Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-05-18
ALEXANDRIA, VA.
MONDAY EVENING, MAY IS.


Ganeral Joseph E. Johnston, in his artlc'e'
aManassas to Seven Pines" in the may
number of the Century Magazine, heretofore
alluded to, in his account OF the retreat Oh
the federal army at the first battle Oh MA
nassas, says:
at twenty minutes before five. when the re,
treat of the enemy toward CentreVille pesan
sent orders to BrRadler eenera. pon ,nho hon
Ii.uteuant- Colonel Lay, of his stan, VINO nap
nered TO be with me, to march with his own ahm
Ionpstreet's brigade (which was nearest oui'
Rum and the Stone Bridget by the QUICKEST i"u.o
In the turnpike and form then. 'cioss IL 10 ln'el-
cont tho retrcat of tho federal troops. But no
fopnd an little appearance of rout in those troops
90 to make the execution of his instructions seem
;mnraeticsble; So the two brigadeS returned 70
their camps. o,,,,d os.ct.
Our cavalry pursued as far as they could eHecI-
,iy IL: but when they encountered tae maui :'i-
nmn after dispensing aud capturing little parties,
and strapelers, they could mako no impression.
Tn Mr., Cox's new book, "Tbree Decades
of Federal Legislation" he repeats Mr.. XIII
dies account of that retreat, AS follows:
oThe very devil of panic and cowardice
seized every mortal soldier officer ci'izeh auo
teamstcr. No officer tried to rally the soldiers
mr. do anythine except to spring and run TOWARDS
,,.ntreuille There never was anything ike IL
for causeless, sheer absolute, ABSURD co"aral'e
or rather panic, on this miserable eartn Deiofe
OF they went one and all; Oh down Inc hili"aS'
over scross fields towards the woods, anywhere,
everywhere, to escape. wen the ini'uri '"o
ran the more frightened they grew, and although
we moved on as rapidly as We could. The tugitFes
nassau ma nv scores To enable them better to
run, they threw away their blankets, knapsacks
canteens and fualy muskets, cartridge boxes
and everything else. We Jailed to them, tried
A. bora N danger. called Llem 10
stop implored them to stand. We called them
towards denounced them in the most offensive
terms pulled out our heavy reviewers ana threat
eneI to shoot them, but all In vain; cruei,
crazy, mad, hopeless panic possessed then,' anu
communicated to everybody about IN front and
rear The heat was awful, although now ABOUT
six: the men were e1haustcd-their mouths
paped their lips cracked and blackened with the
peeyder of the cartridges they had Dltten OH III
the battle, their eyes It rting IN frenzy: no NOR
tal ever saw such of CHASTITY Wretches AS
we came on, borne along with the mass unaDle
to 70 ahead, or pause or draw out oil IL, Win inc
road block ed with flying baggage wagons, before
and behind laundering and CT flashing on, we were
every moment exposed to Imminent danger OF
being upset, or crushed, or Of breaking down; ana
for the first time on this strange day felt lit'
lie sinking of the heart and doubt whether we
could avoid destruction in the immense throng
about US; and nothing but the remarkable Skill
.! our driver and the strength OF our carriage
Nj, endurance OF our DOrStS saVCu u.s. auoIucl
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 OH to and into our car
rage. They grasped it everywhere and got on TO
it, into it, over it and implored US every way to
take them off"
Everybody who witnessed the retreat
referred TO except General Johnston
will agree that the Northern accoun,
of it, as given by Mr.. Riddle, is more
correct than. that given by the General.
Mr.. Riddles account was entirely dis
interested. That the Generals is not so
is shown by the following extract from u
subsequent part of his article:
"On November 3, 1861, Mr.. Davis wrote to me
that reports were circulated to the effect that he
prevented General Beauregard from pursuing the
enemy after the battle of Manassas, and had sub
seuuently restrained him from advancing upon
Washington city. / call upon you t. say whether
obstructed the pursuit of the enemy after the
victory ut Manassas, have orer obj ected to al
advance other active operation. which it was
feasible for tho army to undertake.. replied
on the 10th. answering the first question in the
negative, and added al explanation which put
the responsibility on myeelf."