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unless it be speedily followed by blows more scheme, which has been suggested to her, of deadly even than the repulse from Manassas. punishing England a little while longer. The There is much talk now (of "masked batteries," | exultation of the South can only be understood of course) of outflanking, and cavalry, and such by those who may see it; and if the Federal matters. The truth seems to be that the men Government perseveres in its design to make were overworked, kept out for 12 or 14 hours Union by force, it may prepare for a struggle in the sun, exposed to a long-range fire, badly the result of which will leave the Union very officered, and of deficient regimental organiza- little to fight for. More of the "battle" in my tion. Then came a most difficult operation- next. I pity the public across the water, but to withdraw this army, so constituted, out of they must be the victims of hallucinations and action, in face of an energetic enemy who had myths it is out of my power to dispel or rectify repulsed it. The retirement of the baggage, just now. Having told so long a story, I can which was without adequate guards, and was scarcely expect your readers to have patience, in the hands of ignorant drivers, was misun- and go back upon the usual diary of events; derstood, and created alarm, and that alarm but the records, such as they are, of this extrabecame a panic, which became frantic on the ordinary repulse, must command attention. It appearance of the enemy and on the opening is impossible to exaggerate their importance. of their guns on the runaways. But the North No man can predict the results or pretend to will be all the more eager to retrieve this dis-guess at them. aster, although it may divert her from the

From two witnesses (unknown to each other).

Mr. Russell.

"Drivers flogged, lashed, spurred their horses," &c., (near Centreville).

The RECORD Statement was printed ten days before Mr.

Russell's was received.

Editor of the Chicago Tribune. "Jogging leisurely down the Wash

Publisher of the Rebellion Record. "Centreville was still a mile or so * a full fresh reg

iment had overtaken us, and [looking forward] we saw army wag

ington road, perhaps 10 minutes-cer- ahead of us.
tainly not more-ahead of Mr. Russell,
we saw nothing of the flogging, lash-
ing, &c., &c., which he so graphically ons, private vehicles, and some 6 or 8
describes.
soldiers on horseback rushing down,
&c.
* Among them and rather
leading the van, was "- Mr. Russell.
"Pass this man up" shout-

"A mile from Centreville we met that New Jersey regiment, a private of which Mr. Russell says threatened to shoot him if he did not halt. The officers were turning back a few fugitives, not a dozen in all that were on their way in, but recognized as a civilian, as the Times correspondent must have been, we passed to the rear un

"I saw a regiment of infantry blocking up the way with their front towards 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 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 challenged." 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,'-so I rode through.

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*

ed the colonel, and on galloped the representative of the Thunderer [solitary and alone] toward Washington. No musket was pointed at him any more than at any other in the crowd, and not a syllable was to be heard about his services in stopping the disgraceful rout,' although the words actually used were heard distinctly-this witness being within six feet of Mr. R.'s horse. The road was cleared and regulated in 20 minutes."

[A party of five, viz. two soldiers, one of whom was Mr. Greene of the -R. I. regiment, a R. I. surgeon, H. H. Tilley of the Navy Department,

the point above described, the road being quiet, and not a single soldier except an officer on horseback having passed towards Washington. Mr. Russell's assertion is wholly unfounded.]

"It is a small matter this, but it and G. P. Putnam of N. York, had marks the accuracy of the man. Not walked from Fairfax Court House to a question was asked of Mr. Russell or of us [at this point the two parties were together], not a fugitive we dare affirm had passed that way; the infantry, another N. Jersey regiment, if we are not mistaken [Michigan 4th,-Ed.], were at their usual evening parade, supposing, no doubt, that their companions in arms had won a great victory."

"It must bave been surprising inFrom the moment of meeting

[No soldiers whatever had preceded Mr. Russell, and not more than 300 passed, on the road, up to 9 P. M.]

"We reached the pickets near the Court House about nine P. M. Here again returning soldiers were still stopped and turned back at this time, and as late, certainly, as ten o'clock, or six hours after the retreat began. Could

"Once or twice [at Fairfax] I imag. ined I heard guns in the rear, but I deed. could not be sure of it in consequence of the 1st N. Jersey regiment (as above), a couple of platoons turn back a whole

the roar of the flight behind me! ! !! It was most surprising to see how far the foot soldiers had contrived to get on in advance! ! !"

"I jogged alongside an officer who was in charge of Col. Hunter [wounded], and who 'considered it right to take charge of his chief, and save his

not a soldier, unless one of a baggage or a picket guard, did we see on the road-not one. We faced train after train going out with supplies, without guard, and without suspicion that the army was beaten."

"We saw no troopers and no officer. Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, of the House, was riding by the side of the vehicle, and he, a smooth-faced gentleman in the garb of a civilian, may have been mis"The clocks had just struck 11 P. M. taken (by Mr. R.) for 'a doubtful man as I passed Willard's. of war.'"

battalion.'"

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army?"

[At Fairfax Court House] "Senator Wade seemed to be intending a return to Centreville next morning." * This was about ELEVEN P. M.; "wagons still at rest; as many soldiers about the place as I had seen at noon-[Michigan 4th in reserve], here and there a poor fellow would come in from battleward inquiring for the hospital."

"We were comfortably dressed [after sleeping at the inn at Fairfax Court House] and in the road between 2 and 3 o'clock [Monday morning). Our room-mate from the Keystone State we left sound asleep, for we had no authority to disturb him."

"Even at this time [half-past 6, Monday morning] only the wagons and wounded men were allowed to pass " [the pickets at Alexandria]. We had walked from near Centreville, slept 3 hours at Fairfax, and on the road all night we had not seen 500 soldiers. This is verified by our companion, Mr. H. H. Tilley, of Bristol, R. I.

unless it be speedily followed by blows more | scheme, which has been suggested to her, of deadly even than the repulse from Manassas. punishing England a little while longer. The There is much talk now (of "masked batteries," exultation of the South can only be understood of course) of outflanking, and cavalry, and such by those who may see it; and if the Federal matters. The truth seems to be that the men Government perseveres in its design to make were overworked, kept out for 12 or 14 hours Union by force, it may prepare for a struggle in the sun, exposed to a long-range fire, badly the result of which will leave the Union very officered, and of deficient regimental organiza- little to fight for. More of the "battle" in my tion. Then came a most difficult operation- next. I pity the public across the water, but to withdraw this army, so constituted, out of they must be the victims of hallucinations and action, in face of an energetic enemy who had myths it is out of my power to dispel or rectify repulsed it. The retirement of the baggage, just now. Having told so long a story, I can which was without adequate guards, and was scarcely expect your readers to have patience, in the hands of ignorant drivers, was misun- and go back upon the usual diary of events; derstood, and created alarm, and that alarm but the records, such as they are, of this extrabecame a panic, which became frantic on the ordinary repulse, must command attention. It appearance of the enemy and on the opening is impossible to exaggerate their importance. of their guns on the runaways. But the North No man can predict the results or pretend to will be all the more eager to retrieve this dis- guess at them. aster, although it may divert her from the

Comments on Mr. RUSSELL'S Letter.

From the Chicago Tribune.

MR. RUSSELL'S letter to the London Times, the greater part of which we transferred to our columns yesterday morning, is, in many respects, a remarkable paper. We enjoyed the privilege of riding from a point a couple of miles east of Centreville, to another point east of Fairfax Court House, with Mr. Russell, and when he tells what took place on that bit of road, we are competent judges of his truthfulness and fairness as a descriptive writer. We do not know and do not care what he saw, or says he saw, of the fight and the flight, before we found him; but from the errors and misstatements in that portion of his narrative with which we are immediately concerned, we should be justified in believing that he was not at the battle at all, and that the materials for his letter were gathered from some Fire Zouave or a private of the Ohio Second, who left, terror stricken, in the early part of the fray, and carried the fatal news of the rout and the race to the credulous rear. We left Centreville without knowing that a repulse had been felt, or that a retreat to that point had been ordered. Jogging leisurely down the Washington road, perhaps ten minutes-certainly not more-ahead of Mr. Russell, we saw nothing of the flogging, lashing, spurring, beating, and abandoning that he so graphically describes. The road was as quiet and clear as if no army were in the vicinity. A mile from Centreville we met that New Jersey regiment, a private of which, Mr. Russell says, threatened to "shoot him if he did not halt." The officers were turning back the few fugitives, not a dozen in all, that were on their way in; but, recognized as a civilian, as the Times correspondent

66

must have been, we passed to the rear unchallenged. Mr. Russell, at that moment, could not have been half a mile behind us. Pushing on slowly we were overtaken by Col. Hunter's carriage, in which he, wounded, was going to the city. Mr. Russell saw it, or says he saw it, attended by an escort of troopers, at the head of whom was a major, who "considered it right to take charge of his chief and leave his battalion." We saw no troopers nor major. Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, of the House, was riding by the side of the vehicle, and he, a smooth-faced gentleman, in the garb of a civilian, may have been mistaken by our own correspondent" for a doubtful man of war. Possibly two miles and a half from Centreville, we stopped at a road-side farm house for a cup of water. While drinking, Mr. Russell passed. We recognized him, rode along, and were soon engaged with him in a discussion of the causes of the check-it was not then known to be any thing more; and, in his company, we went on through Fairfax, in all a distance, perhaps, of six or eight miles; and we can affirm that not one incident which he relates as happening in that stretch, had any foundation in fact. We saw nothing of that Englishman of whom he says:

"It was about this time I met a cart by the roadside, surrounded by a group of soldiers, some of took him to be, was in great distress; and cried whom had '69' on their caps. The owner, as I out, as I passed, 'Can you tell me, sir, where the Sixty-ninth are? These men say they are cut to pieces.' 'I can't tell you.' 'I'm in charge of the You are a gentleman, and I can depend on your mails, sir, and I will deliver them if I die for it. word. Is it safe for me to go on?' Not knowing the extent of the debacle, I assured him it was, and

We rode into Fairfax together.

asked the men of the regiment how they happened | flight. The defeat was not known to any on the to be there. 'Shure, the colonel himself told us road, not even to Mr. Russell, who informed us that to go off every man on his own hook, and to fly for our lives,' replied one of them. The mail agent, our army would fall back and encamp for the night, who told me he was an Englishman, started the only to renew the battle the next day. The " roar cart again. I sincerely hope no bad result to him- of the flight behind me" is a stretch of the imagiself or his charge followed my advice." nation. We were "behind me," and heard the guns, and marked the time as 7:15; but save our poor old thick-winded steed, there was not another horse on the road within our sight. A few carriages with wounded, a few retiring civilians-none making haste, none suspecting the finale that was reached-soon passed us; but not an armed man, trooper nor footman, was anywhere near. Mr. Russell in the next paragraph confesses as much:

"I reached Fairfax Court House; the people, black and white, with anxious faces, were at the doors, and the infantry under arms. I was besieged with questions, though hundreds of fugitives had passed through before me."

It is a small matter, this, but it marks the accuracy of the man. Not a question was asked of Mr. Russell nor of us; not a "fugitive," we dare affirm, had passed that way; the infantry-another New Jersey regiment, if we are not mistaken-were at their usual evening parade, supposing, no doubt, that their companions in arms had won a great victory.

"At one house I stopped to ask for water for my horse; the owner sent his servant for it cheer

fully, the very house where we had in vain asked

for something to eat in the forenoon. There's a fright among them,' I observed in reply to his question concerning the commissariat drivers. They're afraid of the enemy's cavalry.' 'Are you an American?' said the man. 'No, I am not.' 'Well, then,' he said, 'there will be cavalry on them soon enough. There's twenty thousand of the best horsemen in the world in Virginny.''

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"It was a strange ride, through a country now still as death, the white road shining like a river in the moonlight, the trees black as ebony in the shade; now and then a figure flitting by into the lurking foe, who could say? Then the anxious forest or across the road-frightened friend or pickets and sentries all asking, 'What's the news?' and evidently prepared for any amount of loss."

The truth is probably this: The imaginative correspondent left the battle-ground before any confusion occurred, and when the retrograde movement was ordered. Hearing the exaggerated stories of what came to be a flight, after he got into Washington, on Monday, while the excitement was at its height, he wove them into his letter as facts of his own observation. The rout was disgraceful enough to make any man's blood cold in his veins; but it

was not what Mr. Russell describes. As we have asserted, he did not see it.

From the Providence Journal.

At the little one-horse tavern in Fairfax, the horses Mr. R.'s and our own-were watered, by a servant; but the reported conversation did not take place. A short distance from that inn, Mr. Russell put spurs to his animal, and, riding fu- | To the Editor of the Journal: riously, left us behind; he picked up ample material for misrepresentation, however, as he went. We point out the greatest falsehood, if one falsehood can be greater than another, in the columns that he has devoted to the vilification of our troops:

"Washington was still 18 miles away. The road was rough and uncertain, and again my poor steed was under way; but it was no use of trying to outstrip the runaways. Once or twice I imagined I heard guns in the rear, but I could not be sure, in consequence of the roar of the flight behind me. It was most surprising to see how far the foot soldiers had contrived to go on in advance."

It must have been surprising indeed! From the moment of meeting the First New Jersey regiment, of which we have spoken, not a soldier, unless one of a baggage, or a picket-guard, did we see on the road-not one. The wagons going in were few, and their progress was not such as to indicate that they were making a retreat. We faced train after train going out with supplies, without guard, and without suspicion that the army was beaten and in

Mr. Russell, who occupies so large a space in the London Times in giving a description of "What he saw" at the repulse of "Bull Run," was at no time within three miles of the battle-field, and was at no time within sight or musket-shot of the enemy.

He entered Centreville after the writer of this, and left before him. At the period of the hardest fighting, he was eating his lunch with a brother "John Bull," near Gen. Miles's head-quarters.

When the officer arrived at Centreville, announcing the apparent success of the Federal forces, (of which he gives a correct description,) it was 4 o'clock. The retreat commenced in Centreville at half-past four. During this half hour he went about one mile down the Warrenton road, and there met the teams returning, with some straggling soldiers and one reserve regiment, which were not in the fight. He did not wait to see the main portion of the army, which did not reach Centreville until about two hours after his flight.

His excuse for hurrying to Washington on account of mailing his letter that night, is inconsis

tent with his statement that he went to bed, and | Crimea, and nothing else, then it is very possible

that the mail did not leave until 4 o'clock the next morning.

He probably dreamed of the statements which he furnishes the Times, that there were no batteries taken-no charges made; that the Union forces lost five batteries, 8,000 stand of arms, &c., &c., and no doubt reflected his own feelings when he calls the Union forces cowardly at being repulsed after marching twelve miles and fighting three or four hours an entrenched enemy which numbered more than three to one. W. E. H.*

To the Editor of the Journal:
At last we have it.

After two Atlantic voyages it is "salt" enough, all must admit, and more than that, we must admit that, what he saw of the affair at Bull Run he has described with graphic and painful truth.

But, as your correspondent, W. E. H., who knew more of his personal movements than I did, says, "He was at no time within three miles of the bat

tle-field," and consequently was no better informed upon the subject than you were, Mr. Editor, sitting in your sanctum. Therefore the earlier struggles of the day-the hard won successes of the Union troops receive but passing notice, because he did not see them--he only saw the rout.

Yet in another letter, from which I have only seen extracts, he arrives at various conclusions, "from further information acquired." One is that "there was not a charge of any kind made by the confederate cavalry upon any regiment of the enemy until they broke." If this be true, the Fire Zouaves are all liars, and thousands of spectators were deceived, including Major Barry, of the artillery, who states expressly in his report that the cavalry charged upon the Fire Zouaves.

Mr Russell says, "there were no masked batteries at play on the side of the Confederates." Either he was grossly misinformed, or he purposely distorts the truth by quibbling on the word masked. If a masked battery is absolutely one concealed by carefully constructed abatis, or elaborate mantelets, such as Mr. Russell has perhaps seen in India or the * Mr. William E. Hamlin, of Providence, R. I.

there were none upon the field; but if it is a battery of siege or light artillery, with or without entrenchments, so placed that it is entirely concealed by woods, underbrush, or artificial screens until the attacking force is close upon it, then I am one of thousands who can bear witness to the existence of several such upon the hill east of our (Rhode Island) field of action. I did not see either fortifications or cannon; but when a puff of smoke is seen to issue from a piece of woods, followed by a heavy report and a heavier ball—when this goes on for hours, the missiles ploughing up the earth in every direction, and sowing it broadcast with the dead, one is likely to conclude that there is something behind that screen of trees, and that something is my idea of a masked battery.

Finally, he says, "There were no desperate struggles except by those who wanted to get away." Of course not. He did not see them, and he is too truthful to relate any thing he did not see.

His account of the retreat is no worse than the

truth-what he saw of it. But be it remembered
that he was with the very advance of the flying
column, the most panic-stricken portion of the
crowd-that he was in Washington at 11 P. M. of
Sunday, about the hour when our regiments and
many others camped in the vicinity of Centreville,
having regained our quarters, were lighting fires,
drying our clothes, or talking over the prospect of
a renewed attack on Manassas next day. Many of
us lay down to sleep, from which we woke, more
astonished than Mr. Russell himself, at the idea of
continuing our retreat to Washington; but the
order came from head-quarters, and we obeyed.
Of this, or of the good order preserved by several
regiments, including ours, all the way from the
battle-field to Cub Run, and again resumed after
three or four miles, Mr. Russell says nothing-he
did not see it-he wasn't there.

Yet his story will be received as Times' gospel,
not to be gainsayed, by hundreds of thousands in
England, while the contradiction, if it ever reaches
there, will come as a stale American apology, un-
worthy of belief.
DE W.*

* Winthrop De Wolf.

Putnam's Record of the Rebellion, 1st Vol.,

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