RAID UPON A UNION BAGGAGE-TRAIN BY STUART’S CAVALRY.
JACKSON’S TROOPS PILLAGING THE UNION DEPOT OP SUPPLIES AT MANASSAS JUNCTION.
The results of Jackson’s raid on Manassas Junction included tile capture of eight pieces of artillery, more than 300 prisoners, 175 horses, 200 new tents, 50,000 pounds of bacon, 1000 barrels of corned beef, 2000 barrels of salt pork, and 2000 barrels of ilour.
the Warrenton pike, along which it was supposed he would march, was in view — but it was as free from Federal soldiery as it had been two days before, when Jackson’s men had streamed along its highway. . . . Late in the afternoon, the Federal columns were discovered passing, and the Confederate line, formed parallel to the turnpike, moved rapidly forward to the attack. There was no disposition on the part of the Federáis to avoid the onset, but, on the contrary, they met us half-way.
It was a sanguinary field; none was better contested during the war. The Federal artillery was admirably served, and at one time the annihilation of our batteries seemed inevitable, so destructive was the fire ; but the Confederate guns, although forced to retire and seek new positions, responded with a determination and pluck unshaken by the fiery tempest they had encountered. . . .
During our engagement at Groveton the white puffs in the air, seen away off to the Confederate right, and the sounds of sharp but distant explosions coming to our ears, foretold the passage of Thoroughfare Gap; and the next day, before noon, Longstreet’s advance, under Hood, mingled their hurrahs with those of our men. The march and the manoeuvers of Jackson had been a success; the army was reunited, and ready, under its great head, to strike with both of its strong arms the blows he should direct.
ordered to Centreville, Ewell to cross Bull Bun at Blackburn’s Ford and follow the stream to the stone bridge, and my division by the Sudley road, to the left of the other routes, to the vicinity of Sudley Mills, north of the Warrenton pike, where the whole command was to be concentrated. The immense accumulation of stores and the captured trains were set on fire about midnight and destroyed, and at night the troops took up their march, Jackson accompanying his old division then under my command. The night was starlit but moonless, and a slight mist or haze which settled about the earth made it difficult to distinguish objects at any distance. Still, little encumbered by baggage, and with roads free from the blockade of trains, the march was made without serious impediment or difficulty. The enemy was again deceived. A. P. Hill’s march to Centreville was mistaken for that of the whole command; Jackson was supposed to be between Bull Bun and Washington ; and now, instead of a regiment, the whole Federal army was ordered to concentrate on Manassas for the pursuit. . . .
The two divisions, after marching some distance to the north of the turnpike, finding no enemy, were halted and rested, and the prospect of an engagement on that afternoon [the 28th] seemed to disappear with the lengthening shadows. The enemy did not come — he could not be found —
House on the turnpike and Burke’s Station on the railroad. The long march of over fifty-six miles in two days entitled Jackson’s men to a holiday, and the day of rest at Manassas Junction was fully enjoyed. There was no lack or stint of good cheer, in the way of edibles, from canned meats to caramels.
Stonewall Jackson had now severed the communications of the enemy, broken down the bridges behind them, and destroyed their enormous reserve supplies. . . . His march had been made with such celerity, his flanks guarded with such consummate skill, that he was in n o hurry to execute those tactical movements which he recognized as essential to his safety and to the delivery of his heaviest blows. On one flank, Fitz Lee was as near to Alexandria as to Manassas Junction; and, on the other, Munford and Bosser were in advance of Bristoe. Jackson was resting — as a man full of life and vigor, ready to start into action at the first touch—■but he rested in the consciousness of security. The Federal commander, around whose flank and rear fourteen brigades of infantry, two of cavalry, and eighteen light batteries had passed, was also resting — but in profound ignorance. On the 26th he ordered Heintzelman ‘1 to send a regiment” from Warrenton to Manassas, “to repair the wires and protect the railroad.” Aroused, however, on the evening of the 27th, to some appreciation of the condition of affairs, he sent one division (Hooker’s) of Heintzelman’s corps to Bristoe, which attacked the brigades of Lawton, Early, and Forno (Hays’s) of Ewell’s division, who successively retired, as they had been directed to do, with little loss, upon the main body at Manassas Junction.
At his leisure, Jackson now proceeded to execute his projected movements. A. P. Hill was
wounded, the immense stores, eight guns, and three hundred prisoners fell into our hands.* Early next morning A. P. Hill’s division and mine were moved to the Junction, Ewell’s remaining at Bristoe.
Our troops at Manassas had barely been placed in position before a gallant effort was made by General Taylor, with a New Jersey brigade, to drive off the supposed raiding party and recapture the stores; but, rushing upon overwhelming numbers, he lost his own life, two hundred prisoners, and the train that had transported them from Alexandria. The railroad bridge over Bull Bun was destroyed, severing communication with Alexandria, the roads were picketed, and Fitz Lee’s cavalry pushed forward as far as Fairfax Court
* Note. — What a prize It was! Here were long warehouses full of stores; cars loaded with boxes of new clothing en route to General Pope, but destined to adorn the “ backs of his enemies ” ; camps, sutlers’shops—“no eating up ” of good things. In view of the abundance, it was not an easy matter to determine what we should eat and drink and wherewithal we should be clothed; one was limited in his choice to only so much as he could personally transport, and the one thing needful in each individual case was not always readily found. However, as the day wore on, an equitable distribution of our wealth was effected by barter, upon a crude and irregular tariff in which the rule of supply and demand was somewhat complicated by fluctuating estimates of the imminence of marching orders. A mounted man would offer large odds in shirts or blankets for a pair of spurs or a■ bridle; and while in anxious quest of a pair of shoes I fell heirto a case of cavalry half-boots, which I would gladly have exchanged for the object of my search. For a change of underclothing and a pot of French mustard I owe grateful thanks to the major of the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry, with regrets that I could not use his library. Whisky was, of course, at a high premium, but akeg of “lager” —adrinkless popular then than now— went begging in our company.—From a Confederate private's account of the capture of Manassas.