With what different feelings do I make a record in this
little note book today, from last Saturday! Last night my husband, almost
without any warning, (none, except that we heard Jackson had relieved the corps
from farther duty, and they were soon to return), stepped in upon us just as
tea was over. What a welcome we gave him! I do thank God for his mercy in
having fulfilled my petitions, as I would fain hope, in restoring to me safe my
precious husband. He was not in the battle at McDowell, though they marched 40
miles in one day in order to come up in time. The fight was just over, but he
was left in charge of the battle field, helped to bury the dead, and saw the
wounded borne off the field; the Southerners lost some 60 or 70 killed, and
some 280 wounded; about 340 he certainly thinks in all. What the Federal loss
was he could not tell. The Confederates buried about 40 of them, and the
country people around say that multitudes of wagon-loads of dead and wounded
were carried away. As the Confederates pursued, they came upon many graves just
filled up, but how many were in them of course they could not tell. It seemed
awfully unfeeling to hear Mr. P. say that they took off the dead men's shoes
before burying them, and in one instance a soldier applied to him for leave to
wear them. He stopped one soldier who was cutting buttons off a dead Federal's
coat. (Buttons are a scarce article in the Confederacy!) The corps of cadets
could not get the permission of the Board of Visitors to continue in the
service, or they would have gone on with Jackson's army, as he desired them to
do. This accounts for their return.
SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and
Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 140-1
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