The National tribune., 1902-08-14

might return and camp for the night
when the battle was over-then We knew
of a certainty that he was born strate-
gist, or, if not at that moment, we knew
it few hours later when night closed in
upon us and the whole brigade could not
muster single hard-tack, to say nothing
about blankets.
After getting rid of our cumbersome
blankets and useless provisions, we in
creased our speed, and shortly after ar
rived at Poplar Ford, pretty well tagged
out, for the day was hot. At Poplar
Ford we waded the Run, about waist
deep in water, which was exceedingly
refreshing. Once across the Run, we
moved over the fields in the direction of
the Warrenton Pike, which we reached
at a point in the valley where Spring
Creek crosses the pike where stood a stone
house that was used for hospital. From
this point we moved up the hill eastward
toward the Stone Bridge, and went into
battle.
Our brigade line extended across the
turnpike and nearly at right angles with
it, while the enemy seemed to be posted
between our position and Bull Run. For
a time the battle seemed to progress IA
vorably. The enemy was supposed to be
in our front, but in the confusion it was
not an easy matter to locate his position.
was no well-defned battle-line of the en-
emy opposing us, that l could discover,
but We halted all the same, and contin-
ued to blaze away with our old smooth
bore muskets.
About this time the smoke of battle
became thick and the confusion great, and
lost all trace of Gen. Sherman, not
seeing him again until after we had re-
turned to the defenses Of Washington. l
also lost track of our Lieutenant Colonel
commanding the I'd Wis. Our Colonel,
S. Park Coon, was on Gen. Tyler's staff,
and Lieut.-Col. Peck commanded our reg
iment in his stead.
Col. Peck was calculated by nature for
great mStary leader. He knew the
duties Of enlisted soldiers, and was aware
of the fact that officers were created out
of superior clay, and, therefore, always
insisted that soldiers should not forget to
doff their hats when they came into the
presence of their superiors. 1t was said
that Col. Peck displayed superior lead
ership shortly after we went into battle,
by leading straight out to rearward.
Whether or not that report was true,
cannot say; but l know that / never saw
our gallant Lieutenant-Colonel again. He
was not killed that day, neither was he
wounded nor prisoner of war, and he
arrived safely in Washington at an ear
ly hour the next morning, but when we
returned to our old camp, later in the day,
our Lieutenant-C Colonel commanding was
not there to welcome us, and we took our
hats off in his magnificent presence no
more forever.
This battle, called "The First Bull
Rum" to distinguish it from another
fought on the same ground a little more
than year later, was never considered
a very glorious affair, so far as it applied
to the Union army. The strategy was
deficient in some important particulars,
but neither Gen. Sherman nor his bri-
gade were the only parties at fault
Our battle losses, as compared with
the wholesale slaughter of modern battles,
prove that it was a small affair-a mere
skirmish, and but little fighting was done
on either side. My regiment lost about
15O men and Sherman's Brigade sustain
ed nearly one-fourth of the entire loss in
McDOwelrs army, which was 401 killed
and 1,071 wounded. The Confederates
lost 387 killed and 1852 wounded.
THE RoUT OF M'DowELL's ARMY.
The retreat began some time during
I never learned just why we retreated,
and am not sure that any one knew. 1t
began in this way: After blazing away
with our kicking muskets until the exer-
else became monotonous, we ceased firing
and fell back down the hill to the creek
that ran through the valley, to get a
drink. While there we leisurely filed our
canteens. Then, as it was getting toward
night, it occurred to some of the boys that
our blankets and haversacks were not safe
where we had stored them, or would not
be after dark-besides, we would need
our haversacks about supper time, and our
blankets before retiring for the night,
proper thing to do to 70 back and get
them, and back they started. Some his
torians say we ran, but that's false. There
was no enemy in sight-nothing to run