Posted below is the eyewitness report of the U.S. Army rout at the first battle of the Civil War, Bull Run (July 21, 1861). It was written by Henry J. Raymond (1820 – 1869), founding editor-in-chief of The New York Times:
“I soon met Quartermaster Stetson, of the Fire Zouves, who told me, bursting into tears, that his regiment had been utterly cut to pieces, that the colonel and Lieutenant colonel had both been killed, and that our troops had actually been repulsed. I still tried to proceed but the advancing columns rendered it impossible, and I turned about. Leaving my carriage, I went to a high point of ground and saw, by the dense cloud of dust that rose over each of the three roads by which the three columns of the [Federal] Army had advanced, that they were all on the retreat. Sharp discharges of canon in their rear indicated that they were being pursued…As I came past the hill on which the Secessionists had their intrenchment less than a week ago, I saw our forces taking up positions for a defense if they should be assailed.”
“Such is a very rapid and general history of Sunday’s engagement.”
