THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN.
2 I I
leave my chief-of-staff, Colonel Jordan, at Manassas to forward any troopsarriving there, I felt it was a necessity that one of us should go to this duty,and that it was his place to do so, as I felt I was responsible for the battle.He considerately yielded to my urgency, and we had the benefit of his energyand sagacity in so directing the reenforcements toward the field, as to be readilyand effectively assistant to my pressing needs and insure the success of the day.
As General Johnston departed for Portiei, I hastened to form our line ofbattle against the on-coming enemy. I ordered up the 49th and 8th Vir-ginia regiments from Cocke’s neighboring brigade in the Bull Bun lines.Gartrell’s 7th Georgia I placed in position on the left of Jackson’s bri-gade, along the belt of pines occupied by the latter on the eastern rim of theplateau. As the 49th Virginia rapidly came up, its colonel, ex-Governor WilliamSmith , was encouraging them with cheery word and manner, and, as theyapproached, indicated to them the immediate presence of the commander.As the regiment raised a loud cheer, the name was caught by some of thetroops of Jackson’s brigade in the immediate wood, who rushed out, callingfor General Beauregard. Hastily acknowledging these happy signs of sym-pathy and confidence, which reenforce alike the capacity of commander andtroops, I placed the 49th Virginia in position on the extreme left nextto Gartrell, and as I paused to say a few words to Jackson, while hurry-ing back to the right, my horse was killed under me by a bursting shell, afragment of which carried away part of the heel of my boot. The HamptonLegion, which had suffered greatly, was placed on the right of Jackson’sbrigade, and Hunton’s 8th Virginia , as it arrived, upon the right of Hampton;the two latter being drawn somewhat to the rear so as to form with Jackson’sright regiment a reserve, and be ready likewise to make defense against anyadvance from the direction of the Stone Bridge, whence there was imminentperil from the enemy’s heavy forces, as I had just stripped that position almostentirely of troops to meet the active crisis on the plateau, leaving this quarternow covered only by a few men, whose defense was otherwise assisted solelyby the obstruction of an abatis.
With 6500 men and 13 pieces of artillery, I now awaited the onset of theenemy, who were pressing forward 20,000 strong, with 24 pieces of superiorartillery and 7 companies of regular cavalry. They soon appeared over thefarther rim of the plateau, seizing the Bobinson house on my right and theHenry house opposite my left center. Near the latter they placed in positionthe two powerful batteries of Bicketts and Griffin of the regular army, andpushed forward up the Sudley road, the slope of which was cut so deep belowthe adjacent ground as to afford a covered way up to the plateau. Supportedby the formidable lines of Federal musketry, these 2 batteries lost no time inmaking themselves felt, while 3 more batteries in rear on the high groundbeyond the Sudley and Warrenton cross-roads swelled the shower of shellthat fell among our ranks.
3> According to General Fry (page 188), the Union force in the seizure of the Henry hill consisted offour brigades, a cavalry battalion, and two batteries, or (as we deduce from General Fry’s statementsof the strength of McDowell’s forces, page 195) about 11,000 men.— Editors.