Of Col. Johnson, the career was short and brilliant. The Legion arrived in the night, and in a few hours after, almost unfit for service, it was thrown into the very thickest of the fight, and Col. Johnson fell, with Col. Hampton, on the spot upon which their columns had been planted. I sent the casualties of Col. Kershaw's regiment by telegraph to-day; but those of the other regiments, so scattered as they are, and in weather so exceedingly unsuitable to travelling as it has been, I have not yet been able to obtain. President Davis left the army this morning in the cars for Richmond. Though the Chief Magistrate of a great republic at the most salient period of its greatness, were arrogated no special privilege, he took his seat with others in an overcrowded car; and in that, and in every other instance of his intercourse with his fellow-citizens here, he exhibited but the appearance and bearing of a well-bred gentleman, as he unquestionably is. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, CAMP PICKENS, The great battle at Stone Bridge has been the theme for days, but still is not exhausted. It stirred our hearts so deeply that they cannot take the current of another thought. Nor is it necessary. The military event of this age, and the event upon which hung suspended the private feeling and the public interests of the South, it is scarcely to be thought of that I should offer, or you should ask, the reason why I dwell upon it. In writing yesterday, I endeavored to present that at one time the fortunes of the day were doubtful-hung suspended on a thread-and that by Beauregard's order, the victorious ad vance of the Second and Eighth Carolina regiments, with Kemper's battery from the centre at 2 o'clock, after several fierce struggles determined fortune in our favor. At 3 o'clock, too, Gen. Smith, leaving the railroad cars, formed his four regiments and marched against the enemy on the extreme left wing, driving them before him. I hesitate to dwell, however, upon certain incidents which, however apparently established, were yet contested, or seemed to be so, and I was unwilling to commit myself to statements until I had made every reasonable effort to obtain the truth. The first of these was the taking of a battery by Hampton's Legion. Your readers will now have had some faint conception of the battle-ground. It occurred, they will remember, on the turnpike road from Centreville to Warrenton, just after it crosses Bull Run, on the Stone Bridge. The road at this point pursues its path between two ridges or ascending slopes, the summits of which are near a mile apart. The woodland for near a mile has been all cleared away, and it was upon this splendid theatre, and all in full view, were made those constant movements to outflank each other, upon which fate depended. The enemy having made the detour by Sudley's Ford to get upon our flank, of which I spoke first, broke the cover of the trees which crowned the eminence on which we rested, by planting a battery of rifled cannon. Gen. Evans met it the best he could by planting his two guns, the one to the right and the other to the left of his position, and advanced under such cover as they gave to meet the enemy. He could not permanently check them, however; they drove him back across the road, and with him his pieces of artillery. One was disabled; but the others, under Lieut. Davidson, of Latham's battery, took position in the road, and with almost unexampled intrepidity continued to play upon the enemy advancing up the road, into which they had entered lower down, until they were already rising the eminence upon which he stood. Before that, however, Capt. Imboden, with his battery, from Staunton, had been placed within about one hundred yards of the road, and had opened a most galling fire. Gens. Bee and Bartow, and Hampten's Legion, rallied to sustain him. The fight was bloody, but nearer to the road, in position to rake their entire line, the enemy had planted another battery. Fresh columns were thrown from the eminence beyond, across the field upon the road. Our gallant men were forced back by the pressure of these overwhelming numbers. They crossed the road and planted two batteries, the one Rickett's and the other a section of Sherman's, it is supposed, upon our side, but about two hundred yards off from Imboden's, to rake the hill with grape and canister. From these, even, Imboden's was compelled to fall back, which he did, and carried off his guns, when it seemed impossible that any human power could save him. To take these batteries, 80 established upon our side, or to quit the field, was then the only option left us. Of these the one, Rickett's, of four guns, was beyond a little house owned and occupied by a man named Henry, and the other to the right of it and lower down the hill. Against the first of these it was that Bee and Bartow fought and fell, and at length, at fearful sacrifice of life, the men and horses were shot down and the guns were silenced, but the other still kept on. No single movement could be made below the brow of the hill against the turning coluinns of the enemy until this was taken, and against that the legion, as a forlorn hope, was led. In their first charge they had advanced to Henry's house, and were passing through the garden, when Col. Hampton was shot down. Without his further orders they were confused. Thus, Lieut. Col. Johnson had fallen, and Capt. Conner, of the Washington Light Infantry, senior captain, led them back to form them; retiring under cover of the hill, they found the Seventeenth Virginia regiment, Col. Withers, and through Adjutant Barker, proposed that he should join them, which he did. They formed their line of battle; Capt. Conner led the legion. They tore down upon the enemy through a storm of balls. They reserved their fire until within a certain distance of the enemy. With a single volley they swept the guns of men and horses. The infantry sustaining them gave way before the charge of bayonets, and raising their colors over one, and not knowing in exactly what form to assert a priority of claim to the other, Capt. Gary got astride of it, and thus, for the first time, the line of battle of the enemy was broken. The fighting was not ended. It raged with unabated fury on either side, and great destruction of life. The guard that undertook to defend Rickett's battery were at last driven off by the regiments of Kershaw and Cash; and thus in the hands of these Carolinians the possession of this battery permanently rested; and then, turned upon the flying enemy, it contributed, in no slight degree, to swell the current of mortality that flowed upon them. which, seeing themselves under the guns of an enemy, they promptly did. It improves our feelings towards them to fight them, so it is said, at least, and so it seemed to be in this case. At the crisis of the fight, when it was doubtful if we would not be whipped, and when men, sinking from their wounds, were coming from a fight in which their friends and relations had been cut to pieces, some three or four prisoners brought in were rather in the way of being roughly treated. The proposition was made and responded to, to shoot them. I passed them on the way when the fight was going on, and greatly feared that something might be done to shame us, but a few words brought the sufferers to their senses, and the prisoners were spared. In every other instance, however, after the act of battle was over, the feeling was kinder than it could have been before the fight began. I saw the soldiers share their water with them, which they could hardly spare themselves. Many of them were taken and cared for by the very men who shot when the fight was over, passed two wounded men, the one from Georgia, the other from New York. The New York man asked for water, and the wounded Georgian begged my friend for God's sake to give it to him; for that he himself had called upon a soldier from New York for water when his column was in retreat, and, though it was at the risk of his life, he ran to the trench and brought it. At the crisis of this contest, it happened also to Gen. Bee to have contributed, in a special way, to the result, which it were but just to his memory to mention. He it was who had the office of assigning positions to the batteries which were first in position after those sustain-them, and a friend, passing through the field ing Gen. Evans, and upon a field so swept by musketry and ordnance he had little leisure for selection. Dashing over the field with Imboden, he gave him in an instant a position, which was the very best that could have been selected. The slight elevation just before and on either side of him gave many of the advantages of an embrasure, while his position commanded the entire field of operations of the enemy. When forced to retire, the same advantages facilitated his escape. The next position on the eminence, to the rear, upon which other batteries had been placed, and to which Imboden was also ordered, was equally as fortunate. Without these positions it might have been impossible to have kept the enemy in check while our shattered regiments were reforming and the conquering reinforcements arrived; without these advantages it would have been impossible to hold them. The least mistake might have been fatal; and the promptness of his ac- When the fire so raged around the house of tion, under such particularly trying circum- Henry in the effort to take the batteries, the stances, was more like the inspiration of genius family were in it; they were utterly unconthan the ordinary exercise of skill and judg-scious it was to be the theatre of battle, and ment. I spoke of the efficiency of Capt. Kemper's action on the flying enemy, but I did not mention that the captain was himself taken prisoner. Early in the day, when the fight was fiercest, and matters were so mixed that it was difficult to distinguish enemies from friends, Capt. Kemper was surrounded by about twenty Zouaves, and his sword was demanded. He asked for an officer, declaring that he would only surrender to an officer. They told him to follow, and they would take him to one; he saw a column moving near them, whom he recognized as friends; pointing to these he said, "There is one of your regiments, take me to it." They started, and approaching a few steps nearer, he told them they were mistaken, and it was for them to surrender, It was in search of water that Adjutant S. M. Wilkes, of the Fourth regiment, lost his life. He had escaped the perils of the fight, and rode to the camp for a drink of water; when starting back, he met a party of the flying enemy, who shot him. Col. Johnson fell the instant he entered into battle. They marched down to take position in the Warrenton turnpike, and before the legion had fired a gun, he was struck by a ball in the forehead, and fell without a word. made no effort to escape until it was too late to do so. Among them was an aged mother, whom the son and daughter carried to a gully, and for the first charge kept her out of the way of balls; but when the fight pressed on, they brought her in again; and when it returned they could not move her again. She lay in bed, therefore, until the batteries were taken. The house was literally riddled with balls, and when the old lady was looked for, she had been sent to her long account. Many balls passed through her, and she was perfectly at rest. Of individual experience, there were scarcely room to speak. One lad, Oakley, from Alabama, taken prisoner, was tied; but, when the enemy was fighting, he cut the cords, found a musket, plunged it in a Zouave endeavoring to detain him, and started to his friends on the way. On an officer's prospecting, he went up all the movements. To have risked a battle by towards him, and when near enough, he or- attacking superior numbers, entailing defeat dered him to surrender; the officer did so, and upon us, would doubtless have crushed our young Oakley bore him in triumph in to head-proud republic in its inception. When General quarters. He proved to be Col. Corcoran. Johnston (who has always been in correspondOne of the most obvious features of the battle-ence with General Beauregard in regard to field is a group of horses, and the men beside them. The caisson had exploded. Men and horses were all killed, apparently near the close of the engagement, and now le all together bloated in the sun. The mortality among horses was large; as many as one hundred, at least, may be seen upon the field, and it is of regret for their loss that they were particularly fine ones. In the percussion shells, with which the enemy so liberally bespattered the country, the enemy have left their sting behind them. Few explode in falling. Of twenty fired into the hill on which we first stood, not one exploded, but they do explode easily when struck upon the right point; and these handled by the soldiers, and dropped carelessly, are liable to do great injury. Two in this way have been exploded, and one killed one man in Col. Preston's regiment, and badly wounded two others. L. W. S. -Charleston Mercury, July 29. LETTER TO THE RICHMOND DISPATCH. the junction of the armies, and who, for weeks, has also pointed out to the President the absolute necessity of such a movement) received orders to form the junction, it came at a fortunate moment, when Patterson had moved to Charleston, twenty-four miles distant, and had placed it out of his power to attack us in the rear. Only ten thousand of our column arrived in time for the battle, but they were enough. To return, however, to the battle. Our line was extended over a distance of eight miles, in a position nearly assimilating to a semicircle. On Saturday night General Jolinston assumed command, and nearly the entire night was consumed by the staff of both generals in writing orders to the different brigades to prepare for a forward movement in the morning. General Beauregard's plans were to be carried out in a great measure, and the rout of the enemy would have been more signal, and doubtless Washington would now be in our possession, if our attack had not been converted into a defence by the movements of the enemy. We intended to move about eight o'clock, and they commenced their attack before our movement could be made. From a letter written by one of the enemy, dated July 20, nine P. M., and afterwards found by the writer, their position was taken, and movements commenced at that hour. To understand the battle, you must know that our line was faced towards Bull Run, and immediately back of it, defending the various fords. By turning our flank, the line of battle was changed to a direction perpendicular to the one which we had assumed, and commencing at our left extended back for a mile and a quarter. When the musketry betrayed the The following statement was prepared by an fficer in the rebel army, who is said to have borne a conspicuous part on the field of battle RICHMOND, July 27, 1861. It may not be unacceptable to your readers to learn something of the battle of Manassas from an eye-witness, who had better opportunities of observation, perhaps, than any one else. The first gun fired by the enemy was at five minutes past six o'clock in the morning, batteries opening against our centre as a feint to conceal the movement against our left. A short time afterwards General Jolinston and General Beauregard, with their staff, rode off to the nearest point of elevation and observa- cat in the meal-tub," away went the generals tion convenient to the centre, and there awaited and their staff, flying upon the wings of the developments whilst the iron hail whistled wind to reach the scene of action, distant three around and over them. A singular misconcep- miles. The country was a rolling one, thickly tion seems to pervade the public mind, which interspersed with pine thickets, and the battlehas not yet been corrected, that General Beaure-ground was an open valley, with a hill upon each gard fought the battle, and that General Jolin-side, rising some 100 feet above the low ground, ston yielded to preconceived plans. Whilst, and distant from each other about 600 yards. according to General Beauregard, all the merit The struggle was an alternate movement of to which he is entitled-and there does not live regiments. When the head of McDowell's a more gallant gentleman and officer, nor one column reached Sudley's Spring, a ford much for whom I have a higher admiration as a Gen-higher than it was anticipated they would cral-it is due to General Johnston to say, that he planned the battle. Essentially a man of judgment, General Johnston has never risked during the campaign any battle where our chances were not good. Though our men murmured vastly when ordered to go backward from Harper's Ferry, from Bunker's Hill, from Darksville, and from Winchester, no one can now dare to dispute the sagacity which planned cross, as the Stone Bridge was the point we were defending upon our extreme left, quietly they sneaked along, getting in behind us, until discovered, I believe, by General Evans's brigade, who opened fire upon them. Then in quick succession the enemy's regiments deployed in line to their right, whilst ours came up on our left. The engagement grew hot and heavy; their column numbering 25,000, while we could only oppose them at the beginning with about 8,000. Slowly but surely the heavy column kept on its march, pressing our line back by the weight of numbers, and moving on in the settled purpose of turning our flank, and attacking us in the rear. Gallantly, however, did our army struggle for the right, and, despite of odds, regiment after regiment threw itself in the way, disputing the ground inch by inch, regardless of the fact that its predecessors had been cut to pieces or dispersed. A battery harassing our lines, the Eighth Georgia regiment was ordered to take it, and right well did they do so; but a myriad of Yankees seemed to rise up, who had hitherto been concealed, and pouring in their fire upon our column, it seemed to melt away like snow beneath a summer's sun. Colonel Gardner was here shot down and taken prisoner, but afterwards retaken by our men later in the day. The Eighth, compelled to retreat with nearly half its number wounded or killed, the attack of the enemy was met by the brigade of General Bee, composed of Mississippians and Alabamians, and one regiment, I think, of Tennesseeans. Later in the day Colonel Bartow was shot near this spot, while leading the Seventh Georgia regiment, commanded by Colonel Gartrell. General Bee's brigade could not withstand the fierce tornado of shot and shell sweeping through its ranks, and slowly retired, fighting bravely all the time. The Fourth Alabama regiment suffered terribly, all of its field officers being shot down, and two (Colonel Jones and Major Scott) left upon the field. Colonel Jones was captured, but afterwards retaken during the rout. Falling back upon the position taken by Hampton's Legion, whose prowess can clearly be shown by the heaps of dead in front of their line, a momentary check was thrown on the enemy's approach. They had now retreated to the brow of the hill, where the brigade of General Jackson was lying perdu, and this was the most critical point of the day. Fighting for hours under a hot sun, without a drop of water near, the conduct of our men could not be excelled; but human endurance has its bounds, and all seemed about to be lost. Our reserve was yet miles distant from the scene of action, whilst the enemy's reserve kept pressing on. From the knoll near the Lewis House, the two generals had remained anxious spectators of the conflict; but the time had come for action, and plunging their spurs into the quick-footed steeds, away went the generals and their staff into the thickest of the fight. Coming up first to the Alabamians, who were without a fieldofficer, General Johnston placed the color-bearer by his horse's side and moved on-each and all of the staff, with the generals, vieing with each other in words of encouragement to the men to come on. And well-timed was this movement. Already our line upon the hill-top was giving way, but, incited to fresh deeds of heroism by the appearance in their midst of our generals, apparently bringing up reinforcements, they pitched into the fray with redoubled ardor, and from that time yielded not an inch of ground. General Beauregard, riding over to the left, took charge of operations there, displaying his reckless bravery by riding everywhere in the face of the enemy's fire, and having his horse killed beneath him, fortunately escaping uninjured himself. The tide of battle thus checked, away went General Johnston's staff to hurry up the reserves, and assign them to proper positions. They first were met two miles back, covered with dust, and coming at double-quick. On they went, plunging into the midst of the fray, and the sunshine of certainty did not gleam from beneath the murky clouds until General Kirby Smith arrived with a portion of his division upon the ground. Coming from Winchester, he heard the roar of the battle, and without waiting for orders he at once disembarked his men, Colonel Elzey's brigade, and marched hurriedly to our assistance. Colonel Kershaw's and Colonel Cash's regiments arrived upon the ground at the same moment, and with these, 4,000 men, General Smith promptly took the extreme left and turned the tide of battle. The enemy had so far turned our flank as to have gotten entirely behind us, and nearly 4,000 were marching up to attack us in the rear; seeing this, General Smith determined to cut them off, and would have done so but for his misfortune in being shot through the neck with a grape-shot just as Colonel Kershaw was within twenty yards of him for the purpose of receiving orders. His plan of cutting them off was, consequently, not carried out, and they were enabled to join the main body, hotly pursued by our men. General Jackson's brigade had been lying for hours sustaining with unflinching courage a most terrific fire. The general had his horse shot under him, and a finger of the left hand shot off, but, cool as a cucumber, he still urged his "boys" to be. steady, and steady they were, when they charged and butchered the Fire Zouaves and other regiments right and left. The general has a way of holding his head up very straight, and his almost invariable response to any remark, is “Very well," whilst his chin seems trying to get up towards the top of his head. The writer remembers, in the midst of the fight, to have seen the general rallying his men, while his chin seemed to stick out further, and his "Very wells" seemed to sound more euphoniously than ever; and when the writer wished to pour a little whiskey upon the shattered finger, he was told that it was "of no consequence," and away went the general, with a battery following him, to take position in some advantageous spot. If any one was ever entitled to a sobriquet, the general certainly deserved that of cool. It is worthy of mention, that in all the vicis situdes of the battle, the enemy at no time took one of our pieces of artillery, and they thundered away all the time, doing great execution, and carrying dismay into the hearts of the Yankees. The scene of carnage was beyond description. Here a pile of dead and dying men; there struggling, crippled horses, and over the surface of the hitherto peaceful fields, the surging, angry waves of battle still adding its victims to the long list. Our light artillery batteries seem to have been more than a match for the rifled cannon at a short distance, for our guns would be fired three or four times to their once. But it must be admitted that some of their batteries were fired with the precision, almost, of a rifle at one hundred yards' distance. There was a constant struggle during the day over the enemy's batteries. Time and again were they captured by our men, and very often retaken by the enemy. The most excited creature on the battle field was the Rev. Mr. Repetto, Captain of the Page Co. (Va.) Grays, who claimed the honor of taking Rickett's (Sherman's) battery. Of his whole company, nearly one hundred strong, he had only eighteen uninjured. Another of our reverends, Colonel Pendleton, a graduate of West Point, a resident of Lexington, Virginia, and an Episcopalian minister, was quite busy during the day, and doubtless did more than any one else to check the advancing enemy. The inquiry among the prisoners was very general, "Who commanded that battery on the left that killed so many of our men?" Our reply was that it was a saint named Pendleton. About 5 o'clock our anxious minds were relieved by the cessation of cannonading from their side, whilst upon ours the thunders still rolled out long and loud. Then we knew we had them. A long line of dust towards Centreville proclaimed that the "stars and bars" waved triumphant over the field. A long line of fugitives defiled across the fields, and the cavalry were ordered to pursue. The history of that pursuit upon our part could well bo written in words of blood, for more men were killed then and there than had fallen in the battle. Our infantry hurried on as rapidly as possible, while our batteries gave a parting "fire in the rear." The amount of plunder strewn upon the road is almost incredible. The quantity of arms taken it is hard to get at, as many of them are in the hands of those who first took them. For instance, one company of Virginia troops, in returning from the pursuit, captured enough Minić muskets to arm the whole command-eighty strong. It is estimated, however, that twelve thousand smallarms will be added to our stock of ordnance. Enough powder was taken to supply the army for another big battle, and sixty-three pieces of artillery, with the caissons full of projectiles, which will be returned shortly, with our compliments, to their former masters. Many hun dreds of our brave boys now sport splendid blue overcoats, the owners of which did not have time to call for them. There is no earthly doubt that our army was overcome several times between 12 and 3, and that the bulletins sent by the enemy are, in the main, correct; but, alas! "the best-laid plans of men and mice aft gang aglee," and in this instance, verily, was there a great "slip between the cup and the lip." With all their preparations made, their "grand army," complete in every department, it is too bad that destruction should come upon them when victory seemed perching upon their standard. And they cannot lay the blame this time upon "those infernal masked batteries." They chose their own ground, and we met them in the open field with no other intrenchments but bright steel bayonets above our brave-hearted soldiers. The whole plan of attack had been mapped out, as was shown by a splendid map of the entire country, which the writer received from Col. Wilcox, of Michigan, commanding the second brigade. Upon that map, which had been drawn up by order of the War Department from the coast survey records, showing the topography of the country from Washington to Manassas, it was evident that the plan of action had been mapped out by old Scott. At Sudley Springs, where the crossing was made, three columns indicated that the crossing was to be made there. The number of men actually engaged on our side was 18,000, though some think it was less. The number engaged upon the other side, taken from the admission of captured officers, was about 37,000. What was the secret of our success against such odds? The enemy fought bravely-there can be but one opinion about that-and forced our lines back more than half a mile. Our success can alone be attributed (beyond that which Divine Providence acceded to us) to the dauntless bull-dog courage of our men. They could not quit fighting. Said one of Lincoln's officers: "What sort of men are yours? We broke your regiments all to pieces, and yet we did not whip you." And so it was. Scattered as they were, every man was for fighting on his own hook, and you could have picked a thousand at any time out of the pine thickets who did not know where their companies were, but kept loading and blazing away. From these scattered fragments of companies General Johnston gathered several hundred, and requested Colonel Thomas to take them to a position, which he indicated a short distance off. It was in performing this service that this gallant gentleman fell, pierced to the heart. The artillery captured upon the field had splendid horses attached to them, caparisoned in the best style. Sixty-two of them were brought together the next morning. In the rout, however, the artillerists, to save themselves from Colonel Stuart, of our cavalry, cut loose the horses, and left the cannon in the road. |