The Dominion's Dilemma: The United States of British America (86 page)

      Hodges looked around to Colonel Hitchcock, who was standing apart from Wool and his staff, watching the catastrophe unfold, his hat twisted roughly in his right hand. “Colonel Hitchcock, Sir! We must advance! It is your Division! Do you not agree?”

      Hitchcock was silent, as if unhearing. It was the I Corps commander who spoke: “Colonel Hitchcock has been relieved of command, at his own request. You, Sir, are now in command of the Division.” Hodges’ jaw dropped and Wool continued:

     “The II is advancing only because the Rebels are concentrating their artillery on this Corps.  The day is lost, Colonel. We must retreat and then the Rebel artillery will cut the II to pieces.” Taking off his hat, he paused and continued, as if lecturing himself: “I must keep the remainder of the Corps intact to defend against what will certainly now be a Rebel attack on Georgetown.”

      Hodges could barely contain his fury…or his contempt. He angrily reined his horse in a tight circle around Wool.  “General, we have 14 fresh regiments and our own artillery. To retire now would be a disgrace; a bloody obscenity!”

      Wool adjusted his hat. “You are relieved, Colonel.”

___________

West of Flat Run

Southeast of the Battlefield

11:30 a.m.:

     Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee had pulled his 1
^st
Virginia Infantry back from Blackburn’s Ford to a dusty road that led to this offshoot of Bull Run. There they had met up, per his hasty written order, with the 2
^nd
and 3
^rd
Virginias, which had been posted at fords further east. Now he was hurrying the combined force across and up toward the sound of the fighting.

     Robert was excited and surprised to be leading what amounted to a small brigade. His previous instructions were limited to coordination of the separate regiments’ guard duty at the various fords until the direction of the Dominion advance became clearer. This morning, however, Sidney Johnston had made it official: he was to take command and hurry the regiments to the fight…as soon as the Cavalry definitively determined the Yankees were not forcing the southeastern crossings.

       He had heard the opening guns of the battle almost three hours ago and had waited impatiently for the horsemen’s report, having notified the commanders of the 2
^nd
and 3
^rd
of Johnston’s order. The report had come in after 10:00 a.m.: there were no Yankees east of Island Ford. Now they were headed, a color-bearer with the new CSA colors in the lead, to the fight. Colonel Lee expected to join in once the brigade crested this big, wide hill looming just northwest of Flat Run. He’d sent messengers to report to Johnston and Taylor: the Virginia Brigade would be on the field by 12:30 p.m.

___________

Confederate Field Headquarters

Henry Hill House

12:00 p.m.:

      The battle was going better than he had any right to expect.

      Still clad in his open neck formal ruffled shirt, USBAA enlisted men’s pants and planter’s hat, Zachary Taylor could see even without his binoculars that the Dominion advance down Matthews Hill had been broken up by Twiggs’ attack. In fact, except for a vicious brawl wrapping around a meandering little stream about a quarter mile from the Pike, there was no longer any serious immediate opposition in that sector.

     “Look here, General.” Maj. Jefferson Davis offered his own glasses as he pointed up to the Matthews crest. “The Yankees appear to be abandoning the field entirely.”

      Peering through the glasses, Zach could see the color bearers beginning to move off the crest, disappearing to the west
. What the hell was that all about, anyway? They didn’t have enough troops in that advance to do us any real harm, even if they had marched down and caught us in the rear. Why, there couldn’t have been more than five or six regiments in that fight…

    He turned quickly to his aide: “Get word to Joe Johnston over there. I want all firing directed at the Yankees to our north. Cease firing to the west and direct all fire north!”

    Even in the excitement of the fight, he could see Davis wince. His apparently-to-be son-in-law was furious that his old enemy from West Point now out
-
ranked him. And he could see that the boy was dying to get into the fight himself.
Well, there’s still time. This battle isn’t over yet…

___________

Ball’s Ford

12:10 p.m.:

    The tall lanky captain was wryly thinking that he didn’t know whether he should be happy or sad that the advance here was more than three hours late.

      The march down from the Warrenton Pike had been a comedy of errors.  They had taken a wrong turn and actually marched more than a mile northeast before someone realized the error as the head of the column passed an unexpected junction. Instead of turning around, they simply reversed the line and headed due south for two or three more miles. That’s why his 1
^st
Illinois was now on the point. All in the hot sun, raising clouds of dust the captain was sure could be seen in Georgetown…if not Richmond. Now they had stumbled on the ford. Or so his commander thought that’s where they were...

    According to Major Parker, two companies of Regulars were supposed to be waiting here to lead the attack, following a softening-up cannonade. But neither the Artillery nor the Regulars had ever shown up. 

    Now Colonel Halas, commanding the brigade---the 2
^nd
Pennsylvania, 1
^st
Delaware, 1
^st
Rhode Island and the 2
^nd
New Jersey were the others---had apparently given up on the Regulars. His orders were to commence the advance at 12:15 p.m., with or without the Regulars.

    The captain, who had managed to get through the Black Hawk War without hearing a shot fired in anger, was reminded of a story. He was just beginning it, to the bemused exasperation of his grizzled sergeant---who believed he’d already heard all the captain’s stories at least a dozen times---when the Major shouted the order to ford the stream.

___________

Matthews Hill, just

North of the Pike

12:15 p.m.:

        This ain’t a battle. It’s a damn riot! Got to get what’s left of my brigade out of here.

        “Retreat! Head for the Pike! Disengage!” Colonel Felton frantically---angrily---waved his bloody sword. The remnants of the 1
^st
Ohio (and a few companies of the 1
^st
Brooklyn) had been holding off a Rebel attack---which had gradually lost its own cohesion once it started up the side of Matthews Hill---near a stream the maps called Young’s Branch.

      Now, as the deadly cannon fire from across the Pike suddenly slackened, Colonel Felton could see blue uniforms in control of the road in front of the Stone Bridge.
Don’t know---don’t
care---who they are, just got to get my boys into their line.
Felton could see the young officer from the 1
^st
Brooklyn---hatless, bleeding from the forehead and arm, his right pant leg ripped open---urging the boys on. The lieutenant---young Wilder’s little brother, he remembered idlely---was one of the few officers still visibly fighting. The others weren’t all dead;
some of them,
he thought sourly
, outran their men back up the hill…

___________

Woods West of

Sudley Springs:

12:15 p.m.:

     Colonel Phillippe Roberdeau had seen the opportunity some two hours ago. There were no Dominion scouts or pickets west of his line! After a quick exchanges of messages with General Twiggs, he had led his Brigade, stationed at the extreme left of the CSA line, further west through the woods. Now they were hidden in dense brush just south of the field leading to the rear of Mathews Hill.

    That field was packed with lounging USBAA soldiers: some sitting, some leaning casually on their muskets. Their officers, apparently intent on escaping the blistering sun, had done a poor, almost non-existent job of posting sentries before heading for the shade of the nearest trees.

    
Their flank is in the air!  We can roll them up and knock these Yankees all the way
back to Georgetown!

   The Colonel turned to Maj. Harry Bassett, commanding the 2
^nd
Mississippi. Bassett had a funny accent, but the Colonel had come to respect his judgment on the journey up from the South. The English half-pay might have gotten his command because he was married to the Governor’s daughter, but he knew his business. And, the Major had risked as much, if not more, than anyone else: if the British Army got their hands on him, they wouldn’t go easy on one of their own who had thrown his lot in with the South!

    “Major, you have the honor of leading the attack with your Mississippians. When you are ready, Sir…”

___________

   Capt. Joseph Francis was chirping
. Only this time
, thought his 1
^st
sergeant, a schoolmaster from Stowe, Vt.,
he’s right: shouldn’t we have some pickets out there in the woods?

    The initial volley caught half the 2
^nd
Vermont: those leaning against their muskets. The dead, dying and wounded crashed down in heaps on their sleeping or daydreaming comrades. The 2
^nd
Vermont disintegrated in 30 seconds; even those who chose to fight were bayoneted before they knew what had hit them.

     Messengers from General Wool ordering a pullback of the 2
^nd
Division had barely arrived at the Division commander’s temporary headquarters when men began to stream by in a panic from the south. Roberdeau’s Brigade was rolling up Wool’s precious reserve Division as fast as the Rebels could fire; they had to reload while advancing and re-fire (a procedure that took approximately 45 seconds in practice but well over a minute under combat conditions).

    When CSA troops returned to the area the next day to scavenger for weapons, ammunition, uniforms and anything else of value, they found, nearest the woods, the bloody body of a darkly handsome Dominion captain sprawled face-up near the bulleted-and-bayoneted corpse of a blond, intelligent-looking man in his 30s who sported the insignia of a 1
^st
sergeant.

.

___________

Edge of Field East of Henry Hill

12:30 p.m.:

     “The attack’s stalling. We’ve got to get these men moving again!”

   Colonel Savage nodded his agreement but was at a loss as to how to proceed.

    The right (Stone Bridge) and center (Lewis Ford) prongs of General Worth’s attack had hooked up on the south side of the Run but now faced suddenly-renewed sustained artillery fire from the massed Confederate batteries on Henry Hill. Fortunately, the stalled Dominion line was shielded in part by a line of woods that stood approximately a quarter-mile south of the Run.

     In front was an open pasture that offered defenders a clear field of fire against oncoming attackers. Even the Regulars who had led the assault over Stone Bridge had become bogged down by the combination of the artillery and stiff resistance by Sidney Johnston’s Corps, which included regiments from the Carolinas and Georgia. Now Colonel Savage was surveying his portion of the front with the captain who had led the Regulars’ across.

    “Fire’s too heavy for a direct assault. No cover, either.” He glanced west toward the Pike. “If we can get some more men on the other side of the road, we might be able to flank them, though…”

     The captain, a tough young West Pointer named Reynolds, looked behind him. “There’s still some regiments stacked up behind the Bridge. If you send word back to Division…” He turned back and grunted. “Damn, Colonel, look across the Pike!”

       Savage, who had resumed studying the Rebel position in front of him, moved his binoculars to the right. Blue soldiers were flooding toward them from the slope of Matthews Hill.
So much for I Corps’ pincer movement
…
  If the Rebs
chase I Corps completely off that hill, we’ll be the ones getting flanked…

      “Captain, we’ve got to move men across the Pike and reinforce our line to cut off any enemy flanking movements.”  He turned to his aide, crouched down beside him. “Joe, get back to Division. Tell them I’m got a thin line of Regulars across the Pike. They must be reinforced as to prevent a flanking attack. Got that? Now go!

    “Captain Reynolds, take the rest of your men and form a line on an angle from the Pike back to the stream. Form a pocket to receive the survivors from that hill. Tell whoever is in command of the reinforcements what the orders are. Stop any attempts to flank and receive the survivors!”

       Reynolds nodded grimly. Both men knew Savage was risking a pullout of his best troops in the face of a possible Rebel advance. Everything depended on how quickly the troops still east of the Bridge could reinforce the Regulars…once Reynolds got that pitifully thin line over there beefed up…

___________

   The 1
^st
New Jersey and the other regiments of the center (Lewis Ford) prong of II Corps’ advance were also pinned down by the heavy Rebel fire.  Colonel Judge had led his men across with relatively low casualties but had run into stiff Southern resistance at the edge of the woods.  Judge, without other direction from Corps, was still thinking offensively: Once his line hooked up with the advance from Ball’s Ford, they should have enough strength to swing around the Reb position and take them in an arching movement from the southeast. As he had told Captain Wilder---who had reported the 1
^st
Jersey’s initial success at Lewis Ford back to General Worth’s position east of Bull Run---the objective was still the artillery on Henry Hill.