CHAPTER LVII
THE BATTLE OF CHANTILLY
Having safely withdrawn his division from the disastrous field, crossing Bull Run by Red House Ford, General Stevens conducted it to the main turnpike, now brimful with retreating troops. It was night, too, and quite dark. Unwilling to plunge his command into the crowded throng, he halted and allowed them to sleep on their arms by the roadside, while the dense, dark tide of troops, trains, and artillery flowed past all night. After daylight he resumed the march by the pike, now clear, and halted for breakfast in the fields a mile from Centreville. The men were ravenously hungry, having long since emptied their haversacks; the supply trains were in the rear, no one knew where, so that a drink of water and a tightened belt seemed destined to be the only breakfast. But General Stevens, having observed a small herd of cattle near by belonging to some commissary, had them driven up and slaughtered; some wagons loaded with hard bread were also seized, and soon the entire command were cooking and enjoying a hearty repast of beefsteak and hard tack.
General Stevens now received orders from General Pope to act as rear-guard. Reno’s division (that officer being ill and off duty), a brigade of cavalry, and two batteries were added to his command for that duty, the most important and responsible in the army at this juncture. He moved out and took position on Cub Run, two and a half miles in front of Centreville, throwing out a strong skirmish line beyond the creek, and disposing his batteries and troops to resist an attack. Contrary to expectation, the enemy did not press on after his victory, although he appeared in force, advanced his skirmish line in plain view, and opened briskly with his artillery, to which ours as briskly replied. The day was wet, drizzling, and dreary, but at last wore away with nothing more serious.
At night General Reynolds and his division relieved General Stevens. He criticised some of the latter’s dispositions, which called out a sharp rejoinder. He declared that the enemy’s skirmishers were too close, and deployed a regiment to drive them back, but his men, to his intense chagrin, hung back. Then he said the enemy might attack at any moment. But General Stevens did not share his apprehensions, and remarked to him, “I think it most probable that the enemy will move around and strike us under the ribs.”
After being relieved, the division moved to Centreville, and bivouacked on the heights half a mile south of the hamlet. The following morning, Monday, September 1, the officers straightened out their commands and took account of their losses; rations and ammunition were brought up and issued; and all hoped for at least one day of much needed rest. Captain Stevens, by direction of the general, counted the stacks of muskets, and found the latter to number 2012. Half of the division had fallen in battle, or on the march, since leaving Fredericksburg a fortnight before.
Lieutenant S.N. Benjamin, a very brave and intelligent young officer, whom General Stevens treated with great kindness and consideration during the campaign, relates that about noon the general came to his battery,—
“and came where I was sitting. (My crutches had been broken, and I could not rise without help.) I soon saw that he felt very blue,—that he felt the defeat very keenly, and feared its effect on the men. I tried to assure him that his own command felt more devoted to him than ever, and if possible more faith in his skill than before. And this was God’s truth,—they did, and he had earned it.
“Still he felt very blue. I asked him if he would write to his wife. ‘Yes; but there is no way to send a letter in. I am anxious to send word.’ ‘Well, general, you write, and I will send it by some Christian or Sanitary man. We have just sent letters, and I will have a man watch the turnpike until some one will take it.’
“He seemed much pleased with this. I brought him the envelope, etc., and he wrote on a book, sitting on the ground. Before he had finished, the order came to move. He closed it hastily, after giving some orders, gave it to me, and went to his headquarters. The letter was given to a gentleman going to Washington with a wounded man.”