The National tribune., 1907-09-05
BULL RUN.
The Panic at Cub Run-Thc BLACK Horse
CIV. Mytb.

Editor National Tribune: The Pull
Run Campaign" by John McElroy. fur
nished few weeks ago in your col
umns, was a revelation TO me in a nunl-
ber of ways. The important part of
that narrative wGs to make plain q
plausible reason for the panic that final
ly seized upon part of the Union forces
at the battle of Bull Run. l think !ou
have made the matter exceedingly plain
for such piecemcal work and laundering
as you show in this case would dis
heartea almost any soldier. | had the
matter fixed up in my mind-Sot il
from the war correspondents probably
at the time of the battIe-that il was
the right wing of our army that was
beaten back in a panic, instead of the
left wing.
Another thing you seem to have abol-
ished. romance that pcrmeates all
classes that We're old enough 10 read the
papers at the time of that battle, and
that is that terrible fight Gin the papers.
at leasD between the Confederate Black
Horse Cav. and the 64th y. Y. You
know how it WAS reported from one
source. how the Black Horse Cav. had
decimated the 69th y. V. ana then
again how the 69th~in the melee had
drawn their bowie knives and chopped
the Black Horsemen to pieces: so badly,
in fact. that the further proceedings of
the war interested them no more"
How about that, Mr.. Tribune? Are
we to discard that thrilling story of
battle and blood as simply the fiction
of the story writer's. or did such an en-
gagement take place and was overlook
ed by weightier subjects in your ac-
count of the campaign y. w. Gilges,
Captain, 18th L. S. G. r, Leavenwortil,
Kan.
We fear that our correspondent viii
have to give up most of his views OF
Bull Run derived from the sensational
ism of the yellow papers of 1861. There
was no portion Of the line-either right
or left-"beaten back in Il panic" There
was absolutely no panic on the field. nor
until it had been left behind for two or
three miles and Bull Run rccrossed.
Then came the jam at Cub Run. which
developed into Il panic. This was in
the right wing.
AS to the terrible BLACK Horse Cav"
there is so much myth that it is hard TO
find the grain of truth. The Confederate
official reports attach little importance
to any cavalry operations, and even j.
h. b. Stuart, who commanded the cav
airy, only claims to have helped out the
infantry at a critical time by u charge on
the Fire Zouayes. which broke our line.
1t must have been pretty sharp fight.
however, as he lost nine men killed or
mortally wounded.
Capt. James Kelly. who commanded
the 63th n. Y. after the wounding of
Col Corcoran and the killing of Lieut.
Col Haggerty. says nothing in his re-
port of any trouble with cavalry. but
attributes the heavy loss his regiment
suffered to THE continuous fire of mus
kerry and artillery directed upon us
from the masked positions of the enc
my" and particularly to the two
charges the regiment ma q l1Dnn
terry.
ON the other hand. Col. r. C. Rad
ford. goth Va. Cav, reports having
charged the flying enemy, taking 60 or
so prisoners, the standard of the 69th
N Y, IA pieces of artillery with cais-
sons and wagons, 80 wagons. etc, and
causing the jam at the Cub Run Bridge.
He admits to have been later repulsed
by the fire of three cannon. He lost all
together seven killed, four men wound
ed, and four horses killed. It was this
force which Capt Richard Arnold
speaks of as "a body of the enemy's
cavalry threatened our rear, but two
rounds of canister dispersed them" The
reports on both sides induce the belief
that the enemy's cavalry did little moro
that afternoon than capture the hospi-
tals and gather up the rearmost strag-
glers who could not get across Cub Run.
The Confederates have always regarded
the stories about the BLACK Horse
cav as huge joke.-Editor National
Tribune.