POSITION OF THE UNION FORCES.

581

of which was divided, was as follows: The main body of the National army, under McDowell, about forty-five thousand in number, occupied a line, with the Potomac at its back, extending from Alexandria, nine miles below Washington City, almost to the Chain Bridge, about six miles above the Capital. The remainder, under General Patterson, about eighteen thousand strong, was at Martinsburg, beyond the Blue Ridge, also with the Potomac at its back, as we have observed.' There were three important bridges spanning the Potomac in the vicinity of Washington City, which were well guarded. The Upper, or Chain Bridge, where the banks of the

river are high and precipitous, was beyond the Union lines at that time, on the Virginia side, but on the Maryland, or District side, it was well guarded by two batteries-one at the bridge, and the other on the high bank above it-and both thoroughly commanding it. In addition to these batteries, a heavy two-leaved gate was constructed at the center of the bridge, which was covered on the Virginia side with heavy iron plates, and was pierced for musketry. At Georgetown was the

3

Aqueduct Bridge, which was well guarded by Fort Corcoran and blockhouses on Arlington Hights, and a battery on Georgetown Hights, north of the city. At Washington City, at the junction of Maryland Avenue and Fourteenth Street, was the Long Bridge, a mile in length, whose Virginia end was commanded by three forts, named, respectively, Jackson, Runyon, and Albany. They were built chiefly of earth. Fort Jackson

was close by the river, with heavy pickets and picket-gate crossing the railway which there passes over the Long Bridge, and connects Washington

1 See page 525.

2 This is from a sketch made at the close of April, 1865, from the Maryland or District of Columbia side of the river. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is seen in the foreground. The Potomac is here broken into rapids called the Little Falls.

* See page 481

582

POSITION OF THE CONFEDERATE FORCES.

City with Alexandria. Other fortifications, as we have observed, extended along the line of Arlington Hights, and guarded every approach to positions which commanded the National Capital and Georgetown.ee)

The main Confederate army, under the command of Beauregard, supposed to have been a little less than McDowell's in number (forty-five thousand), was at and near Manassas Junction, then considered one of the strongest military positions for offense or defense between Washington

REMAINS OF FORT JACKSON, AT THE LONG BRIDGE,1

and Richmond. It is about half way between the eastern range of the Blue Ridge and the Potomac at Alexandria, and was connected by railway with Richmond and the fertile Shenandoah Valley, as we have observed. The main portion of the army was on an elevated plateau in the crotch formed by the Occoquan River and its main tributary, Bull's Run. The bed of each stream, canal-like, was cut through horizontal strata of red stone, making it difficult for an attacking army to approach the Confederate works. A succession of broken, wooded hills around the plateau, composed strong natural fortifications; and Beauregard's engineers had cast up formidable artificial ones there. Among these, the most noted was the Naval Battery, composed of the heaviest Dahlgren guns, which the insurgents seized at the Gosport Navy Yard, and manned by seamen, commanded by officers of the National Navy who had abandoned their flag.

1 This is from a sketch made by the author at the close of April, 1865, and shows the embankments of Fort Jackson on the right, and the remains of the pickets, with the railway, in the foreground. On the left is a public house of entertainment, and just beyond it is seen a portion of the Long Bridge. The Capitol is seen in the distance. 2 The C. S. A. and the Battle of Bull Run: by Major J. G. Barnard

THE ARMY OF THE SHENANDOAH.

583

Beauregard's force was mostly composed of Virginians, South Carolinians, Alabamians, Mississippians, and Louisianians.

Another Confederate army, about as strong in numbers as Beauregard's actually was, was in the Shenandoah Valley, under General Johnston, his superior in rank, whose head-quarters were at Winchester, around which he had caused to be cast up heavy intrenchments, under the directions of Major W. H. C. Whiting, his Chief of Engineers. Johnston was charged with the duty, as we have observed, of checking the advance. of Patterson, and preventing the junction of the troops under that officer with those under McClellan among the Alleghany ranges. Among the most active of his infantry force was a corps of Tennessee riflemen or "sharpshooters." These had been raised in West Tennessee, where the people were mostly disloyal. They were among the earliest of the troops of that State who made their way into Virginia, after the treaty was concluded for the annexation of that Commonwealth to the Confederacy,' and the control of its military affairs was placed in the hands of Jefferson Davis. Tennessee and Kentucky were well represented in the Army of the Shenandoah.

1 See page 387.

584

MATERIALS OF THE NATIONAL ARMY.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE BATTLE OF BULL'S RUN,

a 1861.

TO RICHMOND HE long-desired forward movement of the greater portion of the National Army that lay in the vicinity of the Capital, full fifty thousand in number, began on the afternoon of Tuesday, the 16th of July," leaving about fifteen thousand, under General Mansfield, to guard the seat of Government. The advancing troops consisted chiefly of volunteers from New England, New York, and New Jersey, and some from Western States. A greater portion of them had enlisted for only three months, and their terms of service were nearly ended. The remainder were chiefly recent volunteers for "three years or the war," who were almost wholly undisciplined; and when the army moved, some of the regiments were not even brigaded. There were also seven or eight hundred regular troops (the fragments of regiments), and a small cavalry force, and several light batteries. With the exception of the regulars, the only troops on whom McDowell might rely were the three-months men. He had only seven companies of regular cavalry in his army, and two of these were left for the defense of Washington City.'

McDowell's forces were organized in five divisions,' commanded respec

1 History of the United States Cavalry: by Albert C. Brackett, page 212.

2 This army was composed of excellent material, in a very crude state. With the exception of the regulars, the men were instructed in only the rudiments of military tactics and discipline, and a large portion of their officers were no wiser than they. The cardinal virtue of a thorough soldier, obedience, had yet to be acquired. Officers and men, in many cases, had been social companions, and the latter were restive under restraints imposed by the former. In comparison with the same army two years later, McDowell's force appears little better than a huge mob, with noble instincts, but having no adequate conception of the grave duties laid upon it.*

The composition of this first great American army was as follows:

Mc Dowell's Staff.-Captain James B. Fry, Assistant Adjutant-General; Aids-de-camp-First Lieutenant Henry W. Kingsbury, Fifth United States Artillery, and Majors Clarence S. Brown and James S. Wadsworth, New York State Artillery; Acting Inspector-GeneralMajor William H. Wood, Seventeenth United States Infantry; Engineers-Major John G. Barnard and First Lieutenant Frederick E. Prime; Topographical Engineers-Captain Amiel W. Whipple, First Lieutenant Henry L. Abbot, and Second Lieutenant Haldimand S. Putnam; Quartermaster's Department-Captain O. H. Tillinghast; Commissary of Subsistence-Horace F. Clark; Surgeon-William S King; Assistant Surgeon-David L. Magruder.

First Division.-General Tyler. Four brigades. The First Brigade, commanded by Colonel Erasmus D. Keyes, of the Eleventh United States Infantry, was composed of the First, Second, and Third Regiments of Connecticut Volunteers, the Fourth Maine Volunteers, Captain Varian's New York Battery, and Company B of the Second United States Cavalry. The Second Brigade, under Brigadier-General R. C. Schenck, consisted of the First and Second Ohio Volunteers, the Second New York Volunteers, and a light battery with a part of Company E of the Third United States Artillery. The Third Brigade was commanded by Colonel William T. Sherman, of the Thirteenth United States Infantry, and was composed of Colonel Corcoran's Irish Regiment (Sixty-ninth New York Militia), Colonel Cameron's Scotch Regiment (Seventy-ninth New York Militia), the Thirteenth New York Volunteers, Second Wisconsin Volunteers, and a light battery with a part of Company E United States Artillery. The Fourth Brigade, under Colonel J. B. Richardson, of the Michigan Volunteers, embraced the Second and Third Michigan, First Massachusetts, and the Twelfth New York Volunteers.

Second Division.-Colonel David Hunter. Two brigades. The First Brigade was commanded by Colonel Andrew Porter, of the Sixteenth United States Infantry, and was composed of a battalion of regular Infantry, the Eighth and Fourteenth New York Militia, a squadron of the Second United States Cavalry, consisting of Companies G and L, and a light battery of the Fifth United States Artillery. The Second Brigade was commanded by Colonel Ambrose E. Burnside, of the Rhode Island Volunteers, and cons.sted of the First and

POSITION OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.

585

tively by Brigadier-Generals Daniel Tyler and Theodore Runyon, and Colonels David Hunter, Samuel P. Heintzelman, and Dixon S. Miles. The Confederate force against which this army was to move was distributed along Bull's Run,' from Union Mill, where the

Orange and Alexandria Railway crosses that stream, to the Stone Bridge of the Warrenton Turnpike, the interval being about eight miles. The run formed an admirable line of defense. Its steep, rocky, and wooded banks, and its deep bed, formed an almost impassable barrier to troops, excepting at the fords, which were a mile or two apart. They had reserves at Camp Pickens, near Manassas Junction, a dreary hamlet before the war, on a high, bleak plain, and composed of an indifferent railway station-house and place of refreshments and a few scattered cottages. Near there, at Weir's house, at the junction of the Centreville and Union Mill roads, Beauregard had his head-quarters. The Confederates had an outpost, with fortifications, at Centreville, and strong pickets and slight fortifications at Fairfax Court House, a village, ten miles from the main army, in the direction of Washington City. General Johnston, as we have observed, was strongly intrenched at Winchester, in the Shenandoah

DANIEL TYLER.

1 This is an inconsiderable stream, which rises in the range of hills known as Bull's Run Mountains. See map on page 586. It empties into the Occoquan River about twelve miles from the Potomac.

2 The disposition of the Confederate forces was as follows:

Ewell's brigade occupied a position near the Union Mill Ford, and was composed of the Fifth and Seventh Alabama, and Fifth Louisiana Volunteers, with four 12-pound howitzers of Walton's battery of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans, and three companies of Virginia cavalry. D. R. Jones's brigade was in the rear of McLean's Ford, and was composed of the Fifth South Carolina and the Fifteenth and Eighteenth Mississippi Volunteers, with two brass 6-pounders of Walton's battery, and one company of cavalry. The brigade of James Longstreet covered Blackburn's Ford. It was composed of the First, Eleventh, and Seventeenth Virginia Volunteers, with two brass 6-pounders of Walton's battery. M. L. Bonham's brigade, stationed at Centreville, covered the approaches to Mitchell's Ford. It consisted of the Second, Third, Seventh, and Eighth South Carolina Volunteers, two light batteries, and four companies of Virginia cavalry under Colonel Radford. Cocke's brigade held a position below the Stone Bridge and vicinity, and consisted of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-eighth Virginia Volunteers, a company of cavalry, and a light battery. Colonel Evans, with the Fourth South Carolina, a special Louisiana battalion under Colonel Wheat, four 6-pounders, and a company of Virginia cavalry, guarded the Stone Bridge; and Early's brigade, composed of the Seventh and Twenty-fourth Virginia. and Seventh Louisiana Volunteers, with three rifled cannon of Walton's battery, held a position in the rear of Ewell's brigade.-Beauregard's Report to Adjutant-General Cooper.

Second Rhode Island Volunteers, the Seventy-first New York Militia, the Second New Hampshire Volunteers, and a battery of the Light Artillery of the Second Rhode Island. See page 402.

Third Division.--Colonel Samuel P. Heintzelman, of the Seventeenth United States Infantry. Three brigades The First Brigade, commanded by Colonel W. B. Franklin, of the Twelfth United States Infantry, was composed of the Fourth Pennsylvania Militia, Fifth Massachusetts Militia, First Minnesota Volunteers, Company E of the Second United States Cavalry, and a light battery with Company I of the First United States Artillery. The Second Brigade, led by Colonel O. B. Wilcox, of the Michigan Volunteers, was composed of the First Michigan Volunteers, Eleventh New York Volunteers, and a light battery with Company D of the Second United States Artillery. The Third Brigade, commanded by Colonel O. O. Howard, of the Maine Volunteers, included the Second, Fourth, and Fifth Maine, and Second Vermont Volunteers.

The Fourth and Fifth Divisions constituted the reserves, and were composed as follows:

Fourth Division.-General Theodore Runyon, of the New Jersey Militia. One brigade, composed of the First, Second, Third, and Fourth New Jersey three-months Militia, and the First, Second, and Third New Jersey three-years Volunteers.

Fifth Division-Colonel Dixon S. Miles, of the Second United States Infantry, contained two brigades. The First Brigade, commanded by Colonel Louis Blenker, of the New York Volunteers, consisted of the Eighth and Twenty-ninth New York Volunteers, the New York Garibaldi Guard, and the Twenty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers. The Second Brigade was commanded by Colonel Thomas A. Davies, of the New York Volunteers, and was composed of the Sixteenth, Eighteenth, Thirty-first, and Thirty-second New York Velurteers, and a light battery with Company G of the Second United States Artillery. The foregoing was compiled from the General Orders of the Commander-in-chief, dated 8th of July, 1861.