Last month we examined the First Battle of Bull Run from the point of view of five Federal officers who commanded brigades in the first major battle of the Civil War. In this article we will review the writings of four Confederate officers and learn what they have to tell us about the battle they named Manassas. The Confederates won the day and remained on the field. They were not tested in a large-scale retreat, as were the Federals, who suffered a dramatic breakdown of discipline in their panicky flight. Still, the Confederate officers’ memoirs make it plain that the Southern army was far from mature as an instrument of war. The men were neither toughened for long marches nor hardened to the demands of battle, and their officers were not yet efficient at moving and fighting the men. Our first witness is E. Porter Alexander, Beauregard’s engineer and signal officer. Assigned to this position in the first days of July, he recounts in his memoirs that “my first duty was to organize & instruct a signal corps & my second to study the topography of our probable field of action.” His account paints a clear picture of the terrain, the position of the armies and the distances between key points. “The creek would average perhaps 30 feet in width & with alternate deep & shallow places. Infantry could find places to cross in almost any locality & there GEORGIA’S CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS In Honor of a Fallen Nation Gould B. Hagler, Jr. This uni photogra memorial transcri upon the informat and the them. Th eloquent nation’s soldiers pay homa they fou
were several farm fords & roads along the line.” He provides a map showing these features, plus the railroads, other battlefield landmarks, and the tributar creeks. The map also shows his main signal station behind the right end of the Confederate line from which he observed early in the day, “the reflection of the sun from a brass cannon” and “the glitter of bayonets all along the road,” as Federal troops beyond the creek moved in force toward the left of the Confederate line. Alexander also discusses some of the principles of military sci ence illustrated by the battle fought on this terrain—concentration of “all your force agains fractions of the enemy’s,” the use of interior lines of communication, and unity of command. Concerning this last principle, h writes: “ the fault on both sides lay I think in each not having one commander in chief over both its armies, with authority & power to handle both as one without waiting to explain to, or convince, any body. Both of us learned better than that before t war was over.” There were other lessons to be learned also. As to our ‘line of battle’ along Bull Run, it was never put to the test of an attac in front, but judged by experienc acquired later it was not particularly a good one, & we did little or nothing to strengthen it. Later in the war we would have
ue work contains a complete hic record of Georgia’s to the Confederacy, a full tion of the words engraved , and carefully-researched on about the monuments rganizations which built se works of art and their inscriptions express a profound grief, praise the bravery and patriotism, and e to the cause for which ht.
straightened & shortened it, & had more & better roads behind it parallel to its direction, & w
would have had rifle pits at important points & a few empandements for guns. We turn next to the account penned by Joseph E. Johnston, who transferred his army from the Shenandoah Valley to join Beauregard’s on the Manassas battlefield. At noon on July 18, eleven hours after he was notifie that Beauregard was under attack, Johnston started his troops on the 60-mile trek to Manassas. “The discouragement of that day’s march to one accustomed, like myself, to the steady gait of regular soldiers, is indescrib able,” he writes. The new and inadequately trained troops’ “fre quent and unreasonable delays caused so slow a rate of marching as to make me despair of joining General Beauregard in time to aid him.” Johnston was able to arrange for some of his troops to board trains for part of the trip and, tells us, he joined Beauregard at noon on the 20th, accompanied by just 40% of his force. At that point the Confederates’ plan was to cross Bull Run on the lower fords and attack toward Centreville on the Federal left. The pla was quickly altered, as Johnston tells us: “At nine o’clock, Captain Alexander…reported that large bodies of Federal troops could be seen from one of his signal-stations, crossing the valley of Bul Run, about two miles above our extreme left.” Recognizing immediately the need to transfer men to face the attack on the left, Johnston issu the necessary orders, then “set
al Johnston at this critical tim His memoirs describe the status
of the battle as he and Johnston conferred. “Affairs now wore a very
gloomy aspect, and from all indications in the rear the day ap
peared to be going against us.” While Early and Johnston were talking “quite a squad of men ap proached us going to the rear.” Directed by Johnston to have his men drive the shirkers back to the battle with bayonets, Early gave the order to one of his reg imental commanders. He quickly changed his mind. “I directed Colonel Kemper to move on and not delay battling with such cowards.” A “very gloomy aspect” indeed. For the climax of the battle a the Federal retreat we remain with Early. “I immediately ordered my
command forward and it advanced to the crest of the hill…. On reaching the crest we came in view of the Warrenton Pike and the plains beyond, and now saw the enemy’s troops in full retreat across and beyond the pike.” James Longstreet’s brigade remained on the Confederate right and did not take part in the fierc fighting on the left. Late in the day he received a message from Johnston revoking authority to cross the run at Blackburn’s Ford, which had been granted earlier. The message said that, the Federals were pressing severely on our
that [Federal] reinforcements were in sight, approaching from
too heavy for our brave men, and force us back, for which emergen-
cy our brigades should be held ready to cover retreat.
Even at this late hour, with th Federals racing north, there was still uncertainty in some quarters When Longstreet crossed to the north bank of the creek to join th pursuit (the sixth time his brigad crossed, he tells us), he was preparing to unleash artillery on the fleeing Northerners. As the guns were about to open, there came a message that the enemy, instead of being in precipitate retreat, was marching around to attack the Confederate right. With this report came orders, or reports of orders, for the brigades to return to their positions behind the run. Longstreet describes the scene:
“Through the abandoned camps of the Federals we found their pots and kettles over the fire, wi food cooking; quarters of beef hanging on the trees, and wagons by the roadside loaded, some with bread and general provisions, others with ammunition.” A Federal attack? Nonsense, Longstreet said. “I denounced the report as absurd, claimed to know a retreat, such as was before me, and ordered that the batteries open fire.” But an officer senior to Longstreet “asked that the batteries should not open. As the ranking officer present, this
Early’s memoirs conjure a vivid image of the aftermath of
it on July 22. “The country in the rear of the enemy’s line of battle
of the day before, and along his routes of retreat was strewn with
knapsacks, haversacks, canteens, blankets, overcoats, india rubber cloths, muskets, equipments [sic], and all the debris of a rou army.” Alexander’s account includes two interesting anecdotes. The first pertains to a fact about the battle we all learned as schoolchildren. Some denizens of Washington City came in their carriages to view the battle. One man, a congressman, was captured in the chaotic flight by a sergeant-major and taken to a Colonel Cash, who was infuriated by this man who considered the deadly battle to be a spectato sport. Alexander quotes the hotheaded colonel: “You infernal s. of a b.! You came to see the fun did you? God damn your dirty soul I’ll show you.” Cash maneu-
vered his horse to get around the sergeant-major so he could shoot the terrified congressman. “God Civil War Ephem Documents, projectiles. All us at these locations at: Springfield Ohio, Exit 76 Indiana, Centerville Anti and all major Civil War S have many unusual and aff
damn him! Came out to see the fun! Came to see us whipped & killed! God damn him!” Alexander saved the man from the irate colonel. He was made a prisoner and was soon exchanged. Surely this man never again thought it would be fun to watch a battle as sport. After t carnage at Manassas, no one did. The second anecdote is a sad one. The home of Judith Carter Henry, made famous by the battle, stood in the center of t maelstrom, and in this house Mrs Henry died. Alexander describes the post-battle scene. “The body
bed ridden, lay in her bed struc by one cannon ball & about three
dled from every direction.” This civilian spectator was, unlike t
congressman, not on the battlefield by choice, and, unlike the congressman, she could not be rescued by Captain Alexander.
• Jubal A. Early, Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early, Confederate States of America, Kindle Edition 2012, originally published in 1912. • Gary W. Gallagher, Ed., Fighting for the Confederacy: The Personal Recollections of Edward Porter Alexander, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1989. • Joseph E. Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations During the Civil War, New York, Da Capo Press, 1959, reprint of original published in 1874. • James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox,
Kindle Edition 2012, original published in 1896.
rency, Bonds, l, and Artillery lly guaranteed. Visit f Ohio Antique Mall Mall Edinburg Centerville Indiana, oss our country. We
Gould Hagler is a retir byist living in Dunwoody, is a past president of th War Round Table of Atlant is the author of Georgia’ federate Monuments: In Ho of a Fallen Nation, publi Mercer University Press i He speaks frequently on t and others related to dif pects of the Civil War an been a regular contributo CWN since 2016.
Longstreet’s Corps, in July and August, 1864.