Much busied at Department to-day, although it is Sunday; and
spent much time with the President, endeavoring to close appointments under Tax
Law.
David Dudley Field called and said we had sustained a
serious defeat yesterday, and that the Secretary of War wished to see me. Went
to the Department and found that Genl. Pope had, in fact, been defeated
partially, and had fallen back to Centreville. Fitz John Porter was not in the
battle, nor was Franklin or Sumner, with whose corps the result would have
probably been very different. Little fighting to-day. Clerks went out to
battle-field as nurses, Mr. Harrington went with them.
SOURCE: Annual Report of the American Historical
Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 62-3
