Back to Manassas.–Diary of Josiah Marshall Favill.

(March 13, 1862)

On the eighth of March the camp was filled with rumors of the withdrawal of the enemy from Centreville and Manassas, and everything was in a state of excitement. The next morning the rumors were confirmed, and we received orders to prepare at once to march. Three days’ cooked rations, sixty rounds of amunition, with blankets rolled, knapsacks, and all superflous clothing to be left behind, in charge of a sergeant and guard detailed for the purpose; these were the instructions transmitted to every regimental commander, and the camps were in a confused state of preparation all day long. Very early on the morning of the tenth the regiments of the brigade formed on their color lines, and after a good deal of delay, filed out on the main road, and headed in the direction of the enemy, the general leading the way in fine shape. We marched all day, arriving near Fairfax court house towards evening, and bivouacked for the night. The following morning the march was continued by Sangster Station to Union Mills, where we learned definitely that the rebel army had fallen back on Gordonsville, abandoning their winter quarters and works of Manassas. There was some hesitation about the future movements of the army for a while, but finally our division was ordered forward, and on the 13th we marched to within two miles of Manassas Junction, and occupied the rebel huts on the extensive plains. During the evening General Stoneman, in command of a brigade of cavalry, came on the field, and announced to the general his intention of making a reconnoisance early in the morning, to find out exactly what had become of the rebel army. He asked the general to detail a regiment of infantry to support his command, and the Fifty-seventh, Colonel Zook, was at once ordered to report to him for that purpose. It commenced raining shortly after we left Camp California and continued, almost without interruption, to this time.

From the number of log houses, field reports, newspapers, and private papers found in them, we are satisfied the enemy’s strength has been greatly overestimated. These plains, so called, are an immense area of perfectly level fields, without a single tree or sign of any living thing about them. The station is in ruins, hospitals and houses all leveled to the ground. A few giant chimneys stand black and gaunt alone, as monuments of the ruin about us. Most of the piles of debris were still smoking, and the desolate, bleak surroundings reminded me of the picture of Smolensk, on the retreat of the Great Napoleon. The deluge of rain, added to the sombreness of the situation, induced many melancholy reflections.

French is in command with two batteries of artillery and a regiment of cavalry added to our regular brigade, the remainder of the army being somewhere in the rear.

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