Confederates in Virginia: Zouaves and Griffin

The battle now raged furiously. Hunter was severely wounded and Colonel Slocum of Rhode Island was killed, when the youthful Sprague, governor of the little Commonwealth, took command of the troops from that State. At length Porter came up with his men and poured such a heavy fire upon Evans's left, that his line again began to bend. At that moment the head of Heintzelman's column appeared; also Sherman's brigade, whom Tyler had sent, under Colonel Corcoran, to assist Burnside. These reinforcements were timely; for the Nationals, who had been on their feet since midnight, were nearly exhausted.

A furious charge made by a New York regiment under Colonel H. W. Slocum, shattered the bending Confederate line, and the troops fled in confusion to a plateau whereon General T. J. Jackson had just arrived with reserves. "They are beating us back!" exclaimed General Bee. "Well, sir," calmly replied Jackson, "we will give them the bayonet!" Bee was encouraged. "Form! form!" he cried to the fugitives. "There stands Jackson like a stone wall." The effect of these words was wonderful. Their flight was checked, and order was soon brought out of confusion. Ever afterward, the calm general was called "Stonewall Jackson."

It was now noon. Alarmed by the unexpected strength of the Nationals, Johnston and Beauregard sent bodies of troops, under Holmes, Early, and Ewell, in the direction of the sounds of battle, four miles distant. The two commanders hastened to the plateau, when Johnston, the chief by seniority, after reorganizing the shattered columns, left Beauregard in command on the field and hastened to a position from which he had a view of the whole area of operations and of the country toward Manassas, whence reinforcements from the Shenandoah Valley were momentarily expected. Without these, he had small hope of success. From his new position he also sent forward reinforcements; and at two o'clock in the afternoon, when the conflict was renewed, the Confederates had ten thousand soldiers, with twenty-two heavy guns in battle order on the plateau. Meanwhile the Nationals had been preparing for the struggle. At one o'clock they had gained possession of the Warrenton Turnpike, the grand objective of the march against the Confederate left; but their enemies must be driven from the plateau before victory would be secured. To accomplish this five brigades, namely, Porter's, Howard's, Franklin's, Wilcox's and Sherman's, with the batteries of Rickett's, Griffin and Arnold, and cavalry under Major Palmer, were to turn the Confederate left, while Keyes was sent to annoy them on the right.

Colonel Heintzelman accompanied McDowell as his lieutenant on the field, and his division began the attack. They pressed forward in the face of a storm of balls from batteries, and gained possession of a portion of the plateau. There was an elevation near that commanded the whole plateau, and McDowell ordered Ricketts and Griffin to plant their batteries upon it, with the immediate support of Ellsworth's Fire Zouaves, under Colonel Farnham. It was accomplished, while New York, Massachusetts and Minnesota troops took a position to the left of the batteries. As the artillery and Zouaves went boldly forward in the face of a severe fire from the enemy, they were suddenly attacked on the flank by Alabamians in ambush, and then by two companies of Stuart's Black-horse cavalry, in the rear. The Zouaves recoiled, and the horsemen dashed entirely through the shattered column. Colonel Farnham rallied his men, and with some assistance they attacked the Confederate horsemen so furiously that they were dispersed.

When the Zouaves gave way, Heintzelman ordered up a Minnesota regiment to the support of the batteries. Suddenly the Confederates, in overwhelming force, delivered a murderous fire that disabled the batteries by prostrating the men, when the struggle for the plateau became fearful. Both sides suffered dreadfully. Johnston heard of the slaughter and lost heart. He had ordered Early up, at eleven o'clock, with three fresh regiments, but they did not come. it was now three o'clock. "Oh for four regiments!" said Johnston, bitterly, to Colonel Cocke. His wish was more than satisfied. Just then he saw a cloud of dust in the direction of the Manassas Gap Railway. It was caused by a part of his own Shenandoah army, four thousand strong, under General E. Kirby Smith. They were received with joy, and were ordered into action immediately. Beauregard's force was almost doubled by these and other fresh troops; and the blow that now smote McDowell's troops, just as they were about to grasp the palm of victory, was sudden, unexpected, heavy, and overpowering. In fifteen minutes the Nationals were swept from the plateau. As regiment after regiment gave way and hurried toward the turnpike in confusion, panic seized others, and at four o'clock a greater portion of the National army were flying across Bull's Run toward Centreville. With many it was not a retreat but a disorderly rout. They left behind them over three thousand men killed, wounded, or made prisoners. The Confederates lost over two thousand. The Confederate congress had assembled at Richmond the day before; and Jefferson Davis, who arrived on the battle-field just as the flight began, sent back to his associates an exultant shout of victory, by the telegraph. It was echoed, in varying notes, over the Confederacy, while the vanquished army was hastening, in fragments, back to the defence of the capital. For a moment the gloom of deep despondency settled upon the hearts of the loyal portion of the nation.