Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-07-28

have improved upon. The Confeder-
ate commanner was forced to swing
back his left wing from its fine front
along Bull Run, where he had chosen
his ground, and to face attack from an
unexpected direction. After that it
was anybody's fight. What happened
to the 1st Minnesota fairly shows the
confusion which ensued. This regi-
ment having moved into position as
ordered, found its front within pistol
shot of large body of men.
"Colonel Heintzelman," says Col
onel German, of the Minnesota regi-
ment, erode up between our lines,
which staggered my judgment wheth-
er those in front were friends or enc.
mics, it being equally manifest that
the enemy were in the same dilemma
as to our identity. But few seconds
undeceived both, they displaying the
Rebel and we the Union flag. In
stantly blaze of fire was poured into
the faces of the combatants, each pro-
ducing terrible destruction, owing to
the close proximity of the forces,
which was followed by volley after
volley in regular and irregular or
der"
That was the kind of fighting which
came of battle planned perfectly by
both commanders. Just before the
battle General Beauregard issued to
his soldiers this stirring and reassuring
address:
"The general commanding the army of
the Potomac announces to his command
that at length the enemy have advanced
to subjugate sovereign. and impose
upon free people an odious govern
ment. Notwithstanding their numerical
superiority, they can be repelled, and the
general commanding relies confidently
invader back beyond his intrenched
lines: but to achieve this the highest or
der Of GOODNESS, individual intelligence,
and obedience on the part of each officer
and man are essential. Great reliance
will be placed on the bayonet at the prop
er iuncture, but above all it is enjoined
upon officers and men to withhold their
fire until directed. The superior intelli-
gence of the individual members of this
command should in this respect compen-
safe for the want of a veteran, long train
ed soldiery. In firing, each man should
| take aim, and never discharge his piece
without distinct object in full view."
But before the day was half over he
felt that he was defeated. His heart
failed him, he wrote afterwards to
friend in a letter about the battle. He
"felt as though all was lost" and he
"wished that he had fallen" in the
skirmish of two days before.
The address, like the orders for the
identification of friends by badges, is
taken from a mass of unpublished
reports and correspondence which has
come into the possession of the war
department since the publication of
the volume of war records relating to
the battle. They help materially the
understanding Of the event which
opened the eyes of both sections to the
difference between the theory and the
practice of war.
What was Mcdowell doing when
Beauregard was wishing he had been
killed two days before?
General Mcdowell" says Colonel
Martin of the list New York militia,
| in one of these unpublished reports,
"with his staff, rode around the field
in rear of our brigades, waving his
glove in token of victory, and we all
considered the day was ours. We
were then ordered to retire to the edge
of the wood, and there to rest, as we
had done all the duty that would be
required of us, and would not be
called into action again."
In the early part of the day the
troops of Mcdowell pushed back the
left wing and center of Beauregard a
mile and more from the position oc-
cupied at daybreak. Around the Hen.
ry house, which stood on hill and
afforded fine place for making a
stand, the battle ragged. Old Mrs.
Henry lay helpless in her bed when
the sun rose. She was lifted out and
carried to a gully at the foot of the hill
and left in charge of Negro girl.
The wave swept by her. After stub
born stand on the height about the
house the Confederates fell back. The
volleys grew fainter. 1t became a
as quiet almost as on a July Sunday
in 1897. Mrs. Henry believed she had
seen the last of the battle of Bull Run.
She had the servants carry her back
up the hill and put her in bed. Later
in the day the noise began to increase.
The volleys grew in distinctness. The
tide had turned. Over the same fields
upon which they had advanced the
northern troops fell back. They at
tempted to stand on the hill about the
Henry house, and for the second time
that day the votext of battle was there.
Then they dropped down the hill and
moved of in the direction of the Stone
bridge. During that second contest
for control of the Henry house shell
fell upon the roof just above the room
in which the crippled woman lay. 1t
exploded and killed her.
At the foot of the Henry hill stands
the Stone house. 1t is a mile and a
half from the Stone bridge on the pike
toward Warrenton. 1t is at the inter-
section of that pike and the cross road
from Sudley mills to Manassas, the
road by which Mcdowell made his
thanking movement and struck the left
wing of Beauregard, curling it up
beautifully from the standpoint OF the
lover of the science of war. When
Mcdowell fanked, and the fighting
became fast and furious, the wounded
Confederates were carried into that
Stone house and laid in every room.
When the regiments of Beauregard
fell back slowly upon the heights OF