The losses in men were as follows: Union army, 3000; Confederates, 2000. The latter captured 27 cannon, 1500 prisoners, an immense quantity of small arms, ammunition, stores, etc.
I promptly laid aside my flint-lock musket and took a Springfield rifle.
I am often amused as I remember some of the thoughts that passed through my mind, and some of the things I did on this momentous occasion. For instance, we were ordered to "sleep on our arms" the night whose dawn was to usher in the battle. I had heard a good deal about soldiers obeying orders. I thought of "the boy who stood on the burning deck," so when I laid down that night with old Mother Earth for a bed, I found myself stretched out at full length on top of my musket. It was a little rough, but the mere thought of being a soldier and "sleeping on my arms" on the eve of battle made my bed feel as soft as a bed of roses. And then the gun! It was an old flint-lock musket, minus the flint, and no powder or ball. But I was at least a soldier and had a gun, and would surely see the battle and could write home all about it. A soldier seldom ever thinks that he will be among the slain; he may be wounded, or taken prisoner, but it is always the other fellow that is going to be killed.
Chapter III.
From Bull Run to Seven Pines (Continued).
"You have called us and we're coming, by Richmond's bloody tide
To lay us down, for freedom's sake, our brothers' bones beside."
The several battles around Richmond in the spring of 1862, viz., Seven Pines, Mechanicsville, Beaver Dam, Malvern Hill, Gaines' Mill, I have grouped under the head of Seven Pines.
The fall and winter months following the battle of Bull Run were spent for the most part by both sides in recruiting their armies and getting ready for a desperate struggle, which would inevitably come when spring arrived the following year.
There were occasional raids and skirmishes, but no decisive battles were fought until the following spring, except the battle of Ball's Bluff, near Leesburg, in which battle the Eighth Virginia played a conspicuous part. One of my brothers was in this battle, and several of my schoolmates were killed and wounded.