Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1891-07-09
St ry of Balls Blufby Southern Poet.

Certainly romsntic is the following incl
dent relating 10 the late war, snd from It 10
ev ,.yed a most interesting narrative. La
1864 Gau Charles P. Mattocks, OF Portlsnd,
Me-. then Major of the Seventeenth Maiue
infantry while prisoner In the contador-
ates' hands at Charleston, & o.. came nesr
being exchanged for Major Lana: Fontaine,
Of Mississippi, the famous scout, soog writer,
hero of 27 battles and victim OF many
Wouuds, who wss prisoner 10 tho Federal
camp The exobanpe. however. was not
contaminated, but 81 years after they did
have an exchsngs-of lette:s.
And Ia ;his correspondence, which was
quite recent. Fonia!ne gives the following
graphic, thrilling scoouot Of the engagement
at BaIi's uff. on tbs Potomac, soon after
the first Boil Run battle, in which the gel
aut Union general and ex-United States
Senator Baker was killed. There have been
mum srous versops Of that sffair from the
fedora aide, but tbi5 usrrstive OF Fontsne's.
coming as It does from reliable, braioy,
easness and brave actor in the fateful drsma
On the confederate side. Ia new ard inter-
esting revelation. This sec .unt, through
the CT ur,tsy OF Gep. Mattocks and he con-
sent OF its author, l am enabled to present
to the public =
'In the battle of Leesburg-or Balls
Buff, sc you feGerals term it"-grites Mel Or
Foatsiue, I'VE killed woands6, captured or
drowned about four tederais to each man
ws had on the field That nemoreble 2lst
day OF Ootcber, 1861, We bad reported for
daty in the morniug only 700 men, for cur
lite brigade was nearly cecimated With
that caup epid. mic, the measles, and not
over b slf Of the brigade could ia moved on
that account, and out of the.1 200 for duty
600 Of tbs m included the whole of the Thir-
teenth Mississippi aud tho artillery. AnG
these did nos hre muskst or gun all
day, but marched and oountermarched in
and around Fost Evans during the whole
time OF the fight. This left but 1, ,1O9 mus
kets, and from eleven q. N. tll eight p. m
we kept up steady fire of nothing but
musk etry. Not 8 single cannon shot was
frel along cur lines
Now, the federal less. not counting a
sia gle wouuded rusn, WAS 4 545 Do any of
tbe histories say anything of this? They
tonsc aud made reconnaissance nebr
Leesaurg with s1sl body of federsls,
but Was met By an overwhelming btdg o.
confederstes under General Evans and Was
driven back with great slsugh,er.'
Docs this come any 1 here nes. the truil?
Il only leaves he mind OF the youthful
resder with the impression that the confed-
crates were there with uucn greater force
thsp the federals and hence Colonel Stone
had to retreat, and Ia doing 30 the confed-
crates fell upon them In great numbers snd
slaughtered them; while the plain truth s
the federale, some 10, 600 In all, were already
iu position or our eide of The river when
we discovered them, which was later In the
day.
"Whsu We attacked them they had ample
mrn to have laid down their arms and tied
US, hand and foot, but they were afraid to
try it, and the treachery OF one of their
regiments caused us 10 loss more of our men
than we otherwise would have done. Among
those whose deaths were caused by their
,reschery was 8 son OF Governor John J.
Psttus. of Mississippi and also the Colonel
of the Eighteenth Mississippi, E. r. Butt.
The circumstances were these:
I'VE came upon them suddenly and, tax.
en- By surprise, they hoisted white flag at
our demand to surrender and reversed their
er ms and surrendered. at this moment an
other regiment appeared on our right front
and poured deadly voliey into us. We
oblqued our guns and returned their fire.
AS soon as We did 60. and while the men
were loading, the surrendered regiment,
within few feet of Us rai9ed their guns and
gave US deadly volley. We charged at
ooce without orders, and with bayonats and
dubbed guns we gutted and bssiDed the
most OF them, for their treacheTy and cow
srdly act almost made demons OF us for the
time being
"The frat regiment that had fred on us
retrested to the main line and took position
~ III htakxk - lar
rel on their front. was in the drain and
our rear, in small skirt cf timber on the
brow of the hill The first line of the fede.
rails was ebout sixty yarde In front of our
skirmish iue. Abous 12 m. the firing be-
gan and for eight bours 1t was steady, neith-
or party giving back. Oar ekirmish line
held its poeiiiou In the d.aiD, ss 1t was below
or under the line OF fire and In 40 danger
from our own MN. After few VoleYs bad
passed, the sklrmish line, finding they were
10 DO danger from friends, opened steady
and deadly fire.
"The laurel thickst disappeared
down and blown away by the hurricane OF
bullets that swept the Geld. I fred some
300 rounds that day, and after the frat two
or three shots I cooled down and tock rest
and fred coo!lg and deliberately at the huc-
kle of the man In front OF me. aud / could
hear the rsttle Of the bullets Of our men as
they at each voley crawled among the blue
Goals, tsn lines deep 10 our front, with
dali, heavy thud. often thought OF my
friend Moore. so tuthlsssy shot on the pic
ket line. In violation Of ibe agreement oe'
tween the confederate and federal troops,
end likewise OF his wife aud little ones, as
nv eye glance aloag the barrel of my rife.
and nv arm would hs more firm and steady.
"Abcut four or 67s O'clock the federal
lines were pushed forward few yards aud
our skifmish line lost two or three men. AS
soon as it was dark the fasa from The federal
muskets would throw their sparks upon us.
A. about eight O'Clock I heard the voice OF
our commander ring out lond and clear in
these Words
",Atteu,ioa, a.! Drive them Into me Po-
tonnac ~ ,oto halI Charge theml'