The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-07-09
Where They Won a Battle and Lost War
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON

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N A blazing July day rs
years ago this month two
armies of Americans, one
~ composed of men of the
d/fW North and the other, men
NZ Of the South met in des-
W. perate encounter on the
banks of a little stream in
Virginia. When it was
over, the men from the North were
In full retreat. The men from the
South had won the battle but, as it
later turned out, they had lost the
war because they would not, or
could not, follow up their advan-
tage.
Late in the afternoon one of their
commanders, seeing the route Of
his adversaries, exclaimed, Give
me 10000 men and viii be IN
Washington tonight" Perhaps
specializing on historical Ifs" is
the idlest Of all occupations. But
one, cannot help wondering what
might have happened if these TO-
DOC men had been given to Stone
WALL jackson. Knowing him, as
we do in the light of his later ca
reer, we can readily believe that
he would have made good his
promise. If he had, the Confed-
eracy might have won the war then
and there. At least, the course of
events during the next four years
undoubtedly would have been very
different from what it was.
The story of the battle fought on
July q, 1861, the first major en-
gagement of the Civil war, is a IA
miliar one, in its general outlines,
to most Americans. But there are
many aspects of it, not given in the
schoolbook histories, which make
il one of the most interesting en-
gagements in our history.
First of all, there is the matter
Of its name. Southerners prefer to
call it the Battle of Manassas be-
cause the Confederate base was at
Manassas Junction, where the Ma
nassas Gap railroad joined the
Orange and Alexandria railroad.
But Northerners prefer to call it
the Battle Of Bull Run, from the
name Of the little stream which
runs through the battlefield, even
though the testers have implanted
in the public consciousness the
suggestion that there was some
connection between the name of
that stream and the panic fight
which came after the battle. But
IN suggesting that they do a grave
injustice to brave, though inexperi-
enced, soldiers. For the fact is, as
Glenn I. Tucker, writing in the
Washington Post on this battle,
pointed out:
The Union army did not run during
the battle at all.
There was running, TO be sure. There
was running in copioUs profusion. There
was running by soldiers, horses, mules
infantry artillery, cavalry and
trains and by terrorized spec
tators cut for a gala occasion who,
with their rich carriages were giving
an opera bouffe touch TO the greatest
spectacle that had yet occurred in
North America; and there was running
that did not end at Centreville, Fair
fax Court House, Washington or Phila-
delphia, but which extended in some in
stances to New York, New England
and the fastness of the Maine forests
But il really did not start on the bat
tlefeld.
1t started when the fact was finally
impressed upon the Union regiments
that had marched out from Washing
ton that they had irretrievably lost the
engagement It gained strength through
a recognition that the line of retreat of
the disorganized Union column along
the Centreville and Sudley Springs
roads exhibited an exposed flank to the
victorious enemy army, which might
even have quicker ingress TO Washing