Lt. Col. Francis Effingham Pinto, 32nd New York Infantry, On the Campaign

We commenced drilling and instructing the regiment in all that was necessary to make them soldiers. Mr. Lincoln, the President, came out to our camp to witness a parade of the regiment. Soon after we had been settled in this camp, I went to New York to close up some of our Regimental business, and while at home in Amsterdam, I received a telegram that the regiment had been ordered to cross the Potomac to Alexandria, Va., and to join the regiment, as there was a movement to the front, and a battle in prospect. I left Amsterdam on the evening of July 16th. I got together some 20 recruits during the next day in New York, and took the train for Washington the same evening, arriving in Washington next morning (the 18th) crossed to Alexandria, paying the boat charges for the men, amounting to Six dollars, rather than wait to get transportation, which would have kept me half of the day in going through the red tape business that was necessary. I found the Camp of this regiment near Fort Runyon, but deserted excepting a few men left to look after the property in Camp. The regiment left Alexandria on the 16th of July and was Brigaded with the 16th, 18th, 31st and 32nd New York. Colonel Thomas A. Davies of the 16th N. Y., by virtue of his commission, being the oldest, had command. I soon made a bargain with a colored man to take me to the Regiment as far as he ventured to go. He took us to Fairfax Court House and I could not persuade him to go further, he was terribly frightened at going the distance he had, so we took to the road on foot. We overtook a train of ammunition, and got in the wagon, and had not gone fare when we heard artillery firing. Soon after a cavalry man came dashing down the road, swinging an envelope in his hand, to show he was on important business with despatches, who reported our army to be in retreat. The teamsters became panic and were about to turn back. I protested so rigorously that they continued on to our camp. We arrived at the Camp at Centreville late in the afternoon. Some men of the regiment recognized me coming up, and I received a round of cheers. Colonel Dixon S. Miles, who commanded the division that our Brigaded had been assigned to, came out of his tent, and wanted to know what all the noise was about. Colonel Matheson being very near, told him the cause, and he went back to his tent. The artillery firing we heard was at Blackburn’s ford, merely a few exchanges of shot with the enemy across the stream.

On the 20th, an order was issued by General McDowell, commanding the Army, to Colonel Dixon S. Miles to have a reconnoissance made on the left of his camp. I was called upon to take command. Engineer Lieutenant Fred. E. Primes, on the staff of Colonel Miles, was ordered to accompany us. I had about 500 men. Our camp was about one mile from Bull Run Creek, the stream making quite a bend towards our camp at this point. On leaving camp we soon struck a piece of woods, and, not seeing a sign of any picket or out-posts, I thought it prudent to send out some skirmishers in front of our flanks. Passing through the woods we came to a small clearing, quite near the banks of Bull Run Stream. Placing the main force in the edge of the woods, I sent about 50 men down the banks to the stream, which was hidden from our view by woods. Lieut. Prime went with the advance force. Here they discovered the rebels picketing the opposite side of the stream, which was fordable at almost any part. Lieutenant Prime and the small force returned, having gained the knowledge of the fact that the rebels could cross here at their pleasure, and that there were no troops of ours in that direction to interfere with them.

I thought it very strange that an officer intrusted with a command should have so little thought or care for the safety of his camp when in the presence of the enemy, but I had seen and heard enough about Colonel Miles, in the short time that I had been in camp, to condemn him as an unfit man to be trusted with the lives of men in warfare. Colonel Miles was a regular officer, trained at West Point, so should have been alive to the necessity of protecting his camp from a midnight or day attack, which could have been done, and been a complete surprise, if the enemy had so desired. They probably had no suspicion of the unprotected condition of our camp. The next morning, July 21st, all was bustle and activity, preparing to meet the enemy on the opposite side of Bull Run stream. Our division, under Colonel Miles, was what was called the resereve, but more properly, the left wing of the Army, composed of three brigades, commanded by Colonel Israel B. Richardson. Colonel Lewis Blenker and Colonel Thomas A. Davies. the whole force numbered twelve regiments and several Batteries. We took up our position on and near Centreville Hill and Blackburn’s Ford – no doubt we were judiciously located – as it prevented the enemy from crossing the Bull Run stream and attacking our army in the rear, and the Confederate forces at Blackburn’s Ford, in like manner protected their right wing. In a small clearing to the left of the main road leading to the Ford, about half way between Centreville and the Ford, a Battery was placed in position. The 31st New York Regiment, Colonel Calvin E. Pratt, was placed there to support the Battery. In the early part of the day some trees were felled near this Battery, forming a barricade. I did not think it amounted to much of a position. there was a narrow wood road leading from the main road to this clearing. Our regiment was posted on the main road near Centreville Ridge. During the day I visited all the points of interest and was well acquainted with the position of our troops. The main army crossed at the Fort at Sudley Springs, several miles to the right of us. it was something new to them to see a body of the enemy. They were within range of our muskets: Cadet John R. Weigs, whom nobody seemed to know, waving a white handkerchief, rode down to their front, asking the commanding officer if they were Federal or Confederate troops. The answer being the latter, he then asked permission to retire. Before he had got out of range of our fire the enemy had disappeared in the woods, as our force on the ridge presented quite a formidable appearance. Cadet Weigs was the son of Quartermaster General Weigs*. He had volunteered his services, and was acting on the staff of Colonel Richardson. He went forward to the front of the enemy without orders, apparently, and when he returned he was asked who he was. It was a gallant act, and showed the material that was in him.

It was now getting to be dark, and nobody seemed to know what to do. No person of authority to give orders, that I could see. I did not see Colonel Miles during the day, and the Colonels commanding Brigades were disputing with each other the question of rank, which seemed to concern them more than fighting the enemy. There was no determined attempt to cross the Bull Run by the enemy further than I have mentioned. The cavalry force that appeared in our front was only one Company as reported by the officer who commanded, I find reported in the Congressional reports. The road that our army returned on from Bull Run was just over the hill out of our sight, not more than an eighth of a mile distant. We saw nothing of the panic, and knew nothing of it at that time. When we realized what had taken place, we barricaded the road to Blackburn’s Ford with such material as we could collect, which was not much. Soon after dark a young officer rode up to me and announced himself as Adjutant of the DeKalb Regiment**, just from Fairfax Cour House, and asked for a position for his regiment. I directed him to take a position on our right. The regiment did as I directed. During the evening they left us, and all the other troops that were on the hill disappeared. We soon found out we were left quite alone, and without orders. Finally, about ten o’clock, or later, we came to the conclusion that we had better leave and find out what was up. We went over the hill in the direction of the camp we had left in the morning, expecting to find the rest of the army there, but what a melancholy disappointment. There was not a human being in sight, A dew smoking embers showing that there had been someone there and that they had cooked their coffee before leaving. I also impressed us with the fact that we had been neglected; but how could it be otherwise, as it was well known that our Division Commander was drunk, and the other would-be soldiers, excepting Colonel I. B. Richardson, commanding one of the Brigades, had no knowledge of the duties of a soldier. Colonel Richardson preferred charges of drunkenness against Colonel miles and he was found guilty by a Court Martial.

General Wm. B. Franklin, General John Sedgwick and Captain Thomas Seymour, 1st U. S. Artillery, composed the court. Colonel Miles was killed at Harper’s Ferry, Sept. 15th, 1862, while in command of that post.

I take exception to a part of Colonel Richardson’s report of the encounter with the enemy on the 21st of July. He states that he ordered Lieutenant Benjamin of the Artillery to open fire upon the Cavalry when they made their appearance just below us, and that after a few shots they disappeared. I say, there was not a shot fired either by the Artillery or Infantry. I also beg to differ with him in other important points in his report relating to the retreat. Finding the Camp at Centreville abandoned, we then struck the main road leading back to Alexandria, and we soon comprehended what had taken place. The stamped was made plain to us at this point. It is not in my power to properly describe the sight we saw here. Wagons upset on both sides of the road, tongues broken, traces cut, all kinds of army materials scattered along the sides of the road, and muskets without number. There was a four horse ambulance, the tongue broken. Procuring some rope from the abandoned wagons, we hitched on to the ambulance and commenced gathering up the muskets and placed them in the ambulance. there were so many of them we gave up the task. We put some of our disabled men in, and hauled the ambulance to Fairfax Court House. We halted there for the rest of the night. There was not a man of our army there, excepting our Regiment, the 32nd New York. The next morning, at broad daylight, we continued our march to Alexandria, hauling the ambulance into our Camp near Fort Runyon, arriving there about noon on the 22nd of July, with every man of the Regiment accounted for.

It is unpleasant to me to hear of troops claiming to have brought up the rear of our retreating army from Bull Run, some claiming through their reports to headquarters, which I find published in the Congressional Reports, of their bringing up the rear of the retreating army. Colonel I. B. Richardson, who commanded one of Miles’ Brigades, composed, as he states in his report, of the 12th New York, 1st Massachusetts, 2nd and 3rd Michigan regiments, claiming that he covered the retreat from Centreville, arriving at his camp at Arlington at 4 o’clock in the morning of the 22nd. He evidently did not know that the 32nd New York was still in rear of him, and not having received orders to retire from their position at Centreville Ridge, but late that night finding themselves apparently deserted, moved without orders to find the balance of the army, and did not find any portion of the army until they arrived at Alexandria. General Wm. B. Franklin, who was in command there, learning of our coming into Camp at noon of the 22nd, hauling the big ambulance from Centreville, said the ambulance should belong to the regiment. But it was soon required, and taken from us.

Francis E. Pinto, History of the 32nd Regiment, New York Volunteers, in the Civil War, 1861 to 1863, And Personal
Recollections During that Period. Brooklyn, New York: n.p., 1895, pp. 12-20 via New York Public Library

Contributed by Dan Weinfeld and John Hennessy

*Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs and his son, USMA Cadet John Rodgers Meigs

**41st New York Infantry

Francis E. Pinto at Ancestry

Francis E. Pinto at Fold3

Francis E. Pinto at FindAGrave

Unit History – 32nd New York Infantry

Cols., Roderick Matheson, Francis E. Pinto; Lieut.-Cols., Francis E. Pinto, George F. Lemon, Charles Hubbs; Majs., George F. Lemon, Charles Hubbs, Russell Myers. The 32d, the First California regiment, composed of three companies from New York city, two from Amsterdam, two from Ithaca, one from Tarrytown, one from Johnstown and one from New York and Tompkins county, was organized at New York city and mustered into the U. S. service for two years on May 31, 1861, at New Dorp, Staten Island. It left the state for Washington on June 29; was quartered there for a week and then encamped near Alexandria, where it was assigned to the 2nd brigade, 5th division, Army of Northeastern Virginia; was engaged at Fairfax Court House, Bull Run, and at Munson’s hill, and spent the winter at Fort Ward in Newton’s brigade of Franklin’s division. In March, 1862, with the 3d brigade, 1st division, 1st corps, Army of the Potomac, the regiment moved to Manassas; returned to Alexandria and embarked for the Peninsula; was engaged at West Point, with a loss of 67 killed, wounded or missing, and soon after was assigned to the 3d brigade, 1st division , 6th corps, with which it engaged in the Seven Days’ battles; then went into camp at Harrison’s landing until Aug. 16, when it returned to Alexandria. The regiment participated in the battles of Crampton’s gap, Antietam and Fredericksburg; went into winter quarters at Belle Plain; participated in the “Mud March,” and on April 28, 1863, broke camp and joined the light brigade of the 6th corps for the Chancellorsville campaign, in which the 32nd lost 43 members killed, wounded or missing. It returned on May 8 to the camp at Belle Plain and on the 25th the three years’ men were transferred to the 121st N. Y. infantry. The two years men were mustered out at New York city on June 9, 1863. The total strength of the regiment up to Jan., 1863, was 1,040 members and it lost during its term of service 45 by death from wounds and 54by death from other causes.

From The Union Army, Vol 2, pp. 71-72

Lieut. Prentice B. Wager, Co. I, 32nd New York Infantry, On the Campaign

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
———-
[Correspondence of the Journal]
———-

Station near Alexandria, Va.,
Sunday, July 28, 1861.

My Dear Selkreg –

The calendar indicates that a week has passed since the great battle. Nothing else shows it, for in war the sun rises with no clearer or holier light on the Sabbath than on any other day. The gentle and serene influences which have hallowed this day in our minds through all our lives, are unknown, unseen and unfelt here, save as our memory goes back to our homes in the far-off North, and imagination brings before our spirit’s backward gaze a christian people moving to the music of the Sabbath bells toward the place where the God of our fathers is worshipped. Other than this and an occasional war discourse from our Chaplain, we know no Sunday.

I wrote you a hasty sketch of the fight the other day, and have been endeavoring since to collect the facts as to the number of men actively engaged – the loss in killed, wounded and prisoners, – and other circumstances necessary to a complete and intelligent account of the affair; but I have given up the attempt in utter despair. In the first place I enquired of members of different regiments as to how many they had lost, and their stories were so conflicting that nothing could be gathered from there. Statements made by members of the same regiment would differ immensely. One would say about twenty of their men were killed, and another would assert that not fifty of the whole regiment was left. I have no doubt, judging from the accounts in the dailies, that the New York reporters asked these same fellows about it and sent on their answers as the exact figures. It is of no use to try to give any accurate statistics as to numbers and losses at present. Stragglers supposed to be lost are constantly coming in. Regiments totally broken up are being rapidly re-organized. Cannon reported captured turn up all right in Washington and Alexandria.

One thing is certain. On Tuesday, July 16th, 1861, the Grand American Army in solid column, with firm step, proud heart, drums beating and banners streaming on the breeze, marched on Manassas Junction via Fairfax Court House, and on the following Monday that same army returned via. Fairfax Court House in a very unsolid column, rapid step, humiliated hearts, with folded banners and ‘nary sound of drum. The causes which led to this sad reverse have already been largely canvassed in the newspapers. Some of them I know – many of them are known to almost everybody.

That somebody was to blame is very evident. It is very evident too that Gen. Scott thinks so, for high military officers who commanded on that battle-field won’t have a chance to unsheathe their inglorious swords at the head of our columns again very soon. Abler hands and wiser heads will guide and control our future operations. But I did not intend to say a word about this.

There ae a thousand conflicting opinions as to the cause which led to this defeat, and enough of them have already been printed so that your readers have had a good chance for selection in the premises, and each can pick out an opinion for himself. Aside from bad manoeuvering and gross imprudence on the part of officers commanding, our defeat is mainly to be attributed to a regular licking received at the hands of the rebels who had more men, were behind strong fortifications, in woods, well furnished with artillery which was well served, and rifles which were handled with as much dexterity and by men fully as brave and well disciplined as ourselves. For other and further causes of the disaster see articles in the New York papers written by parties who were not within three hundred miles of the fight.

The manner in which an army starts off to war may not be uninteresting to many of your readers, and the friends of the volunteers who have to stay at home, and consequently cannot see for themselves. The incidents on the march are also many times worth detailing. You will remember that early in July we moved from Camp McDougal, near Washington, across the Potomac into Virginia, and encamped about one and a half miles south-west of Alexandria, on the Fairfax turnpike. Several other regiments did the same thing about the same time, and we knew that something was going to be done. On the 15th of July, couriers on horseback were seen riding through all the camps, and immediately each company received orders to cook three days rations, and be ready to march at an hour’s notice. Forty rounds of ball cartridges were distributed to each man, and everybody was busy getting ready to march. That afternoon our regiment – and we did what all the others did – formed in column by company, and our arms and ammunition were duly inspected by the Colonel in person, to see that everything was in good working order. We were then dismissed. The next day we again fell in line, and the Colonel made a few stirring remarks, when our regimental colors were brought out, and he asked us if we would follow and defend them. We unanimously agreed that we would. Meanwhile the movement of the army had already commenced. Long trains of artillery had moved past our camp, and regiment after regiment had filed along the road towards Fairfax. The soldiers were in eminent spirit, and cheered loudly as they passed, and we hurrahed and tigered in response. At last our turn came to fall in column, and our line was put in motion. It was now past four o’clock P. M., and the army was fairly on its forward march. The order of march was in four ranks, or four men abreast, with files closely closed, and arms at will. The column this formed extended both to the advance and rear, further than the eye could reach, and as it moved slowly and steadily forward over the hills and down into the valleys, beneath the glittering bayonets and shining arms, which seemed to cover it like a steel armor, it resembled in the distance and immense serpent, with a shining metal back, and from its proportions one might imagine that its length was sufficient to wrap around the entire rebellion, and that a single tightening up of its folds would squeeze secession out of the Old Dominion. We moved on through a thinly settled country, finding few of the natives at home, and these principally women and slaves, and in many instances, these were gone also. Few were friendly to us, tho’ the boys would break from the ranks and fill their canteens with water at their wells, and help themselves to such fruit and things as they could find. We marched until about ten o’clock at night, and then encamped about three miles from Fairfax Court House. That night we slept on our arms, and posted a strong picket guard. The next morning our division was ordered to the left for the purpose of executing a flank movement on the rebels, who were in force at Fairfax. This took us three miles out of our direct route, and brought our line of march over the old military road cut by Gen. Braddock, thro’ to Western Virginia, for the purpose of the old French war. This road is very narrow, not wide enough for teams to pass each other, and cut through a dense forest, and much of the way it is dug out like a cut through a hill for a rail road. We soon came to trees lately felled across the road by the rebels. These our pioneers were obliged to cut away, and as we had to wait for them to clear the road, our progress was very slow. But we pushed on, momently expecting and attack, until we came to a deserted earthwork.

We then moved more cautiously and re-inforced our skirmishers in advance. – Pretty soon we heard sharp firing ahead, and a courier came dashing back, stating that a party of rebels had fired on our advance and fled. It was a good place for an attack, being where our route lay through a deep cut. Two hundred resolute men could have held the position against almost anything but a regular siege. This over, we moved on with an occasional skirmish, until we suddenly came in sight of an extensive earth work directly across the road. From behind this the enemy fired a volley upon us wounding two of our men. Their fire was returned and several of their men were seen to fall, when they fled carrying off their dead. – We then marched directly through their fortifications, and the boys picked up several things in their camp and among them some pistols and a sword or two. Blankets were scattered about in great abundance. We pressed on and found that the enemy had precipitately fled. We found their sick, hospital stores, provisions, liquors and some arms. The boys also captured a storehouse filled with drygoods, tobacco, cigars, shoes, ammunition, &c. – These they rapidly appropriated and distributed in a very liberal and profuse manner, cigars and tobacco being the most desirable plunder. A guard was soon placed over the storehouse however, and the fun stopped. While this was going on intelligence came that the rebels had left Fairfax and that it was occupied by the American troops. We immediately marched into a neighboring field, stacked arms and broke ranks for the men to rest. In company with Capt. Whitlock I immediately started for the celebrated Fairfax Court House, half a mile distant. Found the village full of the American army, and the Court House a very ordinary looking building. It is built of brick, and is about as magnificent as a country school house, and the interior arrangements quite similar. Fairfax is about the size of Dryden village. Most of the citizens had fled, and the soldiers had taken possession of the deserted house which were generally well furnished, and they had the darkies making hoe cake and roasting bacon which they had served up in good style on the tables where rebel families had that morning taken their breakfast. I regret to say that much property was wantonly destroyed, but it was impossible to wholly prevent outrages. The Zouaves especially broke things, generally. We encamped that night near Fairfax and the next day moved on to Centreville distant about ten miles, and five miles from Manassas, and there encamped. We had stacked our arms when heavy firing was heard to the right, indicating that our advance had engaged the enemy. This proved to be the battle of Bull Run, fought on Thursday, a short account of which I have already given you. Our loss was not so great as I then reported.

Friday and Saturday morning the army marched out to the battle. It was a magnificent spectacle, grand and awe-inspiring beyond the power of language to describe. Such a display of human power thus terribly manifested in the mighty and outstretched arm of war, is rarely witnessed in any clime or in any age, and must be seen with the living eye to be even faintly comprehended or understood. Those who gazed upon that brilliant yet terrible array, as with all the “pomp and circumstance of war” it went out to write a bloody page upon the book of time, will carry with them to the end of life the memory in pictures of living fire, of that host of freemen, as with floating banners and glistening arms it stood and moved in the early sunlight of that beautiful Sabbath morning. Our regiment was assigned a position on the left, and we were in the reserve while the main body moved to the right towards Manassas, where the principal attack was to be made. We quickly took up our position on the road to Bull’s Run – the right of our regiment resting on the road, and the left extending into the woods. Directly in advance of us, on the brow of the hill, we had a battery of rifled cannon, which commanded the rebel battery at Bull’s Run, where the battle of the previous Thursday was fought. The land lays around where the battle was fought some as it does around Ithaca, only there is no village or lake there and the valley and hill sides are thickly wooded. Our forces occupied what corresponds to the East hill (at Ithaca,) and the rebels occupied the West hill and the intervening valley. The rebels were strongly fortified in their position, and the woods were full of their masked batteries. At 7 o’clock A. M., the fight was commenced by shots from our cannon. These were from our battery in advance of our regiment. Soon we heard heavy firing on the extreme right, followed by the sharp reports of musketry and rifles, announcing that the battle had commenced in earnest.

The cannonading and the fire of small arms now became terrific and continued almost without intermission until nearly two P. M., when it decreased considerably. Meanwhile our reserve lay waiting, impatient for their chance in, knowing nothing of the result of the battle on the right. At last we received orders, and our regiment being in advance and in fact alone, moved rapidly down towards the brow of the hill, where our battery above spoken of, was stationed. What was our surprise to meet our pickets running towards us in the greatest confusion, and closely followed by our battery of flying artillery in full retreat. Not a man in our company flinched, but pressed steadily forward and formed in line of battle. The Colonel passed along the line, telling the men to “keep cool, fire low, and aim at the centre of their bodies.” The enemy were now seen charging out of the woods, and filling a little open field in the valley below us, a little beyond the range of our muskets. The artillery was called back by the bugle, and being quickly placed in position, poured a terrible fire of grape upon them, which did immense execution in their ranks. They charged forward, but the cannon was too much for them, and they retreated after firing a volley of grape and musketry, which killed one of our officers attached to the artillery.

Another body of the enemy then charged on our battery, and the gunners firing a few rounds, hitched on their horses and fled with their pieces, thus leaving us unsupported by artillery. The captain of the battery remarked as he fled past us, “Boys, it is too hot for us, you must take them now.” Our boys stood fast, only grasping their muskets tighter, and waited for the rebels to come up. But the enemy evidently not liking the looks of things, fell back, and then we were ordered to fall back too, of which movement, we couldn’t any of us see the point. We marched rapidly to a hill near Centreville, and there for the first time learned that the main body of our army had been defeated and had already retreated past Centreville and that the rebel cavalry was rapidly pursuing. We formed in hollow square on hearing this and awaited the charge of Cavalry. Presently a body of horsemen appeared emerging from the woods over the road where we had just retreated. A couple of shells from our battery sent them flying, and one of their horses, minus a rider, galopped up the road towards where we stood, and was immediately secured. He was equipped with a good saddle and a splendid pair of revolvers. It was now sundown. Meanwhile the rest of our brigade consisting of six or seven thousand man, had taken position on the hill, and we lay down on our arms in order of battle, ready for an attack whenever it should come. Instead of an attack, at about 11 o’clock we were waked up with and order to retreat and we were huriedly marched back to Fairfax, over a road literally covered with the arms and cast-away equipments of our army. We halted and rested at Fairfax, and then continued our retreat to our camp near Alexandria, where we arrived at about 11 A. M., on Monday, tired almost to death, and heartbroken over our sad reverse. But we are all right now and feel as well as ever, save the gloom caused by the humiliating discomfiture of our army. Although not engaged in the hottest of the battle, and though none of them fell on the field, yet the Ithaca volunteers were placed under circumstances well calculated to try their nerve and courage, and I am proud to be able to say that for their conduct on that trying occasion, none of their friends at home need ever blush.

Yours very truly,

P. B. Wager, Lieut. Co. I, 32d Reg.

Ithaca [N. Y.] Journal and Advertiser, 8/7/1861

Clipping Image

Contributed by John Hennessy

Prentice B. Wag[n]er bio sketch 

Prentice B. Wager at Fold3

Capt. Jerome Rowe, Co. A, 32nd New York Infantry, On the Retreat

Letters from the Battle-Field.
———-
[Correspondence of the Journal]
———-

Headquarters 32d Regiment,
Alexandria, Va.,
July 27, 1861.

Friend Selkreg: – I cannot help, as one of the many military men engaged in the ill-fated conflict at Bull’s Run, to feel slandered by the public press as regards the operations of that day. It is enough upon the poor soldiers that they were defeated, without making them accountable for the loss of half a million of property, strewn, as wrecks of defeat in the indecent haste with which that great army retired to camp that day; without charging upon the whole army a panic that carried them past Centreville in their rout; that lost that place, Fairfax Court House, and all the territory we had occupied by victorious arms, which is now given back to enemies and is being fortified, and must be retaken perhaps with loss of life.

The withdrawing our forces from the conflict at Bull’s Run, as the fight was then progressing, was doubtless eminently proper. The general rout following is the fault of the Commander, and one of the most infamous things, as it was conducted, in military history. If Gen. McDowell had ordered the army to fall back and form at Centreville, instead of ordering the men promiscuously to run for their lives to their camps, the command would have been well executed, our Government property saved, the territory saved, the moral and credit of the army saved, and neither the world nor our enemies have known that we were defeated. What reason was there for a panic among thirty thousand men, who were formed in divisions remote from the actual conflict, who had not fired a musket all day, who, when they retired from the woods, retired as they would have moved to a fourth of July parade. If all possible panics had been generated among the men in the fight, it would not have affected more than the six or eight regiments actually engaged in it, bating the stupid blunder of moving a train of baggage wagons into the inextricable passes of Bull Run, to be wedged in and block up the rear.

That thirty thousand men would have remained and held Centreville had they been permitted to have done so. So far from the army’s having taken flight, in an uncontrollable panic, I have seen several of the regiments who supposed when ordered to retreat that they were simply changing position for better effect. Ninety-nine out of every hundred of the troops, had they known that they were being withdrawn as defeated, would have refused to have left the woods. Fifteen thousand men, ourselves included, in a selected position natural for defence, were quietly asleep on the grass, and were awakened at 11 o’clock at night to march home. That single fifteen thousand could easily have held Centreville and have recovered all the property and saved the credit of the army. They would have done it if permitted. Re-enforcements would have reached us, and nothing would have pleased them more in the world than to have had Jeff Davis come out from his fastnesses and retreat behind masked batteries in the woods, and have attempted to have driven them from that position. Yet those men are now demoralized by the fright communicated to them by general officers, and by being marched, between 11 o’clock at night and 11 o’clock the next day, thirty miles to avoid some terrible grim-visaged enemy that would hang on their rear and worry and destroy them.

The Colonel of the 32d Regiment, when the enemy appeared and opened a tremendous fire upon our division, (which fire we suppose was simply to divert the attention of the remainder of the army from their own retreat at the place where the battle was, for they ran from our troops faster than our’s from them,) insisted on staying and giving them sturdy battle, and to that end induced some of the artillery, which the regiment protected, to stay after the other pieces had left, and give the enemy a few more rounds of grape and cannister. A young United States officer, a lieutenant of artillery, had just fallen and was carried in rear of our lines, and then retreat was ordered. The bugle, whose notes they must obey, then sounded a peremptory retreat which they obeyed, and left us to our duty to cover that retreat and save their horses and guns from the enemy. We did this, and our regiment came orderly the last out of the woods, with confederate cavalry hanging upon its rear, and audacious enough to show some of their horsemen after we got in line of battle in the open field. The cannon firing late in the day, which the New York papers speak of as a probable diversion, was the artillery of our own Brigade, formed by the side of our regiment, giving these cavalry hollow shot and setting them flying for the woods. When the enemy were at the right of our column, and driven by the artillery were expected to file around to the front and charge upon us at Bull’s Run, and the men stood with pieces cocked to receive them, I passed down the line to see how the men behaved, and my judgement is they would in action give a good account of themselves.

Yours, &c.,

JEROME ROWE, Capt. Co. A.

Ithaca [N. Y.] Journal and Advertiser, 8/7/1861

Clipping Image

Contributed by John Hennessy

Jerome Rowe at Fold3 

Bio sketch of Judge Jerome Rowe (thanks to reader Chris Van Blargan)

Unknown, 32nd New York Infantry, On the Battle

The Battle at Bull’s Run.
———-
[Correspondence of the Journal]
———-  

Camp McDougal, near Alexandria, Va.,
Wednesday, July 24, 1861.

Dear Sir: – Yours of the 19th of July has just been received and read with pleasure. Our Regiment reached our old camp at Alexandria the forenoon of Monday last, on our retreat from the battle of Bull’s Run, and Manassas, of the day before. – We had been encamped near Bull’s Run, and within two miles of the masked batteries of the Rebels for the two last days previous, making, as I supposed, every preparation for a great battle and certain victory, and I to-day firmly believe that the victory was as certainly won and that but for the cowardice, knavery or imbecility of our acting Generals the federal troops would to-day occupy those important points instead of being as they are, repulsed, under the disgrace of retreat, and in the camps they occupied a week ago, or further back even in Washington.

We went forth to battle on the morning of the 21st of July. We reposed much confidence in our strength, and we were strong and the day would have been ours, but for the lack of some one to lead or direct our movements, having the necessary skill and qualifications to entitle him to be styled General of the New York State army. But this was not our case. The left of the line where our Brigade was stationed as a support of the batteries planted at that end of the line, our General seemed either crazy, badly scared or drunk, and our regiment (I understand it was so with others) was moving from place to place continually, to what end or for what purpose nobody seemed to know. Our artillery (two batteries on the left) blazed away all day at the enemy or their masked batteries – (those doing such fearful work among our men but a few days before) – without receiving a single shot from the enemy in return during the whole day, newspaper reports to the contrary notwithstanding. The only fight on the left of the line where our regiment was stationed, was the cannonade of our guns unanswered by the rebels, and the occasional exchange of shots between our skirmishers and theirs, whereby less than half a dozen men were killed and wounded, except that just at dark a body of rebel infantry marched from the woods on the left and fired upon the gunners killing one of the Lieutenants and for the time driving them from their guns. They rallied again, however, and poured into the rebels successive doses of shot and shell that sent them flying and enabled our men to take away their guns before they could rally again.

It was at this time that the 32nd Regiment was for the first time called upon to do active duty, although we had been constantly on the field and ready at all times. When the attack was made upon our battery on the left our Regiment was ordered down to resist it and cover the retreat of the artillery. When we reached the ground the artillery was already retreating, having previously poured into the rebels such a volley of grape and canister, that before they could rally the horses had been harnessed to the guns and they were safely drawn from the field, which we then occupied, covering the retreat. The rebels did not again show themselves; we were not fired into, nor did we fire a shot during the day.

We were soon after ordered to fall back to Centreville, where several regiments were forming to resist the imagined attack from thousands of rebel cavalry, supposed to be in pursuit of our now retreating army. As we took our position in line, some acting General, probably drunk or half scared to death, shouted out in a very loud, excited voice: “The cavalry are upon us; we shall all be cut to pieces; for God Almighty’s sake move out here, or we shall all be cut to pieces!” And then addressing himself to the artillerymen he commanded, “Why in h—l don’t you fire?” And they did, and away went the cavalry, which was to cut us all to pieces, and which consisted, as near as I could see, of some few dozen horsemen just emerged from the woods we had left, and certainly were not so formidable as to call out an expression of fear or terror made use of by our acting General, and which, I have no doubt did much towards unnerving many who could not of themselves see that what their General told them was untrue, and added materially to the general confusion that followed in our horrid retreat shortly afterwards. As we were not molested during the evening by the enemy of any sort, we were allowed to lay down on our arms in line of battle, ready to resist an attack at a moment’s warning, on the damp, cold ground (for the dew had commended to fall, and all the nights are quite cold in Virginia,) to rest and sleep. I know not how it was with my comrades, but I never slept more soundly in my life than I did there in the open air upon the battle-field, where our General would have us believe we were liable to be attacked and utterly cut to pieces at any moment. I could not realize that we were in any such great danger; and to-day, after looking the ground all over, I cannot bring myself to believe there was the least danger imagined; and when at eleven o’clock we were aroused up and ordered to fall back to Fairfax Court House, and finally to Alexandria, it seemed to me that orders were being issued by secessionists, who were having the thing all their own way by merely ordering it so, and, I am sorry to say, this belief has not entirely left me yet. Our Regiment reached our old camp ground at noon of the next day, nearly used up from excessive travel, but not a man had received a scratch from the hands of the rebels. Most of the fighting was done at the right of the line and not in our vicinity. A few wounded men, skirmishers, were carried off the field on the left, and but a few; and in addition to these, the first sight that met our eyes, when we went to the relief of the artillery, was the almost lifeless body of a dying lieutenant of the artillery company, who was mortally wounded by a musket ball at the first attack upon the battery.

I must confess that when I again reached camp I felt somewhat rheumatic, as well as a good deal used up. For a whole week we had lived upon the hardest kind of fare, and often too little of that. At night we slept upon the ground, without the least shelter, no matter though the rain fell, as it did occasionally, and lucky was the man who had both his rubber and blanket. As for myself, by chance I had no blanket or overcoat, but as the boys were some of them very kind to me, I managed to get along very well, and in a fe days I shall be ready, under a new leadership, to march again to the scene of action with, I trust, a different result. One of our Generals told me on our return that our probable loss was from four to six thousand, but this is all nonsense; straggling soldiers have not yet ceased coming in, and already the reliable estimated loss is reduced to some six hundred.

I really believe that if we had maintained our ground at Centreville the enemy would have retreated much faster towards Richmond the next morning than we did towards Alexandria. But as it is it may all be for the best.

You will please say to the citizens of Tompkins through our papers, that not a man of our two Ithaca companies as yet has been harmed by a secessionist bullet.

Ever truly yours,

——

Ithaca [N. Y.] Journal and Advertiser, 7/31/1861

Clipping Image

Contributed by John Hennessy