RESPONSIBILITIES OP THE FIRST BULL RUN.
249
A report received about 2 o’clock from General Beauregard’s office thatanother United States army was approaching from the north-west, and hut afew miles from us, caused me to send orders to Bonham, Longstreet, andJones to hold their brigades south of Bull Run, and ready to move.
When Bonham’s two regiments appeared soon after, Cocke’s brigade wasordered into action on our right. Fisher’s North Carolina regiment comingup, Bonham’s two regiments were directed against the Federal right, andFisher’s was afterward sent in the same direction; for the enemy’s strong-est efforts seemed to be directed against our left, as if to separate us fromManassas Junction.
About 3:30 o’clock, General E. K. Smith arrived with three regiments ofElzey’s brigade, coming from Manassas Junction. He was instructed, througha staff-officer sent forward to meet him, to form on the left of our line, his leftthrown forward, and to attack the enemy in flank. At his request I joinedhim, directed his course, and gave him these instructions. Before the forma-tion was completed, he fell severely wounded, and while falling from hishorse directed Colonel Elzey to take command. That officer appreciatedthe manoeuvre and executed it gallantly and well. General Beauregardpromptly seized the opportunity it afforded, and threw forward the wholeline. The enemy was driven from the long-contested hill, and the tide ofbattle at length turned. But the first Federal line driven into the valley wasthere rallied on a second, the two united presenting a formidable aspect. In themean time, however, Colonel Early had come upon the field with his brigade.He was instructed by me to make a detour to the left and assail the Federalright in flank. He reached the ground in time, accompanied by Stuart’s cav-alry and Beckham’s battery, and made his attack with a skill and couragewhich routed the Federal right in a moment. General Beauregard, chargingin front, made the rout complete. The Federal right fled in confusion towardthe Sudley Ford, and the center and left marched off rapidly by the turnpike.
Stuart pursued the fugitives on the Sudley road, and Colonel Radford, withtwo squadrons which I had held in reserve near me during the day, wasdirected to cross Bull Run at Ball’s Ford, and strike the column on the turn-pike in flank. The number of prisoners taken by these parties of cavalrygreatly exceeded their own numbers. But they were too weak to make aserious impression on an army, although a defeated one.
At twenty minutes before 5, when the retreat of the enemy toward Centre-ville began, I sent orders to Brigadier-General Bonham by Lieutenant-Col-onel Lay, of his staff, who happened to be with me, to march with his ownand Longstreet’s brigade (which were nearest Bull Run and the Stone Bridge),by the quickest route to the turnpike, and form them across it to interceptthe retreat of the Federal troops. But he found so little appearance of routin those troops as to make the execution of his instructions seem impractica-ble ; so the two brigades returned to their camps. When the retreat began,the body of United States troops that had passed the day on the Centrevilleside of Bull Run made a demonstration on the rear of our right; which wasrepelled by Holmes’s brigade just arrived.