle brought up the strength Of the Con
federate army to sixty thousand men, an
General JOHNSTON has consequently beel
censured that he did not then make fol
ward movement into Maryland. But he no'
states that the total Of his reinforcement
amounted to only six thousand troops,