The National tribune., 1907-05-30

enemy was in force, and also as to the
position of his batteries, 1 ordered Col.
Richardson to withdraw his brigade,
which was skilfulIy, tho unwillingly,
accomplished, as he requested permits
sion with the 1st Mass. and I'd and Sd
Mich. to charge the enemy and drive
him out. 1t is but justice to these regi-
ments to say that they stood firm, ma
nuvered well, and l have no doubt
would have backed up manfully the
proposition of their gallant comman-
der.
after the infantry had been with
drawn i directed Capt. Ayres and Lieut..
Benjamin, who commanded the two 20
Founders, to open their fire both on the
battery which enfiladcd the road lead
ing to the ford, and on the battery
which we had discovered in the bot
tom of Bull Run, and which we knew
to be surrounded by large body of
men. This fire was continued from
3:15 until o'clock, firing AIS shots
The fire was answered from the eremy's
batteries, gun for gun, but was discon-
tinued the moment we ceased firing"
Gen. Beauregard made the most of
this affair and dished it up way most
calculated to create secession enthu-
! siam. His report makes seven pages
in the Rebellion Records, and abounds
| in the scintillant rhetoric in which
Beauregard delighted. He has much to
| say of the enemy whose bayonets,
dicated their presence and force" which
would imply enormous !ength of bayo-
| nets or very stunted tres. He says
that the Union column of attack num-
bered 5000, to which Longstreet could
only oppose 1900. There were prob
ably 5000 men altogether in Richard
sons Brigade, only portion of whom,
/ I, han inv Iyn1 tn, hn flTh
Or the other hand, Longstreet was rap
IDLY reinforced from Early's and Bon
hams Brigades, and was given all the
artillery that he could use. He speaks
| of Corse's regiment driving the enemy
with the bayonet" He probably threw
this IN for good measure in order that
no element of superiority should be
lacking. and no dramatic feature omit
| ted that would lend interest to his bat
tle-picture. The Confederates must
have had bayOnets as long as thos
Beauregard saw on the Yankee guns to
| have reached across Bull Run. No men
ton is made by any Of the Union par
| Elephants in the fight of any bayonet
work. Beuregard says: I'VE fired a
last gun at baffied, flying foe, whose
heavy masses in the distance were
wild confusion and utter rout, strewing
the ground with cast-away guns. hats.
| blankets, and knapsacks as our parting
shells were thrown among them
Beauregard's report of losses makes
them singularly small for so prolonged
and desperate a contest. He says that
in all he lost "6S killed and wounded,
| of whom Is were killed and SO wound
ed. several of whom have since died. .
He imagined that the losses on the
Union side were enormous, and his
/ Inn
corpscs. Gen. Tyler reported that he
/ had lost one office and IS men killed,
with one officer and 81 men wounded,
and &c men missing, making a total OF
! SO. OF the killed, two We're in Ayres'
Battery: two in the Light Battalion;
| one officer and nine men in the 1st
| Mass and but five in the 18th N. Y.
| Comparatively small as such losses
seem in the light of subsequent events.
| the unlucky action at Blackburn'S Ford
| hal {? portentous effect. 1t enormously
encouraged the Southerners, and cor
/ respondingly depressed those of the
| North. 1t confirmed those of the South
| in their belief of their immense Supe-
| riority in the open field to the Northern
men, and to the North it was a sue
cessor to Big Bethel and Vienna in
breeding distrust in the ability of the
1 Northern Generals to properly handle
! their men in the face of the enemy.
Worst of all it took the fight out of
| Gen. Tyler, who was assigned an i'm
| poftant part in the coming battle. His
course, upon which so much depended,
became nerveless and contributed in no
| little degree to the disastrous ending OF
| the engagement. The misconduct of
the unfortunate companies of the 18th
| n. Y, which broke and ran in panic,
was grossly exaggerated, and had its
| depressing influence in the loss of con-
| fidencc of the Regular officers in the
militia which they commanded.
| (To be continued.)