The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-07-31
1t Is Said That He Saved the
Confederate Army From
Defeat.
4 SOLDIERS REc0LLECT' TON.
The Great Battle That Was
Fought on the 21st OF
July, 1861.

July, loCl.
a writer who signs &C. con tributes 70
.f The columns OF the Prince william Times
HE following interesting story Of the first
81 battle OF Manassas: 3}$$s
sE E The writer of this has read ana hearu
SO many conflicting accounts OF the he $iltst
S hattie Of Manassas, and commented pub
5liclv on some OF these as to make 1t I'M
possible to conceal his nane II lie trled
Ell 10 do So Recently he has been persuad-
Cd to write a. plain account of what he. saw
and knows to be true iii relation to this
battle s.
f2,l,he Confederate forces had for a Week
5S been fUrtifying at the stone 6r rag
y against a front attack was engaged
II il cutting a heavy body of timber out q
81 the way on the bottom land sleuding ~
II tl,e bridge 50 us to enable our rtillery
Ss to sweep h he turnpike ind adjacent low
land for over d mile in the direction Of
q Centreville, and had just tinishI this
work when the enemy attacked ut suck
burns and Mitchell's fords-3Il here ,Tu ls
Ed SO little blood shed, and the Federal
forces were SO easily repulsed that be-
"a gan to look upon the whole movement as
Il a feint, and believe II Is now genefaily
SO regarded.
on; Saturday, July 10Th, had occasion
Ito ride over into Prince William, and
met the Eighth Virginia, commanded by
81 Colonel Eppa Hunton, who had been
"a ordered to the next days battlefield. We
we're then old friends, and are such still.
# He had The Loudoun Cavalry with him
IL Il brief interview ! told him be-
lleyed the attack would not be made
1. at the Stone Bridge, but by way OF the
> Braddock Road, and the big wo DDS (all
upper Failfaxlans will know what /
mean by Big Woods, and also that our
people were not picketing northsof the
Il Stone House, and suggested that a squad
OF the cavalry be left at my house on
the SudHy Road to prevent a surprise
Colonel Hunton replied: Your suggestion
Is a good one, and I will adopt it at
once, trusting you to. act for me as COM
1nissary and uuartermaster for the time
"a being
He sent Sergeant Amos SlayInaker. Pri-
SateE Hansbrough and four others whose
Eames huve escaped my memory, to my
house with orders to keep II strict watch
night and day. and to report to him at
once so soon as any Federal advance was
seen. This order was we'll obeyed, as the
sequel will show. One thing not exactly
sernaine to the point, cannot refrain
from mentioning II. showed Colonel
lIunton.s regurd ,Tor Ills men. He said:
u s. Have you got anything in the way OF
cooked rations you can send my men
about nightfall? They have been march
dng all day long withou anything but
an early breakfast. replied that had
not, but said i would go home, have four
or five lambs killed and cooked, and all
the bread we could cook, and send 1t to
his camp by dark"
~ Mo NJ . 1 4 ba yiSnn u
y delivered all safely, and in doing SO had
to run the gauntlet of the Tiger rifles.
Fl These fellows claimed to be Colonel Hun
4 TONS men. but some Of the Eighth being
on the look out, came&to his rescue. and
& saved the lambs In short order.
Now, 10 the point. Who saved the Con-
q, federates from a disastrous surprise on
/. July p, 1861? l will cndeavor TO prove
that General Hunton was the man.
The people in the vicinity OF the BAY
tlefield were in possession CONFORMATION
that battle was imminent, and were on
the lookout. On Saturday evening, July
10Th. Captain ]. D. Debel of Centrryille,
who had been III our vicinity for several
days, came to Sudlcy and remained that
night. He believed With me that the
advance would be made through the route
IL referred to. and Bull Run passed at sud-
ley Ford. He had q field-glass, small. but
4 fairly good one. Exactly q. sunset he,
Sergeant Slaymaker and myself discoy-
4; cred by the use OF the glass eighteen
or twenty blue-coat infantry inside of an
open field and not over thirty yards from
~ the woods road we expected the enemy TO
+ follow. We were On this road, in d.
s. rect line, "a mile and a half distant from
them, Slaymaker sent information TO
the colonel at once, and he Colonel Hun
.s ton sent word TO Genera! Bcaure-
gard by the same messenger. Slaymaker
held his post until tho adyanceA Of Tylers
division drove him from 1t. ISremained
at home until The infantry advanced 10
within three hundred yards of me, and
@ retreited 10 the battlefield, ] saw Tie
firin) OF the Infantry, and the mad rush
of tile tFederals down the Henry Hill 10
get out or harms way Taking into con-
sideration the fact that Colonel Hunter,
got Sergeant Slaymakers report at T:Sl
a. NJ, and that the battle was on before
10 A. NJ, = cannot reconcile the report OF
some Of General Eyans's friends that he
discovered the advance OF the arm,
through a signal station that he had es
.8 tablisbed a day or Two before on iIooe'i
Hill, below Manassas, With what ! saw
and know. am very sure am correc
in my opinion that General Eppa Hun
ION is entitled 10 the honor OF being III,
officer who prevented the defeat OF III
Confederate forces ON Juiy II, 1851.
Second Battle OF Manassas,
Fought August, 1862,