Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War
Confederate left by way of Sudley Springs.
The Federal army consisted of five divisions of infantry, forty-three
guns, and seven troops of regular cavalry. Nine batteries and eight
companies of infantry were supplied by the United States army, and
there was a small battalion of marines. The strength of the force told
off for the attack amounted to 30,000 all told.[4]
The Confederates, along the banks of Bull Run, disposed of 26,000
infantry, 2,500 cavalry, and 55 guns. Johnston, who had arrived on the
20th, had assumed command; but, ignorant of the country, he had allowed
Beauregard to make the dispositions for the expected battle. The line
occupied was extensive, six miles in length, stretching from the Stone
Bridge, where the Warrenton highroad crosses Bull Run, on the left, to
the ford at
Union Mills on the right. Besides these two points of passage there
were no less than six fords, to each of which ran a road from
Centreville. The country to the north was undulating and densely
wooded, and it would have been possible for the Federals, especially as
the Southern cavalry was held back south of the stream, to mass before
any one of the fords, unobserved, in superior numbers. Several of the
fords, moreover, were weakly guarded, for Beauregard, who had made up
his mind to attack, had massed the greater part of his army near the
railroad. The Shenandoah troops were in reserve; Bee’s and Bartow’s
brigades between McLean’s and Blackburn’s fords, Jackson’s between
Blackburn’s and Mitchell’s fords, in rear of the right centre.
The position south of Bull Run, originally selected by General Lee,[5]
was better adapted for defence than for attack. The stream, with its
high banks, ran like the ditch of a fortress along the front; and to
the south was the plateau on which stands Manassas Junction. The
plateau is intersected by several creeks, running through deep
depressions, and dividing the high ground into a series of bold
undulations, level on the top, and with gentle slopes. The most
important of the creeks is Young’s Branch, surrounding on two sides the
commanding eminence crowned by the Henry House, and joining Bull Run a
short distance below the Stone Bridge. That part of the field which
borders on Flat Run, and lies immediately north of Manassas Junction,
is generally thickly wooded; but shortly after passing New Market, the
Manassas-Sudley road, running north-west, emerges into more open
country, and, from the Henry House onward, passes over several parallel
ridges, deep in grass and corn, and studded between with groves of oak
and pine. Here the large fields, without hedges, and scantily fenced,
formed an admirable manœuvre ground; the wide depressions of the
creeks, separating the crests of the ridges by a space of fifteen or
sixteen hundred yards, gave free play to the artillery; the long easy
slopes could be swept by fire, and the groves were no obstruction to
the view.
The left flank of the Confederate position, facing north, on either
side of the Manassas-Sudley road, was thus an ideal battle-field.
July 21, 6.30 a.m. Sunday morning, the 21st of July, broke clear and
warm. Through a miscarriage of orders, the Confederate offensive
movement was delayed; and soon after six o’clock the Federals opened
with musketry and artillery against the small brigade commanded by
Colonel Evans, which held the Stone Bridge on the extreme left of the
Confederate line. An hour later the Shenandoah brigades, Bee’s,
Bartow’s, and Jackson’s, together with Bonham’s, were ordered up in
support.
8.30 a.m. The attack was feebly pressed, and at 8.30 Evans, observing a
heavy cloud of dust rising above the woods to the north of the
Warrenton road, became satisfied that the movement to his front was but
a feint, and that a column of the enemy was meanwhile marching to turn
his flank by way of Sudley Springs, about two miles north-west.
9 a.m. Sending back this information to the next brigade, he left four
companies to hold the bridge; and with six companies of riflemen, a
battalion called the Louisiana Tigers, and two six-pounder howitzers,
he moved across Young’s Branch, and took post on the Matthews Hill, a
long ridge, which, at the same elevation, faces the Henry Hill.
Evans’ soldierly instinct had penetrated the design of the Federal
commander, and his ready assumption of responsibility threw a strong
force across the path of the turning column, and gave time for his
superiors to alter their dispositions and bring up the reserves.
The Federal force opposite the Stone Bridge consisted of a whole
division; and its commander, General Tyler, had been instructed to
divert attention, by means of a vigorous demonstration, from the march
of Hunter’s and Heintzleman’s divisions to a ford near Sudley Springs.
Part of the Fifth Division was retained in reserve at Centreville, and
part threatened the fords over Bull Run below the Stone Bridge. The
Fourth Division had been left upon the railroad, seven miles in rear of
Centreville, in order to guard the communications with Washington.
Already, in forming the line of march, there had been much confusion.
The divisions had bivouacked in loose order, without any regard for the
morrow’s movements, and their concentration previous to the advance was
very tedious. The brigades crossed each other’s route; the march was
slow; and the turning column, blocked by Tyler’s division on its way to
the Stone Bridge, was delayed for nearly three hours.
9.30 a.m. At last, however, Hunter and Heintzleman crossed Sudley Ford;
and after marching a mile in the direction of Manassas Junction, the
leading brigade struck Evans’ riflemen. The Confederates were concealed
by a fringe of woods, and the Federals were twice repulsed. But
supports came crowding up, and Evans sent back for reinforcements. The
fight had lasted for an hour. It was near eleven o’clock, and the check
to the enemy’s advance had given time for the Confederates to form a
line of battle on the Henry Hill. Bee and Bartow, accompanied by
Imboden’s battery, were in position; Hampton’s Legion, a regiment
raised and commanded by an officer who was one of the wealthiest
planters in South Carolina, and who became one of the finest soldiers
in the Confederacy, was not far behind; and Jackson was coming up.[6]
Again the situation was saved by the prompt initiative of a brigade
commander. Bee had been ordered to support the troops at the Stone
Bridge. Moving forward towards the Henry Hill, he had been informed by
a mounted orderly that the whole Federal army seemed to be moving to
the north-west. A signal officer on the plateau who had caught the
glint of the brass field-pieces which accompanied the hostile column,
still several miles distant, had sent the message. Bee waited for no
further instructions. Ordering Bartow to follow, he climbed the Henry
Hill. The wide and beautiful landscape lay spread before him; Evans’
small command was nearly a mile distant, on the Matthews
Hill; and on the ridges to the far north-west he saw the glitter of
many bayonets.
11 a.m. Rapidly placing his battery in position near the Henry House,
Bee formed a line of battle on the crest above Young’s Branch; but very
shortly afterwards, acceding to an appeal for help from Evans, he
hurried his troops forward to the Matthews Hill. His new position
protected the rear of the companies which held the Stone Bridge; and so
long as the bridge was held the two wings of the Federal army were
unable to co-operate. But on the Matthews Hill, the enemy’s strength,
especially in artillery, was overwhelming; and the Confederates were
soon compelled to fall back to the Henry Hill. McDowell had already
sent word to Tyler to force the Stone Bridge; and Sherman’s brigade of
this division, passing the stream by a ford, threatened the flank of
Bee and Evans as they retreated across Young’s Branch.
The Federals now swarmed over the Matthews Hill; but Imboden’s battery,
which Bee had again posted on the Henry Hill, and Hampton’s Legion,
occupying the Robinson House, a wooden tenement on the open spur which
projects towards the Stone Bridge, covered the retirement of the
discomfited brigades. They were not, however, suffered to fall back
unharassed.
A long line of guns, following fast upon their tracks, and crossing the
fields at a gallop, came into action on the opposite slope. In vain
Imboden’s gunners, with their pieces well placed behind a swell of
ground, strove to divert their attention from the retreating infantry,
now climbing the slopes of the Henry Hill. The Federal batteries,
powerful in numbers, in discipline, and in materiel, plied their fire
fast. The shells fell in quick succession amongst the disordered ranks
of the Southern regiments, and not all the efforts of their officers
could stay their flight.
The day seemed lost. Strong masses of Northern infantry were moving
forward past the Stone House on the Warrenton turnpike. Hampton’s
Legion was retiring on the right. Imboden’s battery, with but three
rounds remaining for each piece, galloped back across the Henry Hill,
and
this commanding height, the key of the battle-ground, was abandoned to
the enemy. But help was at hand. Jackson, like Bee and Bartow, had been
ordered to the Stone Bridge. Hearing the heavy fire to his left
increasing in intensity, he had turned the head of his column towards
the most pressing danger, and had sent a messenger to Bee to announce
his coming. As he pushed rapidly forward, part of the troops he
intended to support swept by in disorder to the rear. Imboden’s battery
came dashing back, and that officer, meeting Jackson, expressed with a
profanity which was evidently displeasing to the general his disgust at
being left without support. “I’ll support your battery,” was the brief
reply; “unlimber right here.”
11.30 a.m. At this moment appeared General Bee, approaching at full
gallop, and he and Jackson met face to face. The latter was cool and
composed; Bee covered with dust and sweat, his sword in his hand, and
his horse foaming. “General,” he said, “they are beating us back!”
“Then, sir, we will give them the bayonet;” the thin lips closed like a
vice, and the First Brigade, pressing up the slope, formed into line on
the eastern edge of the Henry Hill.
Jackson’s determined bearing inspired Bee with renewed confidence. He
turned bridle and galloped back to the ravine where his officers were
attempting to reform their broken companies. Riding into the midst of
the throng, he pointed with his sword to the Virginia regiments,
deployed in well-ordered array on the height above. “Look!” he shouted,
“there is Jackson standing like a stone wall! Rally behind the
Virginians!” The men took up the cry; and the happy augury of the
expression, applied at a time when defeat seemed imminent and hearts
were failing, was remembered when the danger had passed away.
The position which Jackson had occupied was the strongest that could be
found. He had not gone forward to the crest which looks down upon
Young’s Branch, and commands the slopes by which the Federals were
advancing. From that crest extended a wide view, and a wide field of
fire; but both flanks would have been exposed. The
Henry House was nothing more than a cottage; neither here nor elsewhere
was there shelter for his riflemen, and they would have been exposed to
the full force of the Federal artillery without power of reply. But on
the eastern edge of the hill, where he had chosen to deploy, ran a belt
of young pines, affording excellent cover, which merged into a dense
oak wood near the Sudley road.
Along the edge of the pines Jackson placed his regiments, with six guns