Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1904-10-07
The First Battle of Manassas by a
Yankee Reporter.
For the New York World, July 2}rG, 1861.
IContinued from last week.

AS the Sixty-ninth and Seventy
ninth wound round the meadows to
the north of this hill and began te
Icross the road apparently with the in.
tention of scaling it, we saw column
looming down from the farthest per
lspective and for a moment believed il
to be a portion of Hunters division
land that it had succeeded In complete
Iy turning the enemy's rear. A wilt
.hout rose from us all But soon the
'oOkouts saw that the ensigns bore
secession banners, and we knew that
Johnston or some other rebel general
was leading horde of fresh troops
against our united right and center.
1t was time for more regiments to be
sent forward and Keyes was ordered to
advance with the First Tyler brigade
The three Connecticut regiments and
the Fourth Maine came on with will,
the First Connecticut vas posted in
reserve and the other three corps swept
up the field by the ford on the right to
| aid the struggling advance.
All eyes were now directed to the
distant hilltop, now the center of the
fight. Ali could see the enemy's in
fantry ranging darkly against the sky
beyond and the first lines of our men
moving with fine determination up the
steep slope. The cannonading upon
our advance, the struggle upon the
hilltop, the interchange of position bet
ween the contestants, were watched by
us, and as new forces rushed in upon
the enemy S side. the scene was repea' ed
over and over again. 1t must have been
here, l think, that the Sixty ninth took
and lost battery eight times in sue
cession and finally were compelled, to.
tally exhausted, to resign the compile.
ion of their work to the Connecticut
regiments which had just come up.
The third Connecticut finally carried
that summit, unfurled the Stars and
Stripes above it, and paused from the
fight to cheer for the Union cause.
Then the battle began to work down
the hill, the returning half of the
circle which the.enemy, driven before
the desperate charges of our troops,
described during the day, until the
very point where Tyler's advrnce COM
menced the action. Down the hill and
into the valley thickets on the left the
Zouaves, the Connecticut and New
York regiments with the unconquer-
able Rhode Islanders, drove the con-
tinually enlarging but always vanuuish
ed columns ofithe enemy. 1t was only
to meet more batteries, earthwOrk
succeeding earthwork, ambuscade af-
ter ambuscade. Our fellows were hot
and weary most had drunk no water
during hours of dust and smoke and
insufferable heat. No one knows what
choking the battle atmosphere pro-
duces in few moments until he has
personally experienced it. And SO the
conflict lulled for a little while. 1t was
the middle of blazing afternoon. Our
regiments held the positions they had
won, but the enemy kept receiving
additions and continued flank move.
ment towards our left-a dangerous
movement for us, movement which
those in the rear perceived and vainly
endeavOred to induce some general
officer to guard against.
Here was the grand blunder or mis-
fortune Of the battle. A misfortune
that We had no troopsain.reserve after
the Ohio regiments were again sent
forward, this time to assist in building
bridge across the run on the Warren
ton road, by the side of the stone
bridge known to be mined. A blunder
in that the last reserve was sent for
ward at all. 1t should have been re-
tained to guard the rear. of the left, and
every other regiment On the field should
have been promptly recalled over the
route by which it had advanced and
ordered only to maintain such posi-
tions as rested on supported, con-
tinuous line. Gen. Scott says, today,
that our troops had accomplished three
days. work and should have rested
long before. But Mcdowell tried to
vanquish the South in single strug
gle, and the sad result is before us.
AS it was, Capt. Alexander, with his
sappers and miners, was ordered to cut
through the abattis by the side of the
mined bridge, in the valley directly
before us, and lay pontoons across the
stream. Carlisle's artillery was detail
ed to protect the work and the Ohio and
Wisconsin reserve to support the artil
lery. Meanwhile in the lull which 1
have mentioned. the thousand heroic
details of Federal valor and the shame
lessness of rebel treachery began tC
reach our ears. We learned the loss
of the brave Cameron. the wounding of
Heintzelman and Hunter, the fall OF
Haggerty and SlOcum and Wilcox. We
heard of the dash of the Irishmen and
their defamation, and of the havoc
made and sustained by the Rhode Is
landers, the Highlanders, the Zouaves
and the Connecticut Third; then of th'
intrepidlty of Burnside and Sprague-
how the devoted and daring young
Igovernor led the regiments be had 81
munifcently equipped again and agaiI
to victorious charges and at last spiked
with his own hands the guns he could
not carry away. Tie victory seemed
lours. 1t was an hour sublime in un
J selfishness and apparently glorious il
it's results.
At this time. near clock, l rod
forward through the open plain to TIL
creek where the abattis was being as