AUGUST 11TH.—Our killed, wounded, and captured did not amount to more than 600. We might have captured a whole brigade at one time during the battle, but did not. They charged our batteries, not perceiving a brigade of our own lying concealed just in the rear of the guns: so, when they advanced, shouting, to within thirty yards of our troops, they rose and “let them have it.” Nine-tenths of the enemy fell, and the rest were soon dispatched, before they could get away. One of their dying officers said they would have surrendered to us, if we had demanded it. He was reminded of Pope’s beastly orders, and died with a horrible groan.
A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary at the Confederate States Capital, By John Beauchamp Jones
AUGUST 10TH.—Jackson struck Pope yesterday! It was a terrible blow, for the numbers engaged. Several thousand of the enemy were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. Among the latter is Gen. Prince, who arrived in this city this morning. He affected to be ignorant of Pope’s brutal orders, and of the President’s retaliatory order concerning the commissioned officers of Pope’s army taken in battle. When Prince was informed that he and the fifty or sixty others taken with him were not to be treated as prisoners of war, but as felons, he vented his execrations upon Pope. They were sent into close confinement.
AUGUST 9TH.—Jackson and Ewell are waiting and watching. Pope will expose himself soon.
AUGUST 8TH.—We hear of skirmishing in Orange County, and the enemy seem as familiar with the paths and fords as our own people; hence some surprises, attempted by our cavalry, have failed.
August 7TH—Much incomprehensible manœuvring is going on in Orange County.
AUGUST 6TH.—Jackson is making preparations to fight. I know the symptoms. He has made Pope believe he’s afraid of him.
AUGUST 5TH.—The enemy have postponed drafting, that compulsory mode of getting men being unpopular, until after the October elections. I hope Lee will make the most of his time, and annihilate their drilled and seasoned troops. He can put more fighting men in Virginia than the enemy, during the next two months. “Now’s the day, and now’s the hour!”
August 4TH.—Lee is making herculean efforts for an “on to Washington,” while the enemy think he merely designs a defense of Richmond. Troops are on the move, all the way from Florida to Gordonsville.
AUGUST 3D.—There is a rumor that McClellan is “stealing away” from his new base! and Burnside has gone up the Rappahannock to co-operate with Pope in his “march to Richmond.”
AUGUST 2D.—The Adjutant-General, “by order” (I suppose of the President), is annulling, one after another, all Gen. Winder’s despotic orders.
