I attended services
at Manassas last Sunday, but before the meeting closed I was obliged to depart
for this city. For particulars see the New York daily papers.
I am now bolstered
up in bed, making my first attempt at writing. I am as happy as a clam in high
water. My regiment covered itself with glory. It was one of the first in, and
the last out. Not a man showed the white feather. They fought until all their
ammunition was expended, and when the stampede commenced, General McDowell
ordered the officers to form all the regiments in line so as to make another
stand, or, at least, make an orderly retreat. . . . Finally, he gave up the
attempt, and we were ordered to retreat.
After going a few
rods the General made another attempt to check the utter rout of our troops. He
again ordered the regiments to form in line, but ours was the only one that
could be formed again. The General then cried out in a loud voice,
"Soldiers, form on that noble regiment! We must make a stand.” . . . This
same attempt was repeated a third time, with the same result. A person told me
to-day that General McDowell reported all this to General Scott, with a high
encomium on the regiment.
All this may appear
singular in view of the accounts of the battle given in the New York papers,
wherein our regiment is not even mentioned. . . . But the truth is known in
quarters where I desire to have it known. It is all right.
I had almost
forgotten to tell you about my wound. It is doing well, and pains me but
little. I would agree to take another just like it if I could thereby secure as
good conduct on the part of my regiment when it takes the field again.
SOURCE: New York
(State). Monuments Commission for the Battlefields of Gettysburg and
Chattanooga, In Memoriam : Henry Warner
Slocum, 1826-1894, p. 70
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