IN BATTLE AND IN PRISON.
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��machine soldiers, as some of the West Pointers seemed to presume, but patri- otic, thinking and observing men who could fight best when they fought un- derstandingly. I am told that the rebel commanders pursued a different policy, and although their soldiers were mentally inferior to ours, kept them apprized of the general situation and of what they must do to accomplish the end sought. Who shall say how many of the confederate victories may be ac- credited to this fact, if it is a fact ? But our commanders, instead of trusting their men, either kept them in utter ig- norance of movements or foolishly de- ceived them. How well I remember at the battle of Gaines's Hill, where Jackson thrashed Porter so soundly, and Sykes's regulars failed to stand their ground, that the story was industriously circulated along the thinned but unbrok- en ranks of Bartlett's Brigade, "McClel- lan's in Richmond, boys. One more effort and the day is ours !" And Mea- gher's Irish Brigade, hastening to our relief on the run, took up the cry and put on so determined a front that Jack- son's veterans halted and reformed, giving our officers time to re-establish their broken lines and hold then- ground until night came down and af- forded them an opportunity to with- draw to the left bank of the Chicka- hominy, — not to enter Richmond, but to begin that celebrated "flank move- ment" which ended at Harrison's Landing. Again, at second Bull Run, when, after dawdling along all day on the road from Alexandria to Centre- ville, with the sounds of conflict in our front (making a long two hours' rest at Annandale, and then marching at full speed in a hot sun), we reached Cen- treville, we were told that Pope had whipped Jackson, and that Lee with his whole army was in full retreat. But when we reached Bull Run, " Linden saw another sight. " Heavens, what a stampede ! McDowell's and Sigel's corps in disastrous retreat, — cavalry, ar- tillery, infantry, ammunition and bag- gage wagons in one confused, strug- gling mass, intent upon reaching the heights of Centreville. . Our corps
��(Franklin's, 6th) had just halted to rest, as the stragglers came into view. De- ploying, we stopped the rout, and end- ed the retreat. Seizing the infantry stragglers, we placed them in our own ranks until our brigade swelled to twice its usual size. Night closed in, and we were marched to the front across Cub Run, and ordered to hold our position at all hazards. In that march every straggler deserted ! Poor fellows, who 'could blame them? Had they been killed then and there who could have accounted for them ? Most of them re- turned to their own regiments and there- after did good service no doubt. Pan- ics are liable to seize upon the best of troops. I cite these instances as par- tial corroboration of my point. What wonder if our troops came to distrust all reports and* to depend only upon established facts. But perhaps our commanders were right in concealing information from the army in general, and Moore may have hit the nail on the head when he wrote :
"A captain has been known to think, Even colonels have been heard to reason ; And reasonera whether clad in piuk, Or red or blue, are on the brink, Nine cases out of ten — of treason."
At any rate they conducted the war in harmony with such a belief.
One battle only did I witness from the vantage ground of a non-combat- ant, the first Fredericksburg fight, and I found it vastly more interesting and conducive to personal ease and safety, if less glorious. But this is not what I started out to tell the readers of this Magazine. I am to relate my experience during that memorable episode referred to in my opening paragraph. I must say at the outset that it was an exceed- ingly checkered episode, so far as my memory serves me, for within the time outlined I ran the gamut of a soldier's emotions — anxiety, uncertainty, fear, hope, the thrill of victory succeeded all too quickly by the blackest despair ; for success was followed by repulse, and from an elated victor I became al- most in a twinkling, a captive in the hands of as ragged and as dirty a lot of Johnny Rebs as ever fought with a courage worthy of a better cause, — a
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