DEFEAT OF THE FEDERAL TROOPS BY LONGSTREET’S CORPS, SECOND MANASSAS.
Longstreet received a request from Jackson for reinforcements, and about the same time an order from General Lee to the same effect. Longstreet quickly ordered out three batteries. Lieutenant Chapman’s Dixie Battery of four guns was the first to report, and was placed in position to rake the Federal ranks. In a moment a heavy fire of shot and shell was poured into the thick columns of the Federals, and in ten minutes their stubborn masses began to waver. For a moment there was chaos; then there was order, and they reformed to renew the attack. Meanwhile, Longstreet’s other eight pieces had begun deadly work. The Federal ranks broke again and again, only to be reformed with dogged determination.
A third time the Longstreet batteries tore the Federals to pieces, and as they fell back under this terrible fire Longstreet’s troops leaped forward with the famous rebel yell. They pressed onward until, at ten o’clock at night, they had the field. Pope was across Bull Run and the victorious Confederates lay down to sleep on the battle-ground, while around them thousands of friend and foe slept the last sleep together.
The next morning the Federals were in a strong position at Centerville. Longstreet sent a brigade across Bull Run under General Pryor to occupy a point near Centerville. General Lee ordered Jackson to cross Bull Run near Sudley’s and turn the position of the Federals occupying Centerville. On the next day (September 1) Longstreet followed, but the Federals discovered the move, abandoned Centerville, and started towards Washington. On that evening a part of the Federal force at Ox Hill encountered Jackson and gave him a sharp fight. Longstreet went to Jackson’s rescue.
With the coming darkness it was difficult to distinguish between the scattered ranks of the opposing armies. General Philip Kearny, a magnificent Federal officer, rode hastily up looking for the broken lines of his command. At first he did not know that he was in the Confederate line, and the Confederates did not notice that he was a Federal. He began quietly to inquire about some command, and was soon recognized. He was called upon to surrender, but instead of doing so he wheeled his horse, pressed spurs to his sides, lay flat on the animal’s neck, and dashed away like the wind. A dozen shots rang out, and in less time than it takes to tell the story the heroic Kearny fell dead. He had been in the army all his life; the Confederate generals who had formerly been in the Union army knew him; Longstreet loved him well; General A. P. Hill, who was standing by, said, sorrowfully, “Poor Kearny! he deserved a better death than this.” The next day his body was sent over the lines with a flag of truce and a note from General Lee referring tenderly to the manner in which he had met his death. The Federal forces which had been fighting the Ox Hill battle proved to be the rear guard covering the retreat of the Federals into Washington.
THE INVASION OF MARYLAND AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM
General Longstreet always thought that the division of the Confederate army after they moved into Maryland proved their downfall. This, however, is not a part of my story.
At this time General Pope had been relieved and General McClellan restored to the command of the Union army. With ninety thousand troops, he marched towards Antietam to avenge the second Manassas.
General D. H. Hill was at South Mountain with five thousand men; Longstreet’s First Corps was at Hagerstown, thirteen miles farther on; General Lee was with him, and on the night of the 13th of September, 1862, information was received that McClellan was at the foot of South Mountain with his great army. It was decided to withdraw the forces of Longstreet and Hill from their respective positions and unite at Sharpsburg, which afforded a strong defensive position. On the afternoon of the 15th of September the commands of Longstreet and Hill crossed the Antietam Creek and took position in front of Sharpsburg, Longstreet on the right and Hill on the left. They soon found their weak point was on the left at the famous Dunkard Church. Hood, with two brigades, was put to guard that point. That night, after the fall of Harper’s Ferry, General Lee ordered Stonewall Jackson to come to Sharpsburg as quickly as possible.