[
603]
with the greatest exultation by
Jefferson Davis, who had left
Richmond that morning, arrived at
Manassas Junction at four o'clock, and hastened on horseback to the Headquarters of
Johnston.
From the
Junction, that night,
he telegraphed to his “Congress,” which had convened in
Richmond the day before--“Night has closed upon a hard-fought field.
Our forces were victorious.
The enemy was routed,
and fled precipitately, abandoning a large amount of arms, ammunition, knapsacks, and baggage.
The ground was strewed for miles with those killed, and the farm-houses and the ground around were filled with wounded. . . . Our force was fifteen thousand; that of the enemy estimated at thirty-five thousand.”
2
Why did not Patterson hold Johnston at Winchester, or re-enforce McDowell at Bull's Run?
was a question asked by the people with the severest earnestness, when it was known that to the presence of the former and his troops must be, in a great degree, attributed the disasters that had befallen the National arms.
With better information than the public then possessed, the question may now be answered, with the sanction of official and semi-official records, in these few words:--Because his force was greatly inferior in numbers and appointment to that of Johnston; because he was positively
