Stuart, on the right flank of the
Confederate line, charged down the opposing cavalry* and crossed Bull
Run at Lewis' Ford; (* This was one of the most brilliant cavalry
fights of the war. Colonel Munford, of the 2nd Virginia, finding the
enemy advancing, formed line and charged, the impetuosity of the
attack carrying his regiment through the enemy's first line, with
whom his men were thoroughly intermingled in hand-to-hand conflict.
The Federals, however, who had advanced at a trot, in four successive
lines, were far superior in numbers; but the 7th and 12th Virginia
rapidly came up, and the charge of the 12th, constituting as it were
a last reserve, drove the enemy from the field. The Confederates lost
5 killed and 40 wounded. Munford himself, and the commander of the
First Michigan (Union) cavalry were both wounded by sabre-cuts, the
latter mortally. 300 Federals were taken prisoners, 19 killed, and 80
wounded. Sabre, carbine, and revolver were freely used.) but the dark
masses on the Henry Hill, increased every moment by troops ascending
from the valley, still held fast, with no hope indeed of victory, but
with a stern determination to maintain their ground. Had the hill
been lost, nothing could have saved Pope's army. The crest commanded
the crossings of Bull Run. The Stone Bridge, the main point of
passage, was not more than a mile northward, within the range of
artillery, and Jackson was already in possession of the Matthew Hill,
not fourteen hundred yards from the road by which the troops must
pass in their retreat.

7.30 P.M.

The night, however, put an end to the battle. Even the Valley
soldiers were constrained to halt. It was impossible in the obscurity
to distinguish friend from foe. The Confederate lines presented a
broken front, here pushed forward, and here drawn back; divisions,
brigades, and regiments had intermingled; and the thick woods,
intervening at frequent intervals, rendered combination
impracticable. During the darkness, which was accompanied by heavy
rain, the Federals quietly withdrew, leaving thousands of wounded on
the field, and morning found them in position on the heights of
Centreville, four miles beyond Bull Run.

Pope, with an audacity which disaster was powerless to tame, reported
to Halleck that, on the whole, the results of the battle were
favourable to the Federal army. "The enemy," he wrote, "largely
reinforced, assailed our position early to-day. We held our ground
firmly