The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1870-06-03

miration of the army-and it would
have fared i'll with storming party
who should have tried conclusions
with those soldier tars. But Manas-
SOS was demurcly evacuated without
a trial of arms, and served for long
after rs depot for tho magniloquent
Pope-not rs his headquarters, of
! course, for we all remember that that
twas Gin the saddle" Ho was the gen.
tleman who proposed to walk right
through Virginia, without being en-
numbered with shines of retreat and
bases Of supply" So General Jack
son, doubling Thomas that ho was,
swung in behind him at Manassas,
and found rs fine and costly base of
supplies rs the Southern torch had
ever dissipatcd. Meanwhile, there
was merry little stampede hero by
tho horses of u Pennsylvania cavalry
regiment, who persisted in carrying
their six hundred riders away into tho
Washington Notifications. Sagacious
horses! happy masters Then two
Ohio infantry regiments, at Union
Mills, thought they would go up to
the junction and investigate little.
General Stuart persuaded them to
make short stay and q speedy exit.
A day or two after, the First, Second,
Third and Fourth regiments of New
Jersey thought that they would show
the Americans, Federal and Confcd-
crate, what foreign troops could do.
So thoy started from Alexandria to
find out what was up at Manassas !;
but they stopped ut Burkc's Station,
and in a few minutes became saddcr
and wiser Jerscymcn, under the iron
admonitions Of the Confederate flank
ing column there awaiting them. The
brigade was "cut to pieces" as the
official report has it, but most of tho
"picccs'' reached Alexandria, pulling
the biggest kind of raw-hcad-and-
bloody-bones panic after them. Mean
time the Army of tho Potomac was
being beaten in detail; Rickct march
cd into Manassas with his ragged vet
Grams of the Cedar Mountain stam-
pede, and united with King, who had
just been thrashcd at Bull Run
massing the two bcwildcrcd divisions
over the track, and resting ON their
a. iiio' Il hS hS-No uAy NiliS AollhSo
line again, and at sunset moved down
into the battle, only to see his weary
and disheartened men broken, after q
short struggle, and in full retreat over
the fields. The great incohesive and
disjointed army gave back that night,
and tho plains and valleys settled in
to quietude once moro.
During this complication of COM
bats Manassas reached her lowest cbb
of misfortune. 1t was broad scene
of smouldering destruction and DESC
lation. Dead horses lay thickly
where the cavalry and light batteries
had been cngagcd-half-buricd corp
ses emitted horrid and pestilcntial
eflluvia, shattered wagons and tho
wreck of retreat strcwed tho roads,
and the only edifice visible was rude
little telegraph shanty, close by tho
track, whose rails were torn up or
bent into all shapes by the great trains
burning upon them.
From this terrible waste and ruin
let us turn to tairer sight-the Ma
nassas of to-day. 1t is o pretty vii
lage of over hundred houses, group
cd about the depot, with broad streets
in good condition, lined with residcn-
ces, stores, smithics, and all the Offices
of q considerable population. Many
Of these houses are neat and tasty,
somo arc even elegant, and the hotel
is pleasant spacious one indeed
while queenly Religion has built her
temple on a grassy lawn at the end of
a fnc street. The inhabitants arc:
mostly from the North, q sturdy,
Woodworking yeomanry, bringing
down those habits of industry and
sobriety which have made garden
land of even cold and rocky New
England. Their principles arc also of
the North, but this does not trouble
the good Virginians who have settled
among them, for they are not making
political colony; they came down
on the borders of the Sunny South
to make homes for themselves, not to
become ce-holders. So the fields,
rs far as tho eye can reach, arc under
cultivation, tho young wheat is brca-
king through the ground, and all the
busy activities. of the farm are in
cheerful progress. Young trees are
slowly growing up, to mitigate and
place-the germs of future gardens
brighten here and there in spots of
floral brilliance and beauty-new hou-
ses are rising on newly acquired es-
tates for the homes Of future genera
tions of thrifty Virginians, and
smart little local>paper dispenses tho
tidings Of the day, and indulges in
occasional strains of prophetic enthu-
siasm, which would be worthy of Du-
luth or Omaha.
Poussih has painting of a shaft
and beautiful vale, with all the tender
grace Of pastoral Eden, q sparkling
rill dimpling down through velvet
sward, by fair flowers and stately
trees. But. in the background is an
ancient tomb, with the inscription
"Nin A'eddia ego:" Thus; through
all the rural beauty and freshness of
the fertile plains. there rises q grimly
embrasured battery, glooming over
the western bounds with the same si-
lent significance-sole memorial of
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