St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-24
THE BULL RUN ROUT.
How the Gallant Boys Came Back
from the First Battle OF
Manassas.

S. S. Cox.
With bated breath congress awaits the is
sue. Its business lags. Its members Cos
sip in the rear of the seats and in the cloak
rooms. At length dispatches come. They
are read at the clerks desk. Then Bull Run
comes iIl-preceded by the Pickaway con-
tractors cattle on stampede. Then come
intelligent contrabands and an incongruous
array of wearied soldiers in muddy uni
forms. What of the senators andrepresent-
atives? Chandler, Wade, Richardson, Lo-
gan, Gurley, Morris and Riddle return
safely. Ely is borne by his resistless
patriotism, darkfy and fearfully afar. The
Black Horse cavalry of the enemy carry
him into Richmond. Libby prison receives
him, and his goodness of heart and ample
means enable him to aid his fellowprison-
s. Mr.. Riddle relates how his company
mad been charged upon by wild riders of
sable horses: 1T seemed" said he, in
acknowledgement description, ''as if the
very devil of panic and cowardice seized ey-
cry mortal soldier, officer, citizen and team
Ster. No officer tried to rally the soldiers,
OF do anything, except to spring and run to-
wards Centreville. There never was any
thing like it for causeless, sheer, absolute,
absurd c0Wardice, or rather panic, on this
miserable earth before. Off they went, one
and all; off down the highway, over across
fields towards the woods, anywhere, every
where, to escape. Well, the further they
ran the more frightened they grew, and al
though we moved ON as rapidly as we could,
the fugitives passed us by scores. To en-
able them better to run, they threw away
their blankets. knapsacks, canteens, and
finally muSkets, cartridge-boXes and every
thing else. We called to them, tried to tell
them there was no danger, called them to
stop, implored them to stand. We called
them towards, denounced them in the most
offensive terms, put out our heavy revOlvers
and threatened to shoot them, but all in
vain: a cruel, crazy, mad, hopeless panic
possessed them, and communicated to ev-
erybody about in front and rear. The heat
was awful, although now about 6; the
men were exhausted-their mouths gaped,
their lips cracked and blackened with the
powder of the cartridges they had bitten off
in the battle, their eyes starting in frenzy;
no mortal ever saw such mass OF CHASTITY
WretcheS.- AS we came on borne along
with the mass unable to go ahead or pause,
or draw out of it, with the street blocked
with flying baggage-wagonS before and be-
hind, laundering and crashing on, we were
every moment exposed to imminent danger
of being upset, or crushed or of breaking
down; and for the first time on this strange
day I felt little sinking of the heart and
doubt whether we could avoid destruction
in the immense throng about us; and moth
ing but the remarkable skill of our driver
and the strength of our carriage and en-
durance of our horses saved us. Another
source of peril beset us. As we passed the
poor. demented, exhausted wretches, who
could not climb into the high. close baggage
wagons, they made frantic efforts to get on
to and into our carriage. They grasped it
everywhere and got on to it, into it, over it
and implored us every way to take them
off,"
No more graphic picture has since been
presented of the race of this army from an
imaginary pursuit. The pencil of a David
could not do it justice. No colors can be
harmonized for such chaos. De Quincy's
''Flight of Tartar Tribe" is far less ver-
acious and not more thrilling.