THE SECOND BATTLE OF BULL RUN.

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eyes. He was a man of very superior abilities and of marked skill andcourage. His extreme political opinions before the war, ardently asserted, asw 7 as his habit in all matters which interested him, made it somewhat difficultfor him to secure such a position in the army as one of his capacity mightwell have expected. The prejudice against him on this account was soonshown to be utterly groundless, for a more zealous and faithful officer neverlived. His conduct in the battle in which he lost his life, and in every otheroperation of the campaign, was marked by high intelligence and the coolestcourage, and his death in the front of battle ended too soon a career whichwould have placed him among the foremost officers of the war. As an officerof engineers before the war, and as Governor of, and delegate to Congress from Washington Territory, he was always a man of note, and possessed theabilities and the force to have commanded in time any position to which hemight have aspired. The loss of these two officers was a heavy blow to thearmy, not so much perhaps because of their soldierly capacity as because oftheir well-known and unshakable fidelity to duty, and their entire loyalty totheir comrades in arms.

On the morning of the 2d of September the army was posted behind Diffi-cult Creek from Flint Hill to the Alexandria pike. The enemy disappearedfrom our front, moving toward the Upper Potomac, with no attempt to forceour position. And here the second battle of Bull Run may be said to termi-nate. On that day I received orders from General Halleck to take positionin the intrenchments in front of Washington, with a view to reorganizing thearmy and eliminating such of the dis-cordant elements in it as had largelycaused the misfortunes of the latterpart of that campaign.

The transactions at Alexandria andWashington City during these eventfuldays, as also at Centreville during partof them, are as closely connected withthese battles, and had nearly as muchto do with their results, as any part ofthe operations in the field; but theydemand more space than is accordedto this article. The materials to writea complete account of these mattersare at hand, and it is quite probablethat the course of events may yetmake their publication necessary.

There are other matters which, al-though not important, seem not out ofplace in this paper. A good deal of cheap wit has been expended upon afanciful story that I published an order or wrote a letter or made a remarkthat my “ headquarters would be in the saddle.” It is an expression harmlessand innocent enough, but it is even stated that it furnished General Lee with

MAJOR-GENERAL ISAAC 1. STEVENS.FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.