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front-the latter to rejoin his regiment, if possible, the former to get a closer view of the proceedings. As I turned down into the narrow road or lane already mentioned, there was a forward movement among the large fourwheeled tilt wagons, which raised a good deal of dust. My attention was particularly called to this by the occurrence of a few minutes afterward. I had met my friends on the road, and after a few words, rode forward at a long trot as well as I could past the wagons and through the dust, when suddenly there arose a tumult in front of me at a small bridge across the road, and then I perceived the drivers of a set of wagons with the horses turned toward me, who were endeavoring to force their way against the stream of vehicles setting in the other direction. By the side of the new set of wagons there were a number of commissariat men and soldiers, whom at first sight I took to be the baggage guard. They looked excited and alarmed, and were running by the side of the horses-in front the dust quite obscured the view. At the bridge the currents met in wild disorder. "Turn back! Retreat!" shout"We're whipped!

fired toward or away from the hill. It was evident that the dust in the distance on our right extended beyond that which rose from the Federalists. The view toward the left, as I have said, was interrupted, but the firing was rather more heavy there than on the front or right flank, and a glade was pointed out in the forest as the beginning of Bull or Poole's Run, on the other side of which the Confederates were hid in force, though they had not made any specific reply to the shells thrown into their cover early in the morning. There seemed to be a continuous line, which was held by the enemy, from which came steady solid firing against what might be supposed to be heads of columns stationed at various points, or advancing against them. It was necessary to feed the horses and give them some rest after a hot drive of some 26 or 27 miles, or I would have proceeded at once to the front. As I was watching the faces of the Senators and Congressmen, I thought I had heard or read of such a scene as this-but there was much more to come. The soldiers, who followed each shot with remarks in English or German, were not as eager as men generally are in watching aed the men from the front. fight. Once, as a cloud of thick smoke ascend- we're whipped!" They cursed, and tugged at ed from the trees, a man shouted out, "That's the horses' heads, and struggled with frenzy to good; we've taken another battery: there goes get past. Running by me on foot was a man the magazine." But it looked like, and I be- with the shoulder-straps of an officer. "Pray, lieve was, the explosion of a caisson. In the what is the matter, sir?" "It means we're midst of our little reconnoissance, Mr. Vize- pretty badly whipped, and that's a fact," he telly, who has been living, and indeed march-blurted out in puffs, and continued his career. ing, with one of the regiments as artist of The I observed that he carried no sword. The Illustrated London News, came up and told us teamsters of the advancing wagons now caught the action had been commenced in splendid up the cry. "Turn back-turn your horses!" style by the Federalists, who had advanced was the shout up the whole line, and, backing, steadily, driving the Confederates before them plunging, rearing, and kicking, the horses which -a part of the plan, as I firmly believe, to had been proceeding down the road, reversed bring them under the range of their guns. He front and went off toward Centreville. Those believed the advantages on the Federal side behind them went madly rushing on, the drivwere decided, though won with hard fighting, ers being quite indifferent whether glory or and he had just come up to Centreville to look disgrace led the way, provided they could find after something to eat and drink, and to pro-it. In the midst of this extraordinary spectacure little necessaries, in case of need, for his comrades. His walk very probably saved his life. Having seen all that could be discerned through our glasses, my friend and myself had made a feast on our sandwiches in the shade of the buggy; my horse was eating and resting, and I was forced to give him half an hour or more before I mounted, and meantime tried to make out the plan of battle, but all was obscure and dark. Suddenly up rode an officer, with a crowd of soldiers after him, from the village. "We've whipped them on all points!" he shouted. "We've taken their batteries, and they're all retreating!" Such an uproar as followed! The spectators and men cheered again and again, amid cries of "Bravo!" "Bully for us!" "Didn't I tell you so?" and guttural "hochs" from the Deutschland folk, and loud "hurroors" from the Irish. Soon afterward my horse was brought up to the hill, and my friend and the gentleman I have already mentioned set out to walk toward the

cle, an officer, escorted by some dragoons, rode through the ruck with a light cart in charge. Another officer on foot, with his sword under his arm, ran up against me. "What is all this about?" "Why, we're pretty badly whipped. We're all in retreat. There's General Tyler there, badly wounded." And on he ran. There came yet another, who said, "We're beaten on all points. The whole army is in retreat.” Still there was no flight of troops, no retreat of an army, no reason for all this precipitation. True, there were many men in uniform flying toward the rear, but it did not appear as if they were beyond the proportions of a large baggage escort. I got my horse up into the field out of the road, and went on rapidly towards the front. Soon I met soldiers, who were coming through the corn, mostly without arms; and presently I saw firelocks, cooking-tins, knapsacks, and greatcoats on the ground, and observed that the confusion and speed of the baggage carts became greater, and that many

of them were crowded with men, or were followed by others, who clung to them. The ambulances were crowded with soldiers, but it did not look as if there were many wounded. Negro servants on led horses dashed frantically past; men in uniform, whom it were a dis-seized the trail of the nearest piece to wheel it grace to the profession of arms to call “soldiers," swarmed by on mules, chargers, and even draught horses, which had been cut out of carts or wagons, and went on with harness clinging to their heels, as frightened as their riders. Men literally screamed with rage and fright when their way was blocked up. On I rode, asking all, "What is all this about?" and now and then, but rarely, receiving the answer, "We're whipped; " or, "We're repulsed." Faces black and dusty, tongues out in the heat, eyes staring-it was a most wonderful sight. On they came, like him,

"Who, having once turned round, goes on,
And turns no more his head.
For he knoweth that a fearful fiend
Doth close behind him tread."

on the left no longer maintained their fire. I was just about to ask one of the men for a light, when a sputtering fire on my right attracted my attention, and out of the forest or along the road rushed a number of men. The gunners round upon them; others made for the tumbrils and horses as if to fly, when a shout was raised, "Don't fire; they're our own men;" and in a few minutes on came pell-mell a whole regiment in disorder. I rode across one, and stopped him. "We're pursued by cavalry," he gasped, "they've cut us all to pieces." As he spoke, a shell burst over the column; another dropped on the road, and out streamed another column of men, keeping together with their arms, and closing up the stragglers of the first regiment. I turned, and to my surprise saw the artillerymen had gone off, leaving one gun standing by itself. They had retreated with their horses. While we were on the hill, I had observed and pointed out to my companions a cloud of dust which rose through the But where was the fiend? I looked in vain. trees on our right front. In my present posiThere was, indeed, some cannonading in front tion that place must have been on the right of me and in their rear, but still the firing was rear, and it occurred to me that after all there comparatively distant, and the runaways were really might be a body of cavalry in that direcfar out of range. As I advanced, the number tion; but Murat himself would not have chargof carts diminished, but the mounted men in- ed these wagons in that deep, well-fenced lane. creased, and the column of fugitives became If the dust came, as I believe it did, from fielddenser. A few buggies and light wagons filled artillery, that would be a different matter. Any with men, whose faces would have made up way it was now well established that the re"a great Leporello" in the ghost scene, tried treat had really commenced, though I saw but to pierce the rear of the mass of carts, which few wounded men, and the regiments which were now solidified and moving on like a gla- were falling back had not suffered much loss. cier. I crossed a small ditch by the roadside, No one seemed to know any thing for cergot out on the road to escape some snake fences, tain. Even the cavalry charge was a rumor. and, looking before me, saw there was still a Several officers said they had carried guns and crowd of men in uniforms coming along. The lines, but then they drifted into the nonsense road was strewn with articles of clothing- which one reads and hears everywhere about firelocks, waist-belts, cartouch-boxes, caps, "masked batteries." One or two talked more greatcoats, mess-tins, musical instruments, sensibly about the strong positions of the enecartridges, bayonets and sheaths, swords and my, the fatigue of their men, the want of a repistols-even biscuits, water-bottles, and pieces serve, severe losses, and the bad conduct of of meat. Passing a white house by the road- certain regiments. Not one spoke as if he side, I saw, for the first time, a body of infan- thought of retiring beyond Centreville. The try with sloped arms marching regularly and clouds of dust rising above the woods marked rapidly towards me. Their faces were not the retreat of the whole army, and the crowds blackened by powder, and it was evident they of fugitives continued to steal away along the had not been engaged. In reply to a question, road. The sun was declining, and some thirty a non-commissioned officer told me in broken miles yet remained to be accomplished ere I English, "We fell back to our lines. The at- could hope to gain the shelter of Washington. tack did not quite succeed." This was assuring No one knew whither any corps or regiment to one who had come through such a scene as was marching, but there were rumors of all I had been witnessing. I had ridden, I sup- kinds-"The 69th are cut to pieces," ""The Fire pose, about three or three-and-a-half miles Zouaves are destroyed," and so on. Presently from the hill, though it is not possible to be a tremor ran through the men by whom I was sure of the distance; when, having passed the riding, as the sharp reports of some field-pieces white house, I came out on an open piece of rattled through the wood close at hand. A ground, beyond and circling which was forest. sort of subdued roar, like the voice of distant Two field-pieces were unlimbered and guarding breakers, rose in front of us, and the soldiers, the road; the panting and jaded horses in the who were, I think, Germans, broke into a rear looked as though they had been hard double, looking now and then over their shouldworked, and the gunners and drivers looked ers. There was no choice for me but to resign worn and dejected. Dropping shots sounded any further researches. The mail from Washclose in front through the woods; but the gunsington for the Wednesday steamer at Boston

leaves at 23 on Monday, and so I put my horse | resolved to keep my own counsel for the second into a trot, keeping in the fields alongside the time that day. And so the flight went on. At roads as much as I could, to avoid the fugitives, one time a whole mass of infantry, with fixed till I came once more on the rear of the bag- bayonets, ran down the bank of the road, and gage and store carts, and the pressure of the some falling as they ran, must have killed and crowd, who, conscious of the aid which the wounded those among whom they fell. As I vehicles would afford them against a cavalry knew the road would soon become impassable charge, and fearful, nevertheless, of their prox- or blocked up, I put my horse to a gallop and imity, clamored and shouted like madmen as passed on toward the front. But mounted men they ran. The road was now literally covered still rode faster, shouting out, "Cavalry are with baggage. It seemed to me as if the men coming." Again I ventured to speak to some inside were throwing the things out purposely. officers whom I overtook, and said, "If these "Stop," cried I to the driver of one of the carts, runaways are not stopped, the whole of the "every thing is falling out." - you," shout-posts and pickets in Washington will fly ed a fellow inside, "if you stop him, I'll blow your brains out." My attempts to save Uncle Sam's property were then and there discontinued.

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also!" One of them, without saying a word, spurred his horse and dashed on in front. I do not know whether he ordered the movement or not, but the van of the fugitives was now suddenly checked, and, pressing on through the wood at the roadside, I saw a regiment of intowards Centreville. A musket was levelled at my head as I pushed to the front-"Stop, or I'll fire."* At the same time the officers

As a commentary on the picture here presented, we quote part of an article in the Knickerbocker Magazine from an eye-witness of this part of the retreat, who met Mr. Russell at the very head of the stampede.-Editor.

moderately, but their occupants appeared unconscious of We pushed on toward the field. Vehicles still passed disaster or of haste. The first indication of disturbed nerves met us in the shape of a soldier, musketless and coatless, clinging to the bare back of a great bony, wagonhorse-sans reins, sans every thing. Man and beast came panting along, each looking exhausted, and just as they his rider tumbles off and hobbles away, leaving the horse pass us, the horse tumbles down helpless in the road, and to his own care and his own reflections. Still we pushed

on.

[Several visitors from the field, up to this time, had reported a complete victory of the Union troops.]

On approaching Centreville, a body of German infantry of the reserve came marching down, and stemmed the current in some de-fantry blocking up the way, with their front gree; they were followed by a brigade of guns and another battalion of fresh troops. I turned up on the hill half a mile beyond. The vehicles had all left but two-my buggy was gone. A battery of field-guns was in position where we had been standing. The men looked well. As yet there was nothing to indicate more than a retreat, and some ill-behavior among the wagoners and the riff-raff of different regiments. Centreville was not a bad position properly occupied, and I saw no reason why it should not be held if it was meant to renew the attack, nor any reason why the attack should not be renewed, if there had been any why it should have been made. I swept the field once more. The clouds of dust were denser and nearer. That was all. There was no firing-no musketry. I turned my horse's head and rode away through the village, and About half-past four, possibly nearer five, Centreville after I got out upon the road the same confu- reached the top of a moderate rise in the road, and as we was still (as it proved) a mile or so ahead of us. We sion seemed to prevail. Suddenly the guns on plodded on down its slope, I turned a glance back along the hill opened, and at the same time came the the road we had passed; a thousand bayonets were gleam. ing in the sunlight, and a full fresh regiment were overthuds of artillery from the wood on the right taking us in double-quick step, having come up (as I soon rear. The stampede then became general. after learned) from Vienna. They reached the top of the What occurred at the hill I cannot say, but all which flooded the road in the little valley below. At this hill just as we began to pick our way across the brook the road from Centreville for miles presented moment, looking up the ascent ahead of us, toward the such a sight as can only be witnessed in the battle, we saw army wagons, private vehicles, and some six or eight soldiers on horseback, rushing down the hill track of the runaways of an utterly demoralized in front of us in exciting confusion, and a thick cloud of army. Drivers flogged, lashed, spurred, and dust. The equestrian soldiers, it could be seen at a glance, beat their horses, or leaped down and aban- unused to this melting mode, most of them being barewere only impromptu horsemen, and their steeds were all doned their teams, and ran by the side of the backed. Their riders appeared to be in haste, for some Among them, and road; mounted men, servants, and men in uni- reason best known to themselves. rather leading the van, was a solitary horseman of differform, vehicles of all sorts, commissariat wag-ent aspect: figure somewhat stout, face round and broad, ons, thronged the narrow ways. At every shot a convulsion, as it were, seized upon the morbid mass of bones, sinew, wood, and iron, and thrilled through it, giving new energy and action to its desperate efforts to get free from itself. Again the cry of "Cavalry" arose. What are you afraid of?" said I to a man who was running beside me. "I'm not afraid of you!" replied the ruffian, levelling his piece at me, and pulling the trigger. It was not loaded, or the cap was not on, for the gun did not go off. I was unarmed, and I did go off as fast I could,

gentlemanly in aspect, but somewhat flushed and impa tient, not to say anxious, in expression. Under a broadbrimmed hat a silk handkerchief screened his neck like a Havelock. He rode a fine horse, still in good condition, and his motto seemed to be "onward"-whether in per sonal alarm or not, it would be impertinent to say. His identity was apparent at a glance. As his horse reached the spot where we "five" stood together, thus suddenly headed off by the stampede, the regiment behind us had reached the foot of the hill, and the colonel, a large and resolute-looking man, had dashed his horse ahead of his men, until he was face to face with the stampeders.

"What are you doing here?" shouted the colonel in a tone that "meant something." "Halt!" (to his men.) "Form across the road. Stop every one of them " Then

turning to the white-faced soldiers from the field, and brandishing his sword, "Back! back! the whole of ye! Back!

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were shouting out, "Don't let a soul pass." I addressed one of them, and said, "Sir, I am a British subject. I am not, I assure you, running away. I have done my best to stop this disgraceful rout, (as I had,) and have been telling them there are no cavalry within miles of them." "I can't let you pass, sir." I bethought me of Gen. Scott's pass. The adjutant read it, and the word was given along the line, "Let that man pass!" and so I rode through, uncertain if I could now gain the Long Bridge in time to pass over without the countersign. It was about this time I met a cart by the roadside surrounded by a group of soldiers, some of whom had "69" on their caps. The owner,

as I took him to be, was in great distress, and cried out as I passed, "Can you tell me, sir, where the 69th are? These men say they are cut to pieces." "I can't tell you." "I'm in charge of the mails, sir, and I will deliver them

I say," and their horses in an instant are making a reverse movement up the hill, while the army wagons stand in statu quo: the thousand muskets of the regiment, in obedience rather to the action than to the word of the colonel, being all pointed at the group in front, in the midst of which we stand. All this and much more passed in much less time than it takes to tell it.

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"But, sir, if you will look at this paper," thus spake our distinguished visitor in the advance to the determined and now excited colonel, you will see that I am a civilian, a spectator merely, and that this is a special rass," (here I half-imagined a doubt of the character of the regiment flashed in for a second,) "a pass from General Scott."

The manner and the tone indicated that the speaker and his errand were entitled to attention.

"Pass this man up," shouted the colonel somewhat bluntly and impatient of delay; and on galloped the representative of the Thunderer toward Washington.

Now, the art of bragging and the habit of exaggeration are vices to which all we Americans are but too much addicted. But if I say that my friend T- and myself stood in the midst of this mé ée much more impressed with its ludicrous picturesqueness than with any idea of personal danger, my friend at least would agree that this was the simple truth. The brief parley of Our Own Correspondent" suggested merely the thought that it was a pity such a stranger should be annoyed by such a crowd; I'd better say: "Colonel, this is Mr. Russell of the London Times; pray don't detain him." However, this all passed in a twinkling. Our two soldier-friends and the surgeon had pushed on between the wagons toward the field; the distant firing had ceased; the wagons quietly stood still; so T and I passed up through the regi ment, which they told us was the First or Second New Jersey, Col. Montgomery, from the camp at Vienna; and we sat down comfortably near a house at the top of the hill and waited to see "what next?" In less than twenty minutes the road was cleared and regulated; the army wagons halted, still in line, on one side of the road; the civilians were permitted to drive on as fast as they pleased toward Washington; the regiment deployed into a field on the opposite hill, and formed in line of battle commanding the road; a detachment was sent on to "clear the track" toward Centreville and presently the regiment itself marched up the road in the direction of the field of conflict. It was now about half-past five.

If we two were not "cowards on instinct," we might still be indifferent to danger through mere ignorance. This is intended to be a simple and truthful narrative only of what we saw and did, not a philosophical analysis or an imaginative dissertation. The character, cause, extent, and duration of that strange panic have already become an historical problem. Therefore, I specially aim to avoid all inferences, guesses, and generalities, and to state with entire simplicity just what was done and said where we were. Of what passed on the battle-field, or anywhere else, this witness cannot testify he can only tell, with reasonable accuracy, what passed before his eyes, or repeat what he heard directly from those who had just come singly from the fight or the panic; so much will go for what it is worth, and no more. The separate sketches from all the different points of view are needed for a com

if I die for it. You are a gentleman and I can depend on your word. Is it safe for me to go on?" Not knowing the extent of the débâcle, I assured him it was, and asked the men of the regiment how they happened to be there. Shure, the Colonel himself told us to go off every man on his own hook, and to fly for our lives!" replied one of them. The mail agent, who told me he was an Englishman, started the cart again. I sincerely hope no bad result to himself or his charge followed my advice; I reached Fairfax Court-House; the people, black and white, with anxious faces, were at the doors, and the infantry were under arms. I was besieged with questions, though hundreds of fugitives had passed through before me. At one house I stopped to ask for water for my horse; the owner sent his servant for it cheerfully, the very house where we had in vain asked for something to eat in the forenoon.

plete picture, or for a conclusive answer to the question: Did all our army run away?"

For us, two individuals who had not seen the battle or the first of the panic, but only this tail-end of it, no discussion of the matter at the moment was thought of. We didn't ask each other, or anybody else, whether it was safe to stay there, or to go near the main army. But if the question had been asked, our reply, merely echoing our thoughts at the moment, would have been thus:

"We have lost the day; our army, or a part of it, after a sturdy fight of nine hours against the great cdds of a superior force, strongly intrenched behind masked batteries, and after an actual victory, have fallen back at the last moment, and a part of one wing, with the wagons and outsiders, have started from the field in a sudden and unaccountable panic. But so long as we still have forty thousand men between us and the enemy, more than half of them fresh, in reserve, at Centreville; so long as this, the only main road Potomac-wise from the field, is now quiet and clear, and 'order reigns' at Centreville, where our main body will rest; what is the use of being in a hurry? Let us rest awhile here, and then take our timo and go on either South or North, as the appearance of things may warrant." Briefly and distinctly, no worse view of the matter was indicated by any thing we saw or heard while waiting TWO HOURS in that very spot in the after Mr. Russell had galloped on to write the worst acroad where the panic was first stopped, [and two hours count of the disorder.]

The writer of the above slept at Fairfax Court-House long after Mr. Russell was safe in Washington. As lato as 11 P. M., the straggling soldiers from the field were stopped and turned back by platoons of the reserve at Fairfax; and this was done as late as 7 A. M. at Alexandria. In corroboration of the fact that all alarm and disorder had been checked immediately after Mr. Russell's hasty retreat, we quote the following from Mr. H. H. Tilley, of Bristol, R. I., dated at Washington, July 24.

"Our two companions, Burnham and Young, after pushing ahead a little way on the track, repented of their temerity, and retraced their steps, as we did, to the station, and then took the road, also, to Fairfax Court-House; but on reaching the road leading to Centreville, they turned into that, and by thus cutting off the angle that we made, they were enabled to pass through that place, and even get quite near to the battle-field-full as near, in fact, as I think we should have cared to, for Burnham says that after they attacked the hospital, and the retreat commenced, they heard a cannon-ball whistle over their heads, which, I infer, contributed in a slight degree to an accelera tion of their movements. They say they were at the place in the road when Colonel Montgomery (as I see it was by the papers) made that famous halt!' of the light brigade, (Russell and Company,) soon after it occurred, and they stopped there, procuring tea and a lodging at a house near by. They started on their return tramp at about twelve, (eight hours after Mr. Russell's retreat,] and must have been only a little way behind us, all the way-reaching here in less than an hour after we did."

"There's a fright among them," I observed, in | Long Bridge." Up hills, down into valleys, reply to his question respecting the commissa- with the silent grim woods forever by our riat drivers. "They're afraid of the enemy's sides. Now and then, in the profound gloom, cavalry." "Are you an American?" said the broken only by a spark from the horse's hoof, man. No, I am not." "Well, then," he said, came a dull but familiar sound like the shut"there will be cavalry on them soon enough. ting of a distant door. As I approached WashThere's 20,000 of the best horsemen in the ington, having left the Colonel and his escort world in Virginia!" Washington was still 18 at some seven miles on the south side of the miles away. The road was rough and uncer- | Long Bridge, I found the grand guards, pickets' tain, and again my poor steed was under way, posts, and individual sentries burning for news, but it was of no use trying to outstrip the run- and the word used to pass along, "What does aways. Once or twice I imagined I heard guns that man say, Jack?" "Begorra, he tells me in the rear, but I could not be sure of it in con- we're not bet at all-only retraiting to the sequence of the roar of the flight behind me. It ould lines for convaniency of fighting to-morwas most surprising to see how far the foot row again. Oh, that's illigant!" On getting soldiers had contrived to get on in advance. to the tête de pont, however, the countersign After sunset the moon rose, and amid other was demanded; of course, I had not got it. acquaintances, I jogged alongside an officer But the officer passed me through on the prowho was in charge of Col. Hunter, the com- duction of Gen. Scott's safeguard. The lights mander of a brigade, I believe, who was shot of the city were in sight; and reflected by the through the neck, and was inside a cart, es- waters of the Potomac, just glistened by the corted by a few troopers. This officer was, as clouded moon, shone the gay lamps of the I understood, the major or second in command White House, where the President was probof Col. Hunter's regiment, yet he had consid- ably entertaining some friends. In silence I ered it right to take charge of his chief, and to passed over the Long Bridge. Some few hours leave his battalion. He said they had driven later it quivered under the steps of a rabble of back the enemy with ease, but had not been sup- unarmed men. At the Washington end a regiported, and blamed-as bad officers and good ment with piled arms were waiting to cross ones will do the conduct of the General: "So over into Virginia, singing and cheering. Bemean a fight I never saw." I was reminded of a fore the morning they received orders, I beCrimean General, who made us all merry by say- lieve, to assist in keeping Maryland quiet. For ing, after the first bombardment, "In the whole the hundredth time I repeated the cautious accourse of my experience I never saw a siege con- count, which to the best of my knowledge was ducted on such principles as these." Our friend true. There were men, women, and soldiers had been without food, but not, I suspect, to hear it. The clocks had just struck 11 P. M. without drink-and that, we know, affects as I passed Willard's. The pavement in front empty stomachs very much—since two o'clock of the hall was crowded. The rumors of dethat morning. Now, what is to be thought of feat had come in, but few of the many who an officer-gallant, he may be, as steel-who had been fed upon lies and the reports of comsays, as I heard this gentleman say to a picket plete victory which prevailed could credit the who asked him how the day went in front, intelligence. Seven hours had not elapsed be"Well, we've been licked into a cocked hat; fore the streets told the story. The "Grand knocked to." This was his cry to team- Army of the North," as it was called, had repsters escorts, convoys, the officers and men on resentatives in every thoroughfare, without guard and detachment, while I, ignorant of the arms, orders, or officers, standing out in the disaster behind, tried to mollify the effect of drenching rain. When all these most unacthe news by adding, "Oh! it's a drawn battle. countable phenomena were occurring, I was The troops are reoccupying the position from fast asleep, but I could scarce credit my inwhich they started in the morning." Perhaps formant in the morning, when he told me that he knew his troops better than I did. It was the Federalists, utterly routed, had fallen back a strange ride, through a country now still as upon Arlington to defend the capital, leaving death, the white road shining like a river in nearly 5 batteries of artillery, 8,000 muskets, the moonlight, the trees black as ebony in the immense quantities of stores and baggage, and shade; now and then a figure flitting by into their wounded prisoners in the hands of the the forest or across the road-frightened friend enemy! or lurking foe, who could say? Then the anxious pickets and sentries all asking, "What's the news?" and evidently prepared for any amount of loss. Twice or thrice we lost our way, or our certainty about it, and shouted at isolated houses, and received no reply, except from angry watch-dogs. Then we were set right as we approached Washington, by teamsters. For an hour, however, we seemed to be travelling along a road which, in all its points, far and near, was "twelve miles from the

Let the American journals tell the story their own way. I have told mine as I know it. It has rained incessantly and heavily since early morning, and the country is quite unfit for operations; otherwise, if Mr. Davis desired to press his advantage, he might be now very close to Arlington Heights. He has already proved that he has a fair right to be considered the head of a "belligerent power." But, though the North may reel under the shock, I cannot think it will make her desist from the struggle,

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