e better part of valor, rode rapidly to my lodgings in Washington.
It is uncertain whether he or "Bull-Run" Russell, an English
reporter, made the best time to the Long Bridge. McComb gave me
a doleful account of the battle and retreat. The official reports
from both armies show that it was a drawn battle. General Sherman,
in his "Memoirs," gives a graphic history of the battle and expresses
the same opinion.

Still, the battle of Bull Run was an important event. It dispelled
the illusion of the people of the north as to the duration and
gravity of the war. It demonstrated the folly of ninety days'
enlistments. It brought also, to every intelligent mind, the
dangers that would inevitably result from disunion. On the 22nd
of July, the day after the battle, the bill to authorize the
employment of 500,000 volunteers became a law.

On the 29th of July two bills, one for the increase of the military
establishment of the United States, and one to provide for the
suppression of the rebellion, were passed. On the 5th of August
an act passed for the better organization of the military establishment.
Armed with the largest military power ever conferred upon a President,
with the almost unlimited power of taxation, the administration of
Mr. Lincoln entered upon the task before it.

Having passed these provisions in aid of the government, the special
session of Congress closed on the 6th of August, 1861.

I immediately returned to my home at Mansfield. Regiments were
being organized but it seemed to me that the mode of enlistment
was too slow. The people, though still resolute, were somewhat
troubled by the failure of military operations. I felt this so
strongly that I determined at once to adopt some plan to raise a
brigade to be composed of two regiments of infantry, one battery
of artillery and one squadron of cavalry. When I made application
to Governor Dennison for the requisite authority, he feared my plan
might interfere with existing organizations then being enlisted in
the different parts of the state, and I was persuaded to wait until
after the 15th regiment was recruited and in the field, and the
42nd was well under way. I also made up my mind to delay actual
recruiting until after the election in October of that year, so
that no political bias might enter into it.

On the 24th of September I addressed a letter to the Hon. Simon
Cameron, Secretary of War, as follows:

"Mansfield, Ohio, September 24