The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1883-11-08
BULL BUNS FIELD.
The Fsscinstion OF the Soene-Where
StoneWall Jackson Sat on His Horse.

The Fascination OF the Soene-NheFe
StoneWalI Jackson Sat on His Horse.
We got a good dinner at Manassas,
and hiring team aud driver. we set
out for the battlefield Of Bull Run,
four miles distant, over the same road
| which Beauregard Travelled TO meet
Mcdonald on July q, 1861.
The trouble now Is not what to say
but what not to say I'm a single letter.
/ Briefly, then, the south was massing
for battle on this point. You can to
this dav see miles Of earthwOTks here.
Fort Beauregard IL still an imposing
! piece Of fortificafiOn, earthwOrk, with
/ beech trees, pear trees, willows, and
/ in fact all kinds Of wild as well as
/ tame woods climbing over. It h too
| heavy TO level down and restore again
TO the dominion OF the plOw. But
/ nearly all the other lines and earth
forts have quietly surrendered to the
| husbandman, and, mounting there
TODAY. the tall corn stands Ia regi-
ments flashing Its green, bent sabres
In the sun.
This first battle Of Bull Run stands
first IN the alphabet Of great American
battles. Greater battles have been
fought hereabouts a greater battle In
deed, on the same ground. But the
| first has fastened on US. There is
savage fascination about Il which we
who lived on that day cannot escape.
And vet Il was not yesterday. / saw
lOunging against a lamp-pOst here at
Manassas, not an hour ago, hand
some young SOutherner pulling at his
mustaehe. l approached and asked
him Of the battle. He had been born
since Il was fought! 50 you see II was
not fought yesterday, this battle OF
Bull Run, when the cannon shook
the earth even to the shores OF Oregon.
And do you know the north played
the air Of "Dixien In this first battle ?
IL fs so. The south had not yet learned
II, but played ''The Girl 1 Len Be
hind Me- Let US look in upon this
battle Geld as we look upon the face Of
one whom we knew well nearly a
quarter Of a century ago. By wide,
well-kept country road, through corn
fields and clumps Of oak, chestnut,
walnut, hickory, and half g dozen
other kind OF scrub trees, some OF them
badly shot to pieces, we were driven
toward the muddy, Rluggish, crooked
and ugly little stream OF Bull Run. In
this drive Of four miles We met one
man on horseback we passed one
man on q horse, and q barefoot negro
boy on foot, driving a little flock Of
sheen. Overhead ] saw q single raven;
not a bird, not a squirrel, on either
hand; but the crickets and gTasshop-
pers in the eorn-fields aud elumps Of
wood, on either side Of us, chirped
and sang inoessantly.
At the eud Of four miles, we turned
through q gate 10 the right into field;
cows were scattered here and there
around the crescent OF the hill on the
crest Of the hill stood q long, frame
farmhouse; back OF this house little
brown stone monument to the dead
soldiers IL front Of II, In the door
yard, q graveyard. The house which
Formerly stood here had been torn to
splinters during the battle. The lady
buried In the grave In the dOOr-ynrd
was killed here. She WGs the mother
Of the kind old gentleman who now
lnherits the place. This battlefield
was his mothers farm. lt II now his,
and be shows yOu over t. BE was
teaching sohool down Ct Alexhndria af
the time bis mother Wns killed here
B sehool teacher for forty years. He
and his sister live In this. old gray
house together; ne one but these two
old deaf people for many mile about
The peach trees are breaking down
under loads Of fruit In the heart Of the
battlefield, q little way down the
slope Of the hill below tbsgfave IN the
do0r-ynrd. L0ng strinEs of fat tur-
keys tread on tangled grass through /
The orchard, chasing the grasshoppers- !
BeioW this orchard, half q mile away,
and carved aronhd in a muddy cree !
cent but hidden BY . young growth |
of trees, creeps Ban Run. On the /
morning sf the battle, in the broad |
coFnneids on the other side, and away
out yondeF, miles away over ne foot /
hilis, the Federal bayoneta Flaarned by !
tens OF thousands. They were march
Ing for Beauregnriis rear, OF rather, for
the Midland line. By which be had
come Gp from the south. BE h1d come /
out from Manasss, four miles aWsy, |
20 stop this movement. .ea Ell the Wcrld ]
knows. IhR north was not q ba
stopped. Hence the battle. But this /
is trenchiDg On history, apd We must !