University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XLVIII.

July 16th.—I baffled many curious and civil citizens by
breakfasting in my room, where I remained writing till late
in the day. In the afternoon I walked to the State House.
The hall door was open, but the rooms were closed; and I
remained in the hall, which is graced by two indifferent huge
statues of Law and Justice holding gas lamps, and by an old
rusty cannon, dug out of the river, and supposed to have belonged
to the original British colonists, whilst an officer whom
I met in the portico went to look for the porter and the keys.
Whether he succeeded I cannot say, for after waiting some
half hour I was warned by my watch that it was time to get
ready for the train, which started at 4.15 P. M. The country
through which the single line of rail passes is very hilly, much
wooded, little cultivated, cut up by water-courses and ravines.
At the junction with the Washington line from Baltimore
there is a strong guard thrown out from the camp near at
hand. The officers, who had a mess in a little wayside inn
on the line, invited me to rest till the train came up, and from
them I heard that an advance had been actually ordered, and
that if the "rebels" stood there would soon be a tall fight
close to Washington. They were very cheery, hospitable fellows,
and enjoyed their new mode of life amazingly. The
men of the regiment to which they belonged were Germans,
almost to a man. When the train came in I found it was full
of soldiers, and I learned that three more heavy trains were
to follow, in addition to four which had already passed laden
with troops.

On arriving at the Washington platform, the first person I
saw was General McDowell alone, looking anxiously into the

carriages. He asked where I came from, and when he heard
from Annapolis, inquired eagerly if I had seen two batteries
of artillery—Barry's and another—which he had ordered
up, and was waiting for, but which had "gone astray." I was
surprised to find the General engaged on such duty, and took
leave to say so. "Well, it is quite true, Mr. Russell; but I
am obliged to look after them myself, as I have so small a
staff, and they are all engaged out with my head-quarters.
You are aware I have advanced? No! Well, you have just
come in time, and I shall be happy, indeed, to take you with
me. I have made arrangements for the correspondents of
our papers to take the field under certain regulations, and I
have suggested to them they should wear a white uniform, to
indicate the purity of their character." The General could
hear nothing of his guns; his carriage was waiting, and I accepted
his offer of a seat to my lodgings. Although he spoke
confidently, he did not seem in good spirits. There was the
greatest difficulty in finding out anything about the enemy.
Beauregard was said to have advanced to Fairfax Court House,
but he could not get any certain knowledge of the fact. "Can
you not order a reconnoissance?" "Wait till you see the
country. But even if it were as flat as Flanders, I have not
an officer on whom I could depend for the work. They would
fall into some trap, or bring on a general engagement when I
did not seek it or desire it. I have no cavalry such as you work
with in Europe." I think he was not so much disposed to
undervalue the Confederates as before, for he said they had
selected a very strong position, and had made a regular levée
en masse of the people of Virginia, as a proof of the energy
and determination with which they were entering on the campaign.

As we parted the General gave me his photograph, and
told me he expected to see me in a few days at his quarters,
but that I would have plenty of time to get horses and servants,
and such light equipage as I wanted, as there would be
no engagement for several days. On arriving at my lodgings
I sent to the livery-stables to inquire after horses. None fit
for the saddle to be had at any price. The sutlers, the cavalry,
the mounted officers, had been purchasing up all the
droves of horses which came to the markets. McDowell had
barely extra mounts for his own use. And yet horses must be
had; and, even provided with them, I must take the field without
tent or servant, canteen or food—a waif to fortune.

July 17th.—I went up to General Scott's quarters, and
saw some of his staff—young men, some of whom knew
nothing of soldiers, not even the enforcing of drill—and found
them reflecting, doubtless, the shades which cross the mind
of the old chief, who was now seeking repose. McDowell is
to advance to-morrow from Fairfax Court House, and will
march some eight or ten miles to Centreville, directly in front
of which, at a place called Manassas, stands the army of the
Southern enemy. I look around me for a staff, and look in
vain. There are a few plodding old pedants, with map and
rules and compasses, who sit in small rooms and write memoranda;
and there are some ignorant and not very active young
men, who loiter about the head-quarters halls' and strut up
the street with brass spurs on their heels and kepis raked over
their eyes as though they were soldiers, but I see no system
no order, no knowledge, no dash!

The worst-served English General has always a young fellow
or two about him who can fly across country, draw a
rough sketch map, ride like a fox-hunter, and find something
out about the enemy and their position, understand and convey
orders, and obey them. I look about for the types of these in
vain. McDowell can find out nothing about the enemy; he
has not a trustworthy map of the country; no knowledge of
their position, force, or numbers. All the people, he says, are
against the Government. Fairfax Court House was abandoned
as he approached, the enemy in their retreat being followed
by the inhabitants. "Where were the Confederate entrenchments?"
"Only in the imagination of those New York
newspapers; when they want to fill up a column they write a
full account of the enemy's fortifications. No one can contradict
them at the time, and it's a good joke when it's found out
to be a lie." Colonel Cullum went over the maps with me at
General Scott's, and spoke with some greater confidence of
McDowell's prospects of success. There is a considerable
force of Confederates at a place called Winchester, which is
connected with Manassas by rail, and this force could be
thrown on the right of the Federals as they advanced, but
that another corps, under Patterson, is in observation, with
orders to engage them if they attempt to move eastwards.

The batteries for which General McDowell was looking last
night have arrived, and were sent on this morning. One is
under Barry, of the United States regular artillery, whom I
met at Fort Pickens. The other is a volunteer battery. The

onward movement of the army has been productive of a great
improvement in the streets of Washington, which are no longer
crowded with turbulent and disorderly volunteers, or by
soldiers disgracing the name, who accost you in the by-ways
for money. There are comparatively few to-day; small shoals,
which have escaped the meshes of the net, are endeavoring to
make the most of their time before they cross the river to face
the enemy.

Still horse-hunting, but in vain—Gregson, Wroe—et hoc
genus omne. Nothing to sell except at unheard-of rates;
tripeds, and the like, much the worse for wear, and yet possessed
of some occult virtues, in right of which the owners
demanded egregious sums. Everywhere I am offered a gig or
a vehicle of some kind or another, as if the example of General
Scott had rendered such a mode of campaigning the correct
thing. I saw many officers driving over the Long Bridge
with large stores of provisions, either unable to procure horses
or satisfied that a wagon was the chariot of Mars. It is not
fair to ridicule either officers or men of this army, and if they
were not so inflated by a pestilent vanity, no one would dream
of doing so; but the excessive bragging and boasting in which
the volunteers and the press indulge really provoke criticism
and tax patience and forbearance overmuch. Even the regular
officers, who have some idea of military efficiency, rather
derived from education and foreign travels than from actual
experience, bristle up and talk proudly of the patriotism of the
army, and challenge the world to show such another, although
in their hearts, and more, with their lips, they own they do not
depend on them. The white heat of patriotism has cooled
down to a dull black; and I am told that the gallant volunteers,
who are to conquer the world when they "have got through
with their present little job," are counting up the days to the
end of their service, and openly declare they will not stay a
day longer. This is pleasant, inasmuch as the end of the term
of many of McDowell's, and most of Patterson's, three months'
men, is near at hand. They have been faring luxuriously at
the expense of the Government—they have had nothing to do
—they have had enormous pay—they knew nothing, and were
worthless as to soldiering when they were enrolled. Now,
having gained all these advantages, and being likely to be of
use for the first time, they very quietly declare they are going
to sit under their fig-trees, crowned with civic laurels and
myrtles, and all that sort of thing. But who dare say they are

not splendid fellows—full-blooded heroes, patriots, and warriors
—men before whose majestic presence all Europe pales and
faints away?

In the evening I received a message to say that the advance
of the army would take place to-morrow as soon as
General McDowell had satisfied himself by a reconnoissance
that he could carry out his plan of turning the right of the
enemy by passing Occaguna Creek. Along Pennsylvania
Avenue, along the various shops, hotels, and drinking-bars,
groups of people were collected, listening to the most exaggerated
accounts of desperate fighting and of the utter demoralization
of the rebels. I was rather amused by hearing
the florid accounts which were given in the hall of Willard's
by various inebriated officers, who were drawing upon their
imagination for their facts, knowing, as I did, that the entrenchments
at Fairfax had been abandoned without a shot on
the advance of the Federal troops. The New York papers
came in with glowing descriptions of the magnificent march
of the grand army of the Potomac, which was stated to consist
of upwards of 70,000 men; whereas I knew not half
that number were actually on the field. Multitudes of people
believe General Winfield Scott, who was now fast asleep in
his modest bed in Pennsylvania Avenue, is about to take the
field in person. The horse-dealers are still utterly impracticable.
A citizen who owned a dark bay, spavined and ring-boned,
asked me one thousand dollars for the right of possession.
I ventured to suggest that it was not worth the money.
"Well," said he, "take it or leave it. If you want to see
this fight, a thousand dollars is cheap. I guess there were
chaps paid more than that to see Jenny Lind on her first
night; and this battle is not going to be repeated, I can tell
you. The price of horses will rise when the chaps out there
have had themselves pretty well used up with bowie-knives
and six-shooters."

July 18th.—After breakfast. Leaving head-quarters, I
went across to General Mansfield's, and was going up-stairs,
when the General[1] himself, a white-headed, gray-bearded,
and rather soldierly-looking man, dashed out of his room in
some excitement, and exclaimed, "Mr. Russell, I fear there
is bad news from the front." "Are they fighting, General?"
"Yes, sir. That fellow Tyler has been engaged, and we are
whipped." Again I went off to the horse-dealer; but this

time the price of the steed had been raised to £220; "for,"
says he, "I don't want my animals to be ripped up by them
cannon and them musketry, and those who wish to be guilty
of such cruelty must pay for it." At the War-Office, at the
Department of State, at the Senate, and at the White House,
messengers and orderlies running in and out, military aides,
and civilians with anxious faces, betokened the activity and
perturbation which reigned within. I met Senator Sumner
radiant with joy. "We have obtained a great success; the
rebels are falling back in all directions. General Scott says
we ought to be in Richmond by Saturday night." Soon afterwards
a United States officer, who had visited me in company
with General Meigs, riding rapidly past, called out, "You
have heard we are whipped; these confounded volunteers
have ran away." I drove to the Capitol, where people said
one could actually see the smoke of the cannon; but, on arriving
there, it was evident that the fire from some burning
houses, and from wood cut down for cooking purposes, had
been mistaken for tokens of the fight.

It was strange to stand outside the walls of the Senate
whilst legislators were debating inside respecting the best
means of punishing the rebels and traitors; and to think
that, amidst the dim horizon of woods which bounded the
west towards the plains of Manassas, the army of the United
States was then contending, at least with doubtful fortune,
against the forces of the desperate and hopeless outlaws
whose fate these United States senators pretended to hold in
the hollow of their hands. Nor was it unworthy of note that
many of the tradespeople along Pennsylvania Avenue, and
the ladies whom one saw sauntering in the streets, were exchanging
significant nods and smiles, and rubbing their hands
with satisfaction. I entered one shop, where the proprietor
and his wife ran forward to meet me. "Have you heard the
news? Beauregard has knocked them into a cocked hat."
"Believe me," said the good lady, "it is the finger of the
Almighty is in it. Didn't he curse the niggers, and why
should he take their part now with these Yankee Abolitionists,
against true white men?" "But how do you know this?"
said I. "Why, it's all true enough, depend upon it, no matter
how we know it. We've got our underground railway as
well as the Abolitionists."

On my way to dinner at the Legation I met the President
crossing Pennsylvania Avenue, striding like a crane in a bulrush

swamp among the great blocks of marble, dressed in an
oddly cut suit of gray, with a felt hat on the back of his head,
wiping his face with a red pocket-handkerchief. He was evidently
in a hurry, on his way to the White House, where I
believe a telegraph has been established in communication
with McDowell's head-quarters. I may mention, by the by,
in illustration of the extreme ignorance and arrogance which
characterize the low Yankee, that a man in the uniform of a
colonel said to me to-day, as I was leaving the War Department,
"They have just got a telegraph from McDowell.
Would it not astonish you Britishers to hear that, as our
General moves on towards the enemy, he trails a telegraph
wire behind him, just to let them know in Washington which
foot he is putting first?" I was imprudent enough to say, "I
assure you the use of the telegraph is not such a novelty in
Europe or even in India. When Lord Clyde made his campaign,
the telegraph was laid in his track as fast as he advanced."
"Oh, well, come now," quoth the Colonel, "that's
pretty good, that is; I believe you'll say next, your General
Clyde and our Benjamin Franklin discovered lightning simultaneously."

The calm of a Legation contrasts wonderfully in troubled
times with the excitement and storm of the world outside.
M. Mercier perhaps is moved to a vivacious interest in events.
M. Stoeckl becomes more animated as the time approaches
when he sees the fulfilment of his prophecies at hand. M.
Tassara cannot be indifferent to occurrences which bear so directly
on the future of Spain in Western seas; but all these
diplomatists can discuss the most engrossing and portentous
incidents of political and military life, with a sense of calm
and indifference which was felt by the gentleman who resented
being called out of his sleep to get up out of a burning house
because he was only a lodger.

There is no Minister of the European Powers in Washington
who watches with so much interest the march of events
as Lord Lyons, or who feels as much sympathy perhaps in
the Federal Government as the constituted Executive of the
country to which he is accredited; but in virtue of his position
he knows little or nothing officially of what passes around
him, and may be regarded as a medium for the communication
of despatches to Mr. Seward, and for the discharge of a great
deal of most causeless and unmeaning vituperation from the
conductors of the New York press against England.

On my return to Captain Johnson's lodgings I received a
note from the head-quarters of the Federals, stating that the
serious action between the two armies would probably be
postponed for some days. McDowell's original idea was to
avoid forcing the enemy's position directly in front, which was
defended by movable batteries commanding the fords over a
stream called "Bull's Run." He therefore proposed to make
a demonstration on some point near the centre of their line,
and at the same time throw the mass of his force below their
extreme right, so as to turn it and get possession of the Manassas
Railway in their rear; a movement which would separate
him, by the by, from his own communications, and enable
any General worth his salt to make a magnificent counter
by marching on Washington, only 27 miles away, which he
could take with the greatest ease, and leave the enemy in the
rear to march 120 miles to Richmond, if they dared, or to
make a hasty retreat upon the higher Potomac, and to cross
into the hostile country of Maryland.

McDowell, however, has found the country on his left
densely wooded and difficult. It is as new to him as it was
to Braddock, when he cut his weary way through forest and
swamp in this very district to reach, hundreds of miles away,
the seene of his fatal repulse at Fort Du Quesne. And so,
having moved his whole army, McDowell finds himself obliged
to form a new plan of attack, and, prudently fearful of pushing
his underdone and over-praised levies into a river in face of
an enemy, is endeavoring to ascertain with what chance of
success he can attack and turn their left.

Whilst he was engaged in a reconnoissance to-day, General
Tyler did one of those things which must be expected from
ambitious officers, without any fear of punishment, in countries
where military discipline is scarcely known. Ordered to reconnoitre
the position of the enemy on the left front, when the
army moved from Fairfax to Centreville this morning, General
Tyler thrust forward some 3000 or 4000 men of his division
down to the very banks of "Bull's Run," which was
said to be thickly wooded, and there brought up his men under
a heavy fire of artillery and musketry, from which they retired
in confusion.

The papers from New York to-night are more than usually
impudent and amusing. The retreat of the Confederate outposts
from Fairfax Court House is represented as a most extraordinary
success; at best it was an affair of outposts; but

one would really think that it was a victory of no small magnitude.
I learn that the Federal troops behaved in a most
ruffianly and lawless manner at Fairfax Court House. It is
but a bad beginning of a campaign for the restoration of the
Union, to rob, burn, and destroy the property and houses of
the people in the State of Virginia. The enemy are described
as running in all directions, but it is evident they did not intend
to defend the advanced works, which were merely constructed
to prevent surprise or cavalry inroads.

I went to Willard's, where the news of the battle, as it was
called, was eagerly discussed. One little man in front of the
cigar-stand declared it was all an affair of cavalry. "But
how could that be among the piney woods and with a river in
front, major?" "Our boys, sir, left their horses, crossed the
water at a run, and went right away through them with their
swords and six-shooters." "I tell you what it is, Mr. Russell,"
said a man who followed me out of the crowd and placed his
hand on my shoulder, "they were whipped like curs, and they
ran like curs, and I know it." "How?" "Well, I'd rather
be excused telling you."

July 19th.—I rose early this morning in order to prepare
for contingencies and to see off Captain Johnson, who was
about to start with despatches for New York, containing, no
doubt, the intelligence that the Federal troops had advanced
against the enemy. Yesterday was so hot that officers and
men on the field suffered from something like sun-stroke. To
unaccustomed frames to-day the heat felt unsupportable. A
troop of regular cavalry, riding through the street at an early
hour, were so exhausted, horse and man, that a runaway cab
could have bowled them over like ninepins.

I hastened to General Scott's quarters, which were besieged
by civilians outside and full of orderlies and officers within.
Mr. Cobden would be delighted with the republican simplicity
of the Commander-in-Chief's establishment, though it did not
strike me as being very cheap at the money on such an occasion.
It consists, in fact, of a small three-storied brick house,
the parlors on the ground floor being occupied by subordinates,
the small front room on the first floor being appropriated
to General Scott himself, the smaller back-room being
devoted to his staff, and two rooms up-stairs most probably
being in possession of waste papers and the guardians of the
mansion. The walls are covered with maps of the coarsest
description, and with rough plans and drawings, which afford

information and amusement to the orderlies and the stray
aide-de-camps. "Did you ever hear anything so disgraceful
in your life as the stories which are going about of the affair
yesterday?" said Colonel Cullum. "I assure you it was the
smallest affair possible, although the story goes that we have
lost thousands of men. Our total loss is under ninety—
killed, wounded, and missing; and I regret to say nearly one
third of the whole are under the latter head." "However
that may be, Colonel," said I, it will be difficult to believe
your statement after the columns of type which appear in the
papers here." "Oh! Who minds what they say?" "You
will admit, at any rate, that the retreat of these undisciplined
troops from an encounter with the enemy will have a bad effect."
"Well, I suppose that's likely enough, but it will soon
be swept away in the excitement of a general advance. General
Scott, having determined to attack the enemy, will not
halt now, and I am going over to Brigadier McDowell to examine
the ground and see what is best to be done." On
leaving the room two officers came out of General Scott's
apartment; one of them said, "Why, Colonel, he's not half
the man I thought him. Well, any way he'll be better there
than McDowell. If old Scott had legs he's good for a big
thing yet."

For hours I went horse-hunting; but Rothschild himself,
even the hunting Baron, could not have got a steed. In
Pennsylvania Avenue the people were standing in the shade
under the ælanthus trees, speculating on the news brought by
dusty orderlies, or on the ideas of passing congressmen. A
party of captured Confederates, on their march to General
Mansfield's quarters, created intense interest, and I followed
them to the house, and went up to see the General, whilst the
prisoners sat down on the pavement and steps outside. Notwithstanding
his affectation of calm, and self-possession, General
Mansfield, who was charged with the defence of the town,
was visibly perturbed. "These things, sir," said he, "happen
in Europe, too. If the capital should fall into the hands of
the rebels, the United States will be no more destroyed than
they were when you burned it." From an expression he let
fall, I inferred he did not very well know what to do with his
prisoners. "Rebels taken in arms in Europe are generally
hung or blown away from guns, I believe; but we are more
merciful." General Mansfield evidently wished to be spared
the embarrassment of dealing with prisoners.

I dined at a restaurant kept by one Boulanger, a Frenchman,
who utilized the swarms of flies infesting his premises by
combining masses of them with his soup and made dishes.
At an adjoining table were a lanky boy in a lieutenant's uniform,
a private soldier, and a man in plain clothes; and for the
edification of the two latter the warrior youth was detailing
the most remarkable stories in the Munchausen style, ear ever
heard. "Well, sir, I tell you, when his head fell off on the
ground, his eyes shut and opened twice, and his tongue came
out with an expression as if he wanted to say something."
"There were seven balls through my coat, and it was all so
spiled with blood and powder, I took it off and threw it in the
road. When the boys were burying the dead, I saw this coat
on a chap who had been just smothered by the weight of the
killed and wounded on the top of him, and I says, 'Boys, give
me that coat; it will just do for me with the same rank; and
there is no use in putting good cloth on a dead body.'" "And
how many do you suppose was killed, Lieutenant?" "Well,
sir, it's my honest belief, I tell you, that there was not less
than 5000 of our boys, and it may be twice as many of the
enemy, or more; they were all shot down just like pigeons;
you might walk for five rods by the side of the Run, and not
be able to put your foot on the ground." "The dead was that
thick?" "No, but the dead and the wounded together." No
incredulity in the hearers—all swallowed: possibly disgorged
into the note-book of a Washington contributor.

After dinner I walked over with Lieutenant H. Wise, inspected
a model of Stevens's ram, which appears to me an
utter impossibility in face of the iron-clad embrasured fleet
now coming up to view, though it is spoken of highly by
some naval officers and by many politicians. For years their
papers have been indulging in mysterious volcanic puffs from
the great centre of nothingness as to this secret and tremendous
war-engine, which was surrounded by walls of all kinds,
and only to be let out on the world when the Great Republic
in its might had resolved to sweep everything off the seas.
And lo! it is an abortive ram! Los Gringos went home, and
I paid a visit to a family whose daughters—bright-eyed,
pretty, and clever—were seated out on the door-steps amid
the lightning flashes, one of them, at least, dreaming with
open eyes of a young artillery-officer then sleeping among his
guns, probably, in front of Fairfax Court House.