Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-07-25
THE SECOND BULL RUN
Some "reminiscences of That Famous
and Disastrous Engagement.
! MIS- MANAGED ARMY.
Thousands Of Soldiers Who Had No Chance
to Be In the Fight-The Excitement of the
Retreat-A Railroad Trains Destruction-A
Valuable Medicine Chest
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star
NNHE PURPOSE OF THIS SKETCH Is TO
l. recount very few of the scenes and Incl
dents which came within my observation dur
ing brief but restless journey in the summer
OF 1862 in company with Pope's army, the Jour-
ney and the army, at the period of which write,
covering the distance from Alexandria to the
Rapidan river, in Virginia. the latter, however,
occupying a much less attenuated position
when l had hidden it adieu.
Gen. Pope assumed command Of the army
of Virginia July IA, 1862. and the first engage
ment Of any importance was fought at Cedar
mountain the 9th Of August following, and it
was with feeling of the most profound salts
faction to myself that arrived at CuIpeper
| Court House day later. l had seen some
thing OF war in the rear. but would now be in q
position to witness the play from behind
the scenes as it were. The hurry and
hustle Of officers messengers, army wagons,
artillery and large bodies Of troops
! moving in what seemed to me diametrically
opposite directions was, to say the least. little
| confusing. Ny notion of war was quite differ
ent. The horses and mules of the Virginia
army were reported at this date to have been
for days without forage of any description and
Pope was wiring Gen. Halleck regarding the
| ineliciency Of the railway service and asking
for more efficient chief quartermaster for his
army.
FIRST VIEW OF PICKET LINE.
soon found myself en- route with O train Of
forage for the Rapidan river, the extreme front
OF the army, and about six miles from Culpeper
Court House. 1t might here be stated that me
| Rapidan river is about seventy-fve miles from
Alexandria, the base of supplies for Pope's
army. The train ran to within q mile Of the
river, and we made an Office of an old house. I
now had my first view OF picket line. Lees
pickets were at the very brink Of the
river on the opposite side, and Pope's
pickess were at some distance from the
river on the Culpeper side. There was
some firing, but it was 80 far away that was
not in any way concerned about it. Wagons ar
rived in great numbers. and with force Of
| about forty Irish laborers. which we had
brought with us, we began the work of loading
This work had proceeded for about two hours,
when our attention was attracted to the ping OF
minnie balls as they struck and passed into the
old frame house, carrying with them sections
OF plastering on the walls which
served In the place OF sand, some Of
the officers remarked. to dry the ink on
our papers. Gen. Clary. chief quartermaster.
soon arrived and ordered US to go at once to
Culpeper Court House. A glance at our
picket line disclosed the for this. 1t had
fallen back to within n few rods of the depot
and the Johnnies were across the river A
moment OF considerat ton proved that this Or
der was difficult one for us to obey without
abandoning our train, as our engine had left
us without warming. When it would return no
one could say. Gen. Clary thought the line
could be held until we could send for it. So.
dispatching orderly on a swift horse with
orders to ride hard, we resumed our opera
tons Of issuing forage with the shadow OF
Libby prison apparently very close.
TRAIN UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
Our enc me came at last, and making fast to
our train, start was made for Culpeper by the
Il 4
fifteen minutes we came to an up grade of some
distance, and when about midway from the
bottom to the top We all at once came to a halt
and word came to us that the engine had failed
In power to carry us up. The engine and
portion OF the train proceeded to Culpeper.
to return or something to turn up
possibly an order to abandon the cars
and walk in. Our picket line caught up with us
| and again the balls Of the enemy's guns came
at times Interestingly close to US. At last the
engine again made its way to US, and we sue
ceeded in reaching Culpeper about IL OF clock
at night. Here every effort was being made to
evacuate the post III the shortest possible time.
The confusion among the wagon masters, mule
drivers, commissaries, suffers and soldiers it
would be impossible to describe. With eX-
IRENE personal exertions by3 o'clock in the
morning most of the stores were placed OH
board the cars, leaving for the enemy only horse
and mule shoes and nails sufficient to supply his
army for year, and just why all these shoes
were at the extreme front was a wonder to me.
NO TINE TO EAT.
say nothing about eating, as there was liter
| ally no facilities for that pastime. My last
meal had been taken in Washington about
thirty-six hours previous. A first view Of
real live picket line, which earnestly en-
gagged in firing and in receiving the fire Of
real live johnnie" and catching the KEYNOTE
of a minnie ball. the imperative and often to
! me ludicrous orders Of officers Of nearly all
| grades, the new style Of profanity iu-
dulged in by trainmasters. wagon masters,
| mule drivers, the rumor as to the seemingly ON
nipresent Stonewall jackson and the renowned
| bushwhacker Mosby, and their respective COM
mands, together with host of duties to me
entirely new, had effectually dissipated all or
dinarv lines Of thought, and that of food
| among the rest. Military railways are gener-
| ally operated on time tables which are the off,
| spring OF necessity, we were yet to learn
However. before the sun had reached the me-
| ridian the trains were all safely the north
side OF the Rappahannock river. The trains
both army and wagon, were stretched along for
many miles leading north from the Rappahan-
mock river. the armies OF Pope and Lee occu-
| plying relatively the same position as
they had on the Rapidan. fighting in a
| rather desultory way nearly every day. Grad
| ually the trains moved north OF Warrenton
| station, whence a short branch Of the Orange
| and Alexandria road ran to Warrenton, q dis
i
| received to take the train Of forage and 60 to
Warrenton. Mcdowell. whose corps was here
had his headquarters in the depot building.
| had noticed unusual hurry and apparent
| an xiety among the staff officers and orderlies,
| who came and went almost necessarily.
| A LANpLADYs SUSPICIOUS AFFABILIrY.
My first firm conviction that some further
retrograde movement on the part Of Pope's
| army was about to take place was the extremely
affable manner in which our landlady greeted
| us at dinner that day. The poor soul did not
| have much for US to eat, but she smiled on Us
| in a such sweet and patronizing manner that
had not suspicion which amounted almost to q
| certainty been strong in my mind that she had
| very good grip the grapevine tele-
graph which connected with Lees army,
| should have been almost lulled into the belief
that was dining at Delmonicos in company
with a society lady, with bottle Of extra dry
| to cheer u.s. She remarked upon our apparent
haste in dispatching the meal and blandly said
| that she hoped to entertain Gen. Lee at tea the
| next day. A financial scheme at once occurred
to me whereby / could test her SINGER
| ity. Having sum of confederate currency
| with me- at once rendered it in payment Of
| our bill. The transformation from . triumph
ant but condescending demeanor to one Of
| semi-loyalty and abject poverty was a. COM
| plete a. it was instantaneous. She begged u
not to add to her misery by offering confeder-
| ate money. Arguments were of no avail and
it was the first and last time ever attempted