Southern Historical Society Papers/Volume 40/Second Manassas
BATTLE OF SECOND MANASSAS, INCLUDING
OX HILL.
Extracts from the War Record of James M. Garnett, late Captain and
Ordnance Officer of Grimes' (formerly Rhodes') Division,
Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, C.S.A.
I have never written a full account of the Second Battle of Manassas, but in Volume 2, of my (M. S.) "Papers and Reviews" there will be found reviews of Vols I and II of "Papers of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts," contributed to the Richmond Times of February 23 and March I, 1896, Vol. I treating of the "Campaigns of Virginia, 1861-62," and Vol. II of "The Virginia Campaign of 1862 under General Pope." These volumes well deserve publication, and are of great interest to the military student. I have no other copies of these reviews except the ones above mentioned, but in Volume 2 of my M. S. "Papers and Reviews" will be found my descriptions of the battles of Cedar Mountain and Second Manassas. From the latter and my personal recollections, I shall write here an account of the Second Manassas as far as I was in it. I have written previously an account of Cedar Mountain.
"After spending the night in the woods above the old unfinished railroad cut, not far from Dudley Mills, we awoke next morning much refreshed, but hungry, as our feast at Manassas did not last long. We waited for Longstreet all day of the 28th, but heard nothing of him. Nor did we see anything of the Yankees until the afternoon, when skirmishing began on our right, and soon both of our divisions, Jackson's and Swell's, were ordered in. Our division was now commanded by Gen. Wm. B. Taliaferro and our brigade by Col. W. H. S. Baylor, of the Fifth Virginia regiment. General Jackson having no staff officer with him, and seeing me (that formerly served on his staff), directed me to bring up Gen. A. P. Hill. I inquired where I should find him, and he simply replied, "Over in that direction," pointing with his hand. If I had known then what I learned aferwards, that Gen. A. P. Hill had switched from Manassas to Centreville and was then probably on the old Warrenton and Alexandria turnpike, somewhere between Cen- treville and Gainesville, I might have found him, but I did not know, and General Jackson did not tell me, so I rode around the country all the afternoon to no purpose. If I had not been sent off I should have gone in with our brigade (Stonewall) and might have been killed, as poor Col. Hoff, Thirty-third Virginia, was, for King's Division, the attacked party, put up a very stiff fight, and did not draw off until after dark. General Taliaferro was wounded, and so was Gen. Ewell, who lost his leg, and I think that considerably affected his future efficiency as a general. When I returned, the fight was over, and we had to mourn many killed and wounded in our brigade, especially in the Washington College company, the "Liberty Hall Volunteers," of the Fourth Virginia Regiment.
Next morning (August 29th) we continued our bivouac in the woods, our division (now commanded by Gen. Starke, of the Louisiana brigade) occupying the right of the line of battle, Ewell's, now Lawton's, division, next and A. P. Hill's on the left. We bore the brunt of this day's battle, which did not begin with our division unitl about 2 P. M., or later, although the battle is called the battle of Groveton, which was beyond our right. It was this afternoon, I think, that we charged through the woods in front of us to relieve Hill's troops and reached the open field on the farther side, but soon returned to our position, for there was no intention of bringing on a general engagement until Longstreet arrived. He came by twelve o'clock, some say earlier, although Pope would not believe it, but, as usual, it took a long time to get ready, and he wasn't in it until late that evening, when Hood's division drove back Hatch's, and we awaited the next day.
A large quantity of artillery was massed on a hill between the two corps, under Col. Stephen D. Lee, and it did good service next day in repulsing the attacks made on us, for it had an enfilade fire, and it was well handled. The artillery of our corps was handled Col. Stapleton Crutchfield.
Second Manassas.
With no tents and no cooking, we were up early on Saturday morning, August 30th, and our brigade (Stonewall), Col. Baylor commanding, took position in the edge of the woods above the railroad cut, which was here some fifteen or twenty feet deep. The ground sloped in either direction, right and left; and Col. Bradley T. Johnson, commanding the second brigade of Jackson's division, was on our right beyond the railroad cut, but was later transferred to our left; then came the third brigade, Col. Taliaferro's, and beyond him the fourth, the Louisiana brigade, Gen. Starke's, who now commanded our division. As we moved to our position we heard occasional firing on our left and front; thinking it from stragglers firing off their guns, as stragglers will do, Col. Baylor said to me: "Ride over there and stop that firing." I rode down the road leading to Sudley Mills, and when directly opposite the firing, I turned off to the right through the thick woods, rode towards the firing, when, all of a sudden, I was accosted: "Halt there! halt!" I looked up, and to my surprise, along the old railroad cut in the woods, about twenty or thirty yards in front of me, was ranged a line of Yankee skirmishers, who had quietly stolen up and were popping at everything they could indistinctly see passing along the road, ambulances and such like. For a moment the thought passed through my mind, had I not better halt, but visions of a Yankee prison loomed up, and I prepared to trust to my horse's heels, as I turned at once and as I did so, the branches of the trees knocked off my fine hat—the only remains of the Manassas plunder, and as there was no time to stop, that hat was irretrievably lost. Now came the forethought. When I get out on the road, I pulled out my old cap from the saddle-pockets, as I didn't like to report to Col. Baylor bareheaded, and I quickly rejoined the brigade. I reported to the Colonel that I couldn't stop that firing, and informed him from what it proceeded. A. P. Hill, on our left, soon sent forward some men, and the Yankee skirmishers departed. I think their stealing up was due to the temporary withdrawal of Hill's men to cook rations, but no harm was done, and the cut was soon in our possession again. Of course these skirmishers "popped" at me as I rode back, but the woods were thick and my horse fleet, so I got back unharmed. I mourned over that hat, and my old cap had to do duty again for that campaign.
We had a good position on the hill, but could not cross the cut without moving to the right or left, so it was a barrier to both sides. We lay there all the morning, and I think it was about midday when the enemy advanced on us, Fitz John Porter's corps, as we afterwards learned. They came up in good order, and as those opposite us reached the fence on top of the railroad cut, they lay down and commenced firing. I recollect distinctly seeing their flag held up against the fence. Between the woods and the cut there was a small open space in front of us, and Col. Baylor, flagstaff in hand, Nat Burwell, sergeant-major of the Second Virginia Regiment, and some others went out into the open space, and were soon killed. It was a rash exposure of themselves, for neither the Yankees nor we could cross the railroad cut at that point. I remained in the edge of the woods and had plenty of company, for I recollect seeing Capt. Raleigh Colston, later Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Virginia, Maj. Williams, of the Fifth Virginia, and others near me. The woods were full of men and officers. Presently I felt a sting in the meat part of my left thigh, and clapped my hand to the place, thinking I was wounded. I was on foot holding my horse's bridle. But on examination it proved to be only a sting, although there were two holes in my clothes. Not long afterward John Baldwin, sergeant-major of the Thirty-third Virginia, whom I knew very well, came to me and said in an excited tone: "Mr. Garnett, for God's sake can't you bring us some re-inforcements?" I told him that I would try, so I rode off to the left in the woods to where Gen. Starke was, and reported our situation. He replied that he had no troops that he could send, but directed me to ride back to Gen. A. P. Hill, who had some troops in reserve. As I went back, I met Fender's brigade marching through the woods, and when I reported what Gen. Starke said, Gen. Hill replied "I have Just a brigade (Fender's), but I'll send another." But when I returned to our position, the whole line had moved forward. Fender's brigade proved to be sufficient for present needs, and our men had charged through the woods and across the open field beyond. The hill just in front of us was covered with dead men, and to our left. The Irish battalion of the second brigade had fought with stones after their ammunition gave out, and it is credibly stated that my friend and old college-mate, Lewis Randolph, a lieutenant in the Irish battalion (First Virginia battalion), killed a Yankee with a large stone. Our artillery on the hill to our right had taken Porter's men in flank as they advanced, and broken the force of the attack. Longstreet's corps had moved forward in a body, and soon we had them "on the run." The battle lasted all the afternoon, and by dark we had driven the enemy across Bull Run, a little more daylight and we should have had an even more complete victory.
We spent the night on the field, fully a mile in advance of our position during the day. We had to mourn the loss of many gallant men, our brigade commander, Col. Baylor, in particular. He was a fine man and a fine officer. His death left Col. Grigsby, of the Twenty-seventh Virginia, the gallant Grigsby, who knew no fear, in command of the brigade, the fourth commander that the brigade had during the campaign, two, Winder and Baylor, having been killed in action.
Ox Hill.
The next day was rainy and sloppy, but Gen. Lee wanted to flank Pope again, so off we started that afternoon, reaching Little River turnpike, which was through Fairfax Courthouse, by night. Next morning we kept on down the turnpike, our division bringing up the rear, A. P. Hill leading, and Lawton being second. Pope had been reinforced at Centreville, and expected that we should soon be after him, which expectation was soon gratified. This fight, Ox Hill, was chiefly A. P. Hill's, but we were "in it" late in the evening, although some of the books don't give us credit for being there. Generals Kearny and Stevens were killed in front of A. P. Hill, and Lawton fought on his left. We marched on down the turnpike (south) and turned to the right at the road leading across the turnpike on top of the hill beyond the Chantilly house. We took position in line of battle in the woods on our extreme left not far from the turnpike. We lay down in the woods for some time, awaiting whatever might turn up, having thrown out skirmishers. I recollect riding to the fence in our front of the woods, and seeing the Yankee skirmishers in the field beyond. At nearly dark we were suddenly roused by a volley from both sides, which caused each side to retire rapidly. Our men, however, soon rallied. I picked up a flag that had been dropped in the sudden encounter, and rode along our line to see where it belonged. Two regiments were without flags. I first rode to Capt. Raleigh Colston, commanding the Second Virginia regiment, and asked if it was his flag. He replied, "No, sir; I left mine back with the wagon-train." I then went to Maj. Williams, commanding the Fifth Virginia, and asked him. He looked over his regiment and replied: "Well, I reckon it must be." I presented it to him to return to his color-bearer. We never saw anything more of the enemy, so they were worse scared than we were.
The men were so tired and nervous from continual marching and fighting that the pop of a cap would start them off, but they would soon rally. We withdrew after dark and bivouacked for the night. This closed the Second Manassas campaign and we got ready to cross the Potomac.