| From the Richmond Daily Dispatch |
| |
| February 1, 1862 |
| |
| The battles fought in 1861. official
reports. the battle of Manassas, July 21, 1861 |
| report of Jos. E. Johnston, General
commanding |
| Headq'rs army of the Potomac, Fairfax C. H.
October 14, 1861. to the Adjutant and Inspector General, Confederate
States army. |
| |
| Sir, |
| I have the honor to submit to
the honorable Secretary of War a report of the operations of the
troops under my command which terminated in the battle of
Manassas
. |
| ***** |
| Lieutenant-Colonel George
Stewart, with his Maryland
battalion, was sent to Harper's Ferry to bring off some public
property said to have been left. As McClellan was moving southwestward
from Grafton, Colonel Hill's command was with drawn from Romney. The
defence of that region of country was entrusted to Colonel McDonald's
regiment of cavalry. Intelligence from Maryland
indicating another movement by Patterson, Colonel Jackson, with his
brigade, was sent to the neighborhood of Martinsburg to support
Colonel Stuart. The latter officer had been placed in observation on
the line of the Potomac
with his cavalry. His moralizing vigilance and activity was relied on
to repress small incursions of the enemy, to give intelligence of
invasion by them, and to watch, harass, and circumscribe their every
movement. Colonel Jackson was instructed to destroy such of the rolling
stock of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad as could not be
brought off, and to have so much of it as could be made available to
our service brought to Winchester. |
| ***** |
| The army moved through Ashley's
Gap to Piedmont, a station of the Manassas Gap Railroad. Hence, the infantry were to
be transported by the railway, while the cavalry and artillery were
ordered to continue their march. I reached Manassas
about noon on the 20th, preceded by the 7th and 8th Georgia
regiments, and by
Jackson
's brigade, consisting of the 2d, 4th, 5th, 27th, and 38d Virginia, regiments. I was accompanied by General Bee, with the 4th
Alabama, the 2d and two companies of the 11th Mississippi. The President of the Railroad company had assured me that the
remaining troops should arrive during the day. |
| Most respectfully, |
| Your ob't, serv't, |
| J. E. Johnston, General |
|