A World on Fire_ Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War - Amanda Foreman [170]
The Second Battle of Bull Run began piecemeal on August 28 and roared into life on the twenty-ninth. In the thirteen months since the first battle, the armies had grown in size and the men had become hardened and more experienced. Once again, Henry House Hill became the focus of bitter fighting, although this time it was the Federals who held the hill and the Confederates who were cut down trying to dislodge them. Pope had no idea that Lee and Longstreet had arrived with the other half of the Army of Northern Virginia. After the firing drew to a halt on the evening of the twenty-ninth, Pope was so confident he had won that he sent a dispatch to Washington announcing his victory. He was unprepared for the full Confederate assault the following day. At 7:00 P.M. on the thirtieth, a shocked and disconsolate Pope reluctantly ordered his army to retreat.
Map.10 Second Bull Run or Manassas, August 28–30, 1862
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Ill.22 The Federal army makes its stand on Henry House Hill, Second Bull Run, by Frank Vizetelly.
The 1st New Jersey Cavalry was massed behind a thickly wooded forest with orders to stop the retreat from turning into a rout, but as tens of soldiers became hundreds and then thousands, the regiment lost its cohesion. Stray gunfire contributed to the Cavaliers’ difficulties. Above the din came the order to fall back, which some of the riders interpreted to mean they could gallop off, touching a nerve with Sir Percy. The familiar twiddling of his mustache began. Threatening to shoot any man who disobeyed, he forced the men to bring their horses back into line and perform the action as though they were on parade. “The twirl of that long moustache,” wrote the regiment’s chaplain, “was more formidable than a rifle.”80
There were five thousand casualties at the first Battle of Bull Run; at the second, twenty-five thousand. Lee had lost proportionately more men, however, and his army was in no shape to pursue the Federals.12.6
Lincoln had eaten dinner at Secretary Stanton’s house on the thirtieth, thinking that Pope was his man. But by the time he retired to bed, the news had come through of the army’s defeat. Once again, the residents of Washington woke up to the sight of leaderless soldiers pouring through the streets, filthy, hungry, and clearly in search of a drink. Only this time, behind them came wagon after wagon of the wounded and dying. “So,” lamented the treasurer of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, George Templeton Strong, “after all this waste of life and money and material, we are at best where we were a year ago.”82
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12.1 In the same letter, Spence also suggested that the Southerners consider changing their name from Confederate States to “Southern Union,” which sounded better to English ears. When Mason forwarded his request to Benjamin, he asked the secretary of state not to take offense. Spence’s objection to the word “Confederacy” sounded lunatic, Mason admitted, but he was speaking “from an English business point of view.” He assured Benjamin that on all other matters Spence was a “man of large research, liberal and expanded views.” Moreover, he had close ties to The Times, and his book, The American Union, continued to outsell every other work on the subject.25
12.2 Le Constitutionnel was generally considered to be the mouthpiece of the French government. This “seems like a preparation of the public mind for a mediation on the part of France in the American conflict,” noted the diarist Henry Greville on June 2, “and to-day The Times has put forth a leader strongly advocating it.”38
12.3 Although the strike leaders Aitken and Grimshaw were able