was but a wilderness where Indian tribes hunted their game. And yet this youthful State furnished twenty thousand infantry and twelve hundred cavalry, and uniformed, accoutred, and almost entirely armed them with the best of rifles, at her own expense. Every other Northern State was equally zealous.

Three months had now passed since the fall of Sumter. The United States Congress were in session at Washington. The rebels had a large army, no one knew how large, strongly fortified and abundantly supplied with batteries at Manassas, and at other points in the vicinity, from whence they could concentrate their troops at Manassas, through which lay the direct route to Richmond.

At the opening of Congress, July 4th, the Border States, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Delaware, were all represented. Money in abundance was speedily voted for carrying on the war. Every armory was at work, night and day. Three hundred and ten thousand soldiers were already in the field, waiting the order of the Federal Government; sixtythree vessels, with 1,174 guns, were in commission, and twenty-three steam gunboats were on the stocks, rapidly approaching completion. Sixty regiments of Federal troops were encamped near Washington. The public began to be impatient for active military operations. Armies amounting, it was supposed, to at least 300,000 on either side, were facing each other at various points, though scattered thousands of miles apart, from the remote prairies of Texas to the extreme northern peaks of the Alleghanies, and yet there had been no decisive action—nothing but mere skirmishes. The rebels were so confident in their strength at Manassas, that, on the 20th of July, they removed their Congress from Montgomery to Richmond. The people and the press generally throughout the North began to call so loudly for an advance upon Richmond, that Gen. Scott, though not feeling fully prepared, with reluctance ordered a forward movement.

On the 16th of July, Gen. McDowell, with 32,500 men, in four divisions, advanced from the banks of the Potomac upon Manassas.* These divisions, in unequal numbers, started from Arlington Heights, Long Bridge and Alexandria. Gen. Tyler's command consisted of 10,500 men, being nearly one-third of the whole force. Traversing different roads, the two smaller divisions met at the village of Fairfax Court House, about twelve miles from Washington. Gen. Tyler advanced by the Warrenton turnpike two miles from Fairfax Court House. The march commenced mainly at daybreak, Wednesday morning, the 17th, though some of the brigades advanced a short distance the night before. The troops, all eager for action, commenced the movement with the greatest alacrity, as joyfully

* Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell is a native of Ohio, and a graduate of West Point Military Academy, in the class of 1835, where he was assistant instructor for a few months. He was promoted to a first lieutenancy in 1842. He accompanied Gen. Wool to Mexico as aid-de-camp, and was breveted captain for his gallant behavior at Buena Vista. In an article in L'Opinion Nationale, attributed to the pen of Prince Napoleon, Gen. McDowell is said to be "forty-two years of age, tall and large. His face is remarkably open and sympathetic, through its air of frankness and kindness. He is one of the honestest, truest, simplest men that you can meet. He neither drinks wine, tea nor coffee, does not smoke, and has habits of sobriety and self-denial quite in keeping with his Puritan principles."

as if on a picnic excursion. It was a pleasant morning, and the scene presented one of the most glittering pageants of war. From ten to fifteen thousand of the rebel troops were at Fairfax, but hearing through their scouts of the approach of the Federal troops, they retired precipitately, leaving every thing behind them.

At noon the first division of Union troops entered Fairfax, unopposed. The bands played exultingly "The Star Spangled Banner," and the flag of the United States was again unfurled over the rebel village, where traitorous feet had trampled it in the mire. A few patriots, "faithful found among the faithless," lingered in the village, and received their liberators with inexpressible joy. Some rebels, lurking at a safe distance in the woods, threw a few rifle shots into our ranks, wounding an officer and two privates, but neither of them seriously. In the village a large amount of tents, muskets, equipments, flour, bacon, and hospital stores, belonging to the rebel army, were captured. The flight was so precipitate, that even the breakfast tables spread for the officers remained untouched. The uniforms of the officers were left; in a vest pocket was found a gold watch, and in another pocket ten dollars in a roll of dime pieces.

The troops were quite exhausted by their march under a broiling sun, and though it was at first intended to press on five miles farther to Centreville, it was decided to halt, for a few hours at least, until the main body of the army should come up. The right wing, under Gen. Tyler, of Connecticut, marched along the Georgetown turnpike. The left wing, under Col. Heintzelman, U. S. A., proceeded in two divisions, one by the old Braddock road, the other by the Little River turnpike.* The centre, under Col. Hunter, U. S. A., advanced by the Leesburg road. The fourth division, under General Runyon, of New Jersey, constituted the reserve. The three brigades under Gen. Tyler moved along rather an unfrequented road.

The road being narrow and broken, and the nearness of the enemy rendering it necessary that the advance guard should proceed cautiously, the march was necessarily slow. As the men composing the three first brigades moved solidly and measuredly on, they presented a magnificent spectacle, when gazed upon from one of the many elevations overlooking their path. The seemingly endless forests of glittering bayonets, undulating with the ascents and descents of the road; the dark mass of humanity rolling on slowly, but irresistibly, like a black stream forcing its way through a narrow channel; the waving banners; the inspiring strains of the numerous bands; the shouts and songs of the men ;-formed an animating and imposing scene, which was contemplated with amazement and terror by the country people along the road.

The first brigade of this division, under Col. Keyes, arrived at Falls Church just before sunset, and spreading over the adjoining fields, after stationing strong pickets on all the roads leading towards the enemy, and

Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman was born in Pennsylvania, and graduated at West Point in 1822. He was in the Mexican army, and acquired reputation for gallantry there. During the war with the rebels he rapidly rose in the estimation of his countrymen, being considered one of the most sagacious and energetic of our military leaders.

batteries to command the approaches, took a cold supper, and bivouacked for the night. Col. Sherman's and Col. Richardson's brigades did not reach the encampment until nine o'clock. The nearest picket of the enemy was then about a mile from them, on the road to Fairfax Court House. The next morning, at five o'clock, the whole army of the Potomac was in motion, and, as we have mentioned, about noon reached Fairfax Court House. General Tyler's division, however, which was a little in the advance, passed that village, and encamped about two miles beyond in a hamlet called Germantown. They were compelled to cut their way from Falls Church through a constant series of obstructions, the rebels having felled immense trees across the road, and placed every other obstacle in the way which ingenuity could devise. The foe were occasionally seen in the distance, but they invariably retired as our forces advanced. At one time, the scouts came rushing in, announcing a formidable rebel battery commanding the road, but half a mile a head. The whole column, reaching back for miles, was halted. The lines opened to the right and the left, and through the passage thus made, there came thundering along Capt. Ayers's battery of eight rifled guns, the horses on the full run. The. masses which opened before closed in behind them, and again the whole army was on the move. A few shells were thrown into the breastwork, but the rebels had fled. Our skirmishers took possession of the intrenchments, where they found all the usual appliances of a camp, abandoned, the camp fires still burning.

Every day was revealing new evidence that traitors were still lurking in the most important departments of the Government. The rebels seem to have lost all consciousness of the meaning of the word honor. Their partisans, while taking the oath of allegiance to the United States, and affecting zeal in the service of the Union, were active and efficient agents of the rebels, endeavoring to thwart every measure of national defense, and keeping the enemy informed of every contemplated movement.

Gen. McDowell had employed some of the Topographical Engineers in preparing an accurate map of the eastern portion of the State, particularly valuable from the fact that no good maps of the country had ever before been made. A few copies were prepared for the War Department, and for the officers engaged in this movement. One of these maps was found at Fairfax Court House, in the encampment of the Palmetto (S. C.) Guards. It could only have come there by the treachery of some person holding responsible position in our Government.

The abandoned camps of the rebels were, of course, legitimate objects of plunder. The soldiers loaded themselves with booty, of every description, and then some of them proceeded to sack several of the abandoned houses of the rebels. Considerable damage was done before the officers succeeded in arresting these disorders. Such irregularities are inseparable from war. It is not possible to march an army of over 30,000 soldiers, many of whom must be men of feeble moral sense, through a country, without acts of depredation. In fact, the whole army seemed to enter upon this summer's march, into Virginia, as if it were a grand excursion frolic, with just enough of adventure about it to give it zest. They thought

not of danger, and were bold even to rashness. A stringent order from Gen. McDowell promptly arrested the spirit of depredation which was beginning to develop itself.

The evening of that day, mild and bright, was a saturnalia of jokes and fun, where the troops were clustered, in all the power and splendor of war, for miles around the headquarters of their chieftain, Gen. McDowell, at Fairfax Court House. The troops bivouaced in the green fields and under the open sky. The General and his staff, like the men, slept on the ground, rolled in their blankets. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Gen. McDowell was seen, eating his sumptuous dinner of bread, cheese and a slice of ham, on an overturned candle-box by the side of the road.

The march of all the divisions, as far as Fairfax Court House, was essentially the same. The day was fine, the country beautiful, the roads good, leading through dense groves, over gentle slopes, and occasionally ascending hills of considerable size. The sight was inspiring as the long line of glittering bayonets extended far as the eye could reach, intermingled with cavalry and artillery, and the vast array of white-covered baggage wagons. The men in loose, but regular march, with quick step, advanced with alacrity and in the finest spirits. On either side, skirmishers were spread out, through the groves and the cornfields, to guard against the possibility of surprise.

Few persons are aware of the vast length of road occupied by an army in motion. Two hundred thousand soldiers, with their baggage trains, cavalry and artillery, will occupy, filling to its utmost capacity, one hundred miles of any ordinary road. Distribute such an army into four divisions, traversing different roads, and each separate column would occupy twenty-five miles. We entered upon our march to Manassas with 32,500 men in four divisions. Consequently, each column, had they been equally divided, would have consisted of a solid mass of troops nearly five miles in length. It is difficult to imagine the scene of confusion which arises when the hour of panic or defeat ensues. Regiments are hurled upon each other, while shot and shell plough the ranks; cavalry trample down the infantry, bridges break, mines explode, and artillery and baggage wagons dash along pell-mell in a wild scene of ruin and terror which no imagination can conceive.

On the morning of the 18th, the different columns commenced their march from the vicinity of Fairfax, toward Centreville, a small village about five and a half miles distant, on the main road to Manassas Junction. At the Junction the great Washington railroad branches off; the left track leading to Richmond, while the right, threading the mountains, penetrates the valley of the Shenandoah. From Centreville to the Junction, it was about six miles. Half way between the two, there was a wild mountain stream, at times a foaming torrent, and again almost dry, which had cut a deep channel or gorge, with almost perpendicular sides, through the red sand stone. The banks of this ravine were densely fringed with forest and underbrush, while the country beyond was hilly, broken, wooded, and with narrow paths, through which an army coull with difficulty struggle. Upon the right bank of this stream, called Bull Run, concealed by bushes