The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-02-11

ward lost, active duty in the presence oi
the enemy had
TAUGHT THEM DISCIPLINE,
and the long and arduous marches Of
hundreds of miles over difficult mount.
tain roads had Injured them to its hard
ships At Scary, Cross Lanes, Carnifax
and Gauley they had received theil
baptism of fire, which constituted them
soldiers indeed.
At the close of the campaign Rose
Grams was also called to a greater field
and to the command of a greater army,
CARRYING with him several of the regi-
ments of his late command. The re-
manning regiments, with two batteries
and few cavalry companies, were or.
ganized by Gen. Cox into a division Of
two brigades, thereafter known as the
Kanawha Division.
In the early Spring of 1862, Gen. Cox
pushed the main part of his division
far southeastward to the Alleghanies,
having some sharp fighting at Princeton,
while Col. Crook, with his brigade, ad-
vanced on the Lewisburg road.
The latter had reached Lewisburg
with one regiment and a few companies
of cavalry, when Gen. Heath. with a
force of 5000, suddenly attacked him.
This was Crooks first opportunity to dis
play bis remarkable military genius, and
which rapidly brought him into prom
inence.
With his small command he turned
this attack into a disastrous defeat Of
Heath's force, capturing several hundred
prisoners and all Of his artillery, and
pursued him across the Alleghanies to
Union.
The long lines of transportation in.
duced Gen. Cox later TO establish his
main camp on Old Flat Top, with
Crooks Brigade at Big Sewell.
In the meantime Mcclellan was fight.
ing the battles of the Peninsula and
Pope was on the Rappahannock. The
retirement of Mcclellan to the james
River placed
POPE Is CRITICAL POSITION,
and about the middle of August an order
suddenly came to Gen. Cox, on Flat Top
to report with his command to Gen
Pope, at Culpeper Courthouse, at the
earliest possible date Within an hour
bis columns were marching in hot haste
back to the Kanawha.
-Four days later, exhausted from q
march of over 100 miles in hot August
weather, they boarded steamboats, on the
Kanawha, which transported them ur
the Ohio to Parkersburg, and 10 days
after receiving the order at Flat Tor
they disembarked from the cars at Alex.
andria, Va.
Resting here one day, awaiting trans
portation, on the morning of the 9th o.
August three regiments of the division
started by rail for Culpeper. Only one
regiment reached its destination. The
trains bearing the other two ran int
Stonewall Jackson's army at Manassas
junction about s o'clock in the morn
ing, just as the latter reached that place
In its celebrated flank movement around
Pope's army to his rear.
Jumping from the trains they hastily
formed line-of-battle along the nortl
bank of Bull Run, under orders to holc
the railroad bridge at all hazards.
For more than six hours they hel,
their position against overwhelmin:
numbers, sustaining heavy loss in killet
and wounded, and only then retirin;
when almost surrounded by the fankin;
columns Of the enemy. Then, heavil,
burdened with their wounded, carries
IN blankets, they took up their line o
march back towards Washington, whicl
they continued through the night.
They subsequently learned that the
owed their escape from capture to tn
very boldness and temerity of thei
stand against such
OVERWHELMING ODDS,
jackson being thereby led to believ
that they were the advance of Mc
,Clellan's army, and that its object wa
to lead his army into trap.
In his report of this engagement Ger
jackson paid them the high compliment
when lie learned the facts of the stu.