The Somerset reporter., 1890-05-29

two or lhree millions"
When Darrell Seaton read the fateful
dispatch ~ the morning of April u, and
felt that ii meant indefinite, possibly
eternal separation from Helen Morley,
the wild throbbing of his heart revealed
that his friendship had been but mask
for an intense, passionate love. lie re-
solved to tell her SO at the first opportu-
nifty. and he kept his resolution. lie did
not ask her directly to be his wife, but
felt that she ought to know how he had
deceived himself, and that he was at last
awakened To the truth--the delightful,
distracting. tunultuous truth. His avow-
al elected hers. She. too, had uncon-
sciously practiced self deception They
, were, and had been from the first. sim
ply and completely in love with one am
other. Before they were aware of it, and
before they could understand how it was
brought about, they were engaged. Oar
rcll had always thought that he would
! not, under any circumstances marry an
heiress; aud here he was bctrothed to
one. He was beginning to see, as so iH+s+y
! Young men have seen, that it is impru-
dent to form opinions without adequate
experience.
The enamored couple met daily, and
their conversation much resembled that
] of which specimen has been given.
! Helen MAS patriotic to the core. The
course OF the south. from the election of
Lincoln to the revolutionary measures OF
Carolina, had fired her blood and made
her wish that she had been a man. Her
father, lusy with mercantile affairs,
never suspected that Helen cared any
more for Darrell than for any one of
dozen young men in her social circle. lie
! could hardly have been persuaded that
| she would dream of marrying Il physician
| who had vet his way to make in the
world The idea would have seemed SO
absurd to him that he would have i'm
agined it equally absurd to her. The
aflianced couple decided not to divulge
their secret even To him. When the war
was over they would proclaim it, And
perhaps" began DARRELL but tears shone
i'll llelen's eyes and she cut short his
u 1Iteic' IN s.;;fi!!yj feminine fay.
Darrell Seaton enlisted in New York
infantry regiment. He had been urged
to offer his services as surgeon, but he
declined saying that in such a cause he
| preferred to give wounds rather than to
| heal them. Before going to Washington
he was elected second lieutenant. and
had his earliest military experience at
| Bull Run.
He has told me that when first under
fire, in the skrmish at Blackburn Fork,
he was excited and nervous, and would
have run away but for his pride and the
consciousness that if he should begin
running there would be no place to stop.
Every time bullet whistled near him
he thought he must be struck; again
| and again death seemed to be in
evitable. After fifteen or twenty
| minutes he perceived the danger to
be much more apparent than real,
and he gradually began to grow calm.
Frightened, as he confessed himself to
| have been, he declared that lse was cool
ness itself compared with hundreds that
he saw about him. This encouraged aud
| emboldened him. When he learned, an
| hour after, that not more than one hum
| dred and twenty men had been lost on
both sides during the skirmish he was
amazed. He would have sworn at the
time that the casualties must have
| reached three thousand at least.
| He was afterward in the advance
movement on the Confederate center.
The Unonists were confident of victory,
and he was in high spirits, when suddenly
the whole right wing Of the Federal army
gave way before an unexpected assault
from the enemy, and fled in the widest
confusion. He and all the officers who
retained any reason tried in vain TO rally
! their men. 1t was a perfect panic, and
the flying multitude, incapable of con-
troll, carried everybody and everything
along with it. He likened it to an ava
lanche or tidal wave. The only way
to avoid being crushed to death was to
yield to the mighty pressure. He, with
thousands of others. was borne along
several miles, and ultimately found him
self at Centerville.
| The scene ut the narrow wooden bridge
| over a brook on the Centeryille turnpike
| was extraordinary and be"1ldeTnig. A
throng of civilians had come from Wash
| ington on horseback and in carriages to
witness what they had been told was-a
glorious victory. Bitter was their disap-
pontment and great their alarm when
they saw, at that point, hurrying, fright
ened masses of soldiers. army wagons,
artillery inextricably involved and hope
lessly confused. The heat was excessive,
the dust choking, the panic complete.
Men were shouting, swearing, struggling
like mad, horses plunging, whlnnering,
| evidently scared as much as their mas
| tiers. A cannon shot struck calsson on
the bridge, shattered it and obstructed
the way. Then the dismay, disorder and
uproar increased to terrific point Men
| surged over the broken caisson; others
leaped from the bridge; many rushed
through the stream; artillery horses were
cut from the traces and ridden by their
| frantic drivers through the trembling,
screaming crowd. The wonder was that
hundreds were not killed in the chaotic
| jam. The fugitives scrambled through
and over every obstacle, and pushed their
tumultuous course toward some imagined
place Of safety as the shadows of even
| ing fell.
The defeat was evidently irra2arable.
| 1t was also evident that the OneDy was
In no condition to pursue his enormous
advantage, which was a great consola-
ton. DarTells idea of war was rudely
changed. 1t seemed to him that many
of the Union troops were conslnmmate
towards, and he did not spare his bitter
denunciatios. He learned in subsequent
battles that what we call courage is
largely dependent on accustomednesa
Men who had run like sheep from indef-
mite peril on that memorable July day
afterward proved themselves valiant and
earned the name Of heroes. Bull Run
was a great and impressive lesson to
Darrell as well as to the whole north.
The notifying repulse and disracefm
panic was of Unreasonable benefit to the
federals in the end Darrell was deeply
chagrined tlmtlhe hadnot BEEN wounded,
but he was withouta scratch, beyond the
bruises inflicted ~ the fugitive masses
In their mad race for Washington. He
soon reflected that there was still time
for wounds; but he had no idea Il the
slaughter Of the next four years, which
turned the nation into common house
Of mourning.
Bull Run had made soldier Of him.;
had increased h1 horror Of aught APP