Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/232

218 broken into fragments of companies, and at length the defeat grew into a rout of the grand army that had marched into Virginia with great confidence in the power of their numbers to make one effective blow that would "end the war in sixty days."

The condition of McDowell's army as it fled in tatters back to the Potomac, praying for the privilege of being once more in camp behind the defenses of Washington, will not be herein described. The courage of the several great Northern armies which struggled often and long with the army of Northern Virginia, will never be questioned by Confederate soldiers, and Southern historians may leave to others the task of criticising the men of McDowell who in this first trial battle were beaten back to the lines from which they had advanced. The engagement at Manassas was simply an indisputable Confederate victory, won by the superior leadership of great generals sustained through the vicissitudes of a whole day's hot encounters by the courage and endurance of the South's fresh-fighting volunteer soldiers. It marked with a very decided emphasis the first stage in the march of events, giving the South renewed confidence in success, exciting the North to increased determination to conquer, and casting Europe into doubt as to the end of the struggle between the two sections of the Union.

Immediately after the battle the Confederate congress authorized the raising of 400,000 soldiers, and the issue of $100,000,000 treasury notes. The army at Manassas Junction collected thousands of small-arms, thirty cannon, wagons, mules, horses and army supplies of all kinds which the enemy left on the battlefield. The Southern States at once accepted with greater readiness the companies and regiments which had been enthusiastically tendered for immediate service. The United States Congress on its part demanded a call for 500,000 men,