£ DOLL (R PER ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. TOWANDA : . *+++* * Thursday Morning, August 8, 1861. [From Wilkes's Spirit of the Times J The Battle as seen by an Eye-Witness. WASHINGTON, Friday, July 26, 1861. The minor action on the 18th, though end a serious repulse, served but to stimulate ,e ardor of our troops; and as I walked, on he following morning, among the swarming battalions that rested in the valley this side of Centreville I heard but one wish expressed, JA that wish was that we should again and I once move forward, and wipe out the d.s- ; Lee of that temporary check before the ex-, oiling rebels could take fresh heart by their It was soon plain, however, that (ilT McDowell, warned by the unexpected evidence of strength which had been develop ed from the treacherous covert at Bull Ruu, had determined to remain for a time near Cen treville while he made the minute reconnois junce which was necessary before a general attack The teams, therefore, were turned from the tlving batteries and wagons, and the fine army beeves, which were our best camp followers, were driven in and slaughtered by the wholesale, under an order for the prepa ration of three days' rations. " Griui-visaged I war rtlaitii his wrinkled trout," and now, in stead of prancinjg steads and regiments drawn II M in line, nothing could be seen through the ere valley but lounging swarms surrounding ccaiß kettles, whose ardor and whose fullness | hroaitht hack the picture of the wedding of Cimacho. Jt was in the midst of this vast I picnic and these savory steams that theSecre- I arv of War paid a visit to the scene, and im I parted, by the mere fact of his presence, an I assurance tiiat we would not move lat day. When lie left ns in the afternoon, ftvro were some who believed we were on the ■ kof action; but the majority were of the I-mion that the general advance would not F mole till daybreak Monday morning. This f ai the prevailing notion in the California I amp (whose head quarters I had halt adopt ed, in view of the impending departure of the Seventy-first,) and, I must confess, it was ! partly none. I had, however, at the same time, an idea that we might, perhaps, wait till , lien.' Ratterson could descend from Harper's Ferry and co operate on our right. ; Tne night wore quietly away, with the ex ception of a slight alarm at the distant cot- ] t.ige where f slept, and, which though more | than a mil • from our lines, I had chosen for | the convenience of making up my letters. At j I io hours past midnight, three or four vol-I I of musketry from a grove near by startled It;awake, and, as I rose upon my arm, 1 could ft-;r the squad of Germans who were picketed I 'atli the porch cautiously cock their mns- j Mi 'in expectation of an attack. Bat the lir ■ gsooii ceased, and daybreak revealed the |hit that it prorccdsd from newly arrived reg inents which had settled themselves hard by, W.'JO had been merely expelling stale charges bin their pieces in anticipation of important rjrk CRN. MCnOWEM.'s PI.AN. Meanwhile, and all the following l day. the ablest engineers of Gen McDowell's staff had liecn reconnoitering for miles around, and the fruit of their labors was h report that the en t-mv's position could not Ik* turned to the left or southward,) by reason of the roughness of the roads; that it was not advisable to renew the attack of the IStli on the battery of Bull llun, Imt that the road to the light through Oritrerille, was a practicable nvenue to an | other crossing, and which was undefended, and to which artillery could not be easily drawn. This was called the Warrcnton road, ami at some distance down, it had the fur ther advantage of a path diverging from it to the northward, by which a circuit could be made to the rear of certain heavy batteries, which the course of the main road itself would wide us to strike in front. It was therefore frded hy (Jen. McDowell to send merely one Iflgade to Bull Run to hold the battery in 'heck, and to make his grand attack by the road, relying upon the column that * to pass off into the northward path to 'am the enemy's position and throw it into < infusion while attacked by us upon its face. 1 'is seemed to be a very proper and consistent I'M. Undoubtedly the theory of it was plan (as a theory,) and it might have heen practically successful, had it but fitted 'he proportions of the enemy. Unfortunate ly, however, Gen. McDowell had not taken 'he fall measure of his foe, and the ci r cuit *hich he had decided upon, instead of reach the base of the Rebel's principal position merely plunged against the side'of his trian ?e, where he was most fearfully in strength, Md where the most desperate valor could but "*rve to feed his guns. The Confederates, as te might have ascertained, numbered, with Ca t Johnston and his forces, at least 70,000 ® l ' n ; and he now proposed to fling against j 'compact mass, reposing in jungles behind ; arteries of the heaviest guns, some six orsev brigades, to explore the labyrinth of 'ffrible position, and seek, by impetus alone, J° 1)0,114 hole through it, and hold on to the lo *er end. . I' must he stated at this time, that while w. McDowell was forming his calculations '"the basis of hin engineers' report, he was nwaro that Gen. Patterson was but 50 miles w ' t ' 1 a Federal army of nearly " "D men, who were then employed in watch- J l .", 80 f T lB ' rebel force nnder Gen. Johnston, a v ' ew °f preventing him from descend 2'o Manassas. He knew, also, that while Mon, from having a railway track behind ■ could reach Manassas in two days, Put -,i cou 'd riot follow, over obstructed roads th ,r '."- en bridges, in less than five. Under cor- Circ,mistauees ' would seem that the ...iionest military prudence would have sug ed aV' iug between the acquisition of some traitor's scalp, down to the possession of a palmetto button. The marching line replied with va- : li iu< conceits, but in most cases the requests I were responded to with a large excess ot pro mise. ft was, indeed, a gallant sight ; how sadly to be changed in a few hours none of j them, fortunately, knew, By 3 1-2 o'clock, ' the last bayonet had disappeared over the hill j and the entire column was on its way bv the memorable Warrenpoiut turnpike to teek its | fortune. The halts were numerous, in order i that the Generals luignt insure the compact- i ness of the line, and presently we all passed across a wooden bridge in quiet, no challenge being made that might prevent us from reach ing the deepest entangle sent where the foe desired to give us more bitter battle. Ouward we went, the soldiers cursing the rough road, wondering when they would have breakfast, or vowing to get even on the fellows who had put tlicni to all this trouble. The day broke mildly as we pushed aiong, and many asoldier thought from the dead silence of the woods that lined the road at iutervals, we should have no battle after all. Presently we struck the path that branched off to the right, and here the column, under Hunter's lead, broke off, while the central column, with McDowell at its head, went directly on. THE MAIN' ATTACK. As the circuit of the flanking column was to be a wide one, aud as it could not reach its destined point and come into action with effect, in less than two or three hours, our first atten tion must be given to the maiu column accom panied by the Commander-in-Ctiief. It was | broad day wheu we parted with the flanking i column, and we proceeded along with an easy I step, with our skirmishers well in advance, and | watchful, on the look-out. No traces of the i enemy appeared, however, and the extraordi nary quiet of the scene, coupled with tiie fact ; that our entire coiumu had been allowed to I cross the wooden bridge unmolested, induced j many to believe that the enemy, consulting : prudence, would yield the defenses of the Run aud give us battle ouly at Manassas. But this idea was formed iu perfect ignorance of the extent of the Confederate dtfeuses, for we were | already within range'of some of their batter ] ics, and at the close of the day they lauded ! their shell upon the bridge with murderous ef i feet. In short, their whole strategy was aile ; coy, and their hasty retirement from Fairfax, ; and pretended abandonment of camp furniture, ! as well as the shallow obstruction of our ad vance by leveled trees, were merely portions of a well digested plan, to coax our army, step by step, into their gigantic trap. Of all pla ces, therefore, on the whole continent, Alau nassas, and its miles of its densely serried bat teries, was the last with which the Federal Army had any business ; yet, there we were, " going it blind," with the vain coufldeuce of fools, on perfectly good terms with ourselves, and exalting in advance the profound military leader, who was thus giving us a chance to ae- "REGARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER.' velop his keen foresight and commanding ge nius After we bad got about a mile aud a half beyond the wooden bridge, the road be gan gradually to slope toward the Run, and to be more closed in with trees ; and even at that early hour the coolness of those leafy I aisles, was felt as a relief from the already hot and dusty path. After we emerged from this I pleasing shelter, the column proceeded along to the distance of, perhaps,a quarter of a mile, descending all the while toward a ravine which harbored a sluggish stream crossed by a stone bridge. From that point the enemy's defenses rose, spreading and thickening at easy inter vals, and surmounted by powerful batteries where the lino met the horizon ; and I may pause here to say—with powerful batteries packed, aud extending behind that line for miles along. Suddenly, an exclatnatiou of " There they are !" from a member of Gener cral Tyler's staff, brought our column to a stand. Every field olficer at once brought his glass to bear, and the consciousness that we were surely to have a fight ran in an electric ' whisper along the entire column. There, In deed, they were, the Rebels, down in a mea i dow, still a distance off, and riot boldly pre-1 ceptible, because of the dark background of ! the woods. It was a body of infantry drawn up in line of battle, its full strength concealed j from being extended partly in the forest. It i was now necessary that we also should take ! battle order—so we deployed into the adjoin- ! iug fields, Geu. Scbenck's brigade, consisting of the 2d New York and Ist and 2d Ohio Re giments, being extended to the left, and Sher man's brigade, composed of the New York 1 09th, 79tli, 13th and 2d Wisconsin, stretching on the right. The large rifled 32 pounder was then brought forward through the center, and j put into position in the middle of the road. The enemy evidently saw this movement with their glasses, for they suddenly fell back, whereupon the gnn, giving out its thunder, flung a shell towards the spot of their retire ment. The fuse was short, however, and after plowing its roaring progress just over the j proper spot, it burst harmless in air. But j the echoes of that solemn challenge announced to a hundred and fifty thou-ainl armed men ; that the battle had begun. The silence that ; followed was profound ; but it was broken by no answer from the enemy ; so. after a pause of several minutes, our iron monster spoke again, this time leveling itself at a battery higher on the hill, and dropping its compli- i meut directly inside the works, to the destruc-1 tion, as we were afterwards informed, of half j a dozen men. The enemy, nevertheless, did j not seem to think the game quiet made, and ! though he was near enough, as subsequent ly proved, to reach us from two or three posi tions on our right and left, persisted in a sul len silence. Our first shot had been fired at half-past six, and it was now after seven ; still the foe dained no response, and it was plain ! he would not be satisGed unless we sought him j deeper in his fastnesses. The big gun, there- fore, was superseded by light artillery for; closer service, and an order was given for] the j brigades, thus strengthened,to move right and i left and explore the adjoining woods. This order necessarily brought up the brigade of , Keyes, which now occupied the center, but i >till acting as a reserve. The timber branch- j ed away on either side in a sort of crescent toward the batteries of the enemy ; on the i right hand, however it pursued the straight ' line. Both brigades, without skirmishers well j out at once proceeded upon their respective i tasks, Scheuck following at a left oblique along j the edge of the wood, with Col. M'Cook ami i the Ist Ohio in the lead ; Col. Tompkins and j the New-York 2d next, with the 3d Ohio, | under Col. Harris, in the rear. The brigade; proceeded in this way, exhibiting the utmost caution lor the distance of about a mile, when they struck a fine newly-opened road to the ■ left, whose clean, broad path seemed to invite their entrance. They turned iuto it and fol- j lowed it for some distance, when, to their sur- j prise, it ended abruptly to a fence, with no evidence of any road beyond. Suddeuly the enemy showed himself in two or three places to the left, and shaking his flag at our troops, opened a tremendous lire. It was promptly ! answered by the whole brigade, who endured the storm of balls with the greates fortitude, j and returned fire for fire. Several fell at this spot, and among others, the favorite ! drummer boy of the '2d. The poor little fel-1 low was struck by a cannon ball, which took him just below the arm-pits and literally cut biin in two, his childish shriek of pain rniug ling with the whistle of the rifled shot as his little life went with it down the wind. The storm from the batteries seemed now to in crease rather than to slacken, and unable to endure it in such an exposed position, the brigade fell, in good order, back upon the wood. General Schenrk, who exhibited throughout the whole affair the most reckless bravery, uow ordered his men to emerge and charge the main battery by a flank movement, but owing to the remonstrances of nearly all the officers, the desperate project was abandoned. The men, though now out of musket range, were yet subjected to the constant drop of shell,which seemed to have instinctively found out their leafy covert; so, after consultation, they were drawn off aud retired, in good order, to their position in the neighborhood of the Parrot gun ; hearing on their way the thunder of battle on the right, with an occa sional heavy report from Richardson, on the extreme left, to indicate that the enemy had been putting his feelers forward at Bull Run, to try whether a movement to turn our rear .were practicable in that quarter. The Sherman brigade, which had separated from the central column, and went off to the light at the same time that Sehenck's brigade set out in the opposite direction, had pro cecded but a little way upon their errand he fore they were saluted with fearful showers of shot and shell ; but receiving it only as a pro vocation, they overraD two or three earthworks with their headlong charges, the Irishmen and Highlanders screaming with excitement all the while, and the stout Wisconsouiatiß and brave New-York 13th silently wading by their sides. But we must now leave them ia the midst of this pleasant and congenial work, to follow the fortunes of the flanking eolumn THE BATTLE OS THEfLANB. Having now shown the course and features of the tattle on the centre, for three hours, we now turn to the flanking column, which was expected to be able, in about that time, to turu the rear of the Confederate position, and unite itself, through the broken columns of the foe, with the direct onward tide. This column, as I have already stated, con tained the two divisiousof Hunter, and Heint zlemeu, and ft was led by the Brunside brigade, consisting of the Ist and 2d Rode Islanders, the 2d New-Hampshire, and the New York "Ist. The next brigade was com posed of the New-York Bth, 14th, and 27th ; the next of the Ist Michigan, the Fire Zouaves and the 38tb New-York ; the uext, the sth Massachusetts, and Ist Minnesota, and the last, the 3d and 4th and sth Maine, and 2d Vermont. The Colonels of those regi ments respectively, in the order I have placed them, were I'itiuan, Sloctim, Marston, Martin Lyons, Wood, Slocutn, Comstock. Farnham, Ward, Lawrence, Gorman, Tucker, Berry, Gontiel, and Whitney. The reader, who is specially interested, will place them for him self. Immediately after leaving the central col umn, the Buriiside brigade having the lead, > threw out its skirmishers, and proceeded along ' at a brisk rate, perserving, however, common j time, in view of the iong'distauce to be made.— The course for the first fore or five miles, was I rather boldly to the right. It then inclined more gently to the northward, and then, after some eight or nine miles had beeu accompish- [ ed, curved sharp toward the left. The march I was a most fatiguing one, and though shaded to considerable extent by long stretches of ! close timber, much of it lay in the glare of j the hot sun, and all of it had its share of | stifling dust, except wliere we crossed the i fields. But the men were hungry and also very much fatigued, most ot them having 5 got but two or three hours' sleep the night j ! before. Still they trudged cheerfully along, animated by the task before them, and made more elastic by the sound of the cannonade, which had for some time been heard, and which they were now seusibly approaching.— In the brigade, nay, in the whole line, none i heard this with higher spirit than the 71st. j ! About 10 o'clock the, head of the column | came into an open country, and after proceed ing in it for a mile, Capt. Ellis of the 71st, | detected a masked battery about half a mile I to the left ; and bringing our .glasses to bear upon it, we could also preceive the enemy moving to their position through the woods, iu considerable force. Soou after this, Gen j M'Dowtll came riding up, and orders were > given that we should proceed at more rapid | pace, and an hour more brought the brigade close to the rattle of the strife. The columu now made its final curve, and turning sharp- j ly to tire left faced the rear of battle as it ; came from the head of the central column which, under the lead of the 69th, was now ! pressing its way toward us. The dins of guns I and musketry at this point was almost deaf- : ening, and the very earth trembled with the ! i roar of the heavier artillery. Burnside, who | was forward, then sent an order to the 71st ; to take its howitzers and dash through a ' < piece of woods, and form its positiou on the right of the Rhode Islanders. Obeying the orders with alacrity, the "Ist passed the New Hampshier men in their impetuosity and emerged into the fire, while the 2d N. H. formed in good order on the extreme right. It was now nearly four o'clock, p. m , and the general battle seemed to have subsided ; nay, almost entirely to have ceased ; and notb ing but an occasional great gun, and isolated flirt of musketry proclaimed its countinuance in any quarter. In their ignorance of the ex tent of the field, the Federal forces imagined they had won a victory. They had shown greater dash and steadiuess than the enemy i from first to last ; and while, by far, the most exposed, had inflicted a much heavier slaught er thau they had undergone themselves. The whole aspect within our lines, or rather within the boundaries of our brigades, wore the look of triumph. Our enemies, wherever we had met them baud to hand, in anything like open opportunity, had sunk before us ; all their bafc | teries immediately within our reach had silenc ed ; but, what was iufinitely more conclusive to our green appreciations, General McDowell, our Cammander-in Chief,now came jingling on the field, waving, first his glove, and then his hat, calling us " brave boys," and telling us with the grand air of Caesar, that we had won the day. He passed away like a splendid dream. "A big thing," in glorious uniform, aud branching new regulation hat. After our joyful shouts had gone down the wind after him, our tired legions flung them selves, by oue accord, upon the ground,to take a brief suap at their haversacks, und to catch a few minutes repose before making their final dispositions for tho day. Perhaps no army which had.won a victory was ever more fa tigued, and tho men as they lay upon their sides, and rehearsed the horrors of the day, wondered how they had held out so long.— •Many, however, had not even this repose, for they were bearing off their wounded comrade? to the hospital, and others were searching for their sworn brethren in arms among the dead These lay about in the most fantastic shapes some absolutely headless, some represented bj a gory trunk alone, some with smiles,and sotut with rage upon their lips,as they grasped tbeii bent and curiously twisted weapons, and som< actually rolled up like a ball Whoever woulc study the eccentricities of carnage, might hert have graduated through all the degrees of hor ror, to a full experience at once. Nearly the whole of our army was now grouped pretty well together. The brigade: which had made the circuit against the enemy': .•