enly
discovered that Johnston had so fortified that place that it would be
unsafe to attack it! It may be that he could get no accurate information
as to the strength of the rebel force, and that he supposed them to be
superior to himself. Still, there were many signs which a capable
general could have read plainly. It was well known that there were in
Johnston's advance force no really good troops, except the 'Berkeley
Border Guard,' a company of cavalry, composed of citizens of Berkeley
County, who, from their complete and minute knowledge of the country,
their skill in the saddle, and their zeal in the rebel cause, were as
formidable, though not so notorious, as the Black Horse Cavalry of
Fairfax and Prince William. The rout of the rebels at Hainesville, or
Falling Waters, partook of the nature of a panic, as was evidenced by
the profuse scattering of knapsacks, clothing, canteens and provisions
along the 'pike.' Indeed, the conduct of the Virginia militia scarcely
sustained the loud professions of desire to 'fight and die in defending
the sacred soil of Virginia from the invader,' as announced by the
letters and papers found in their knapsacks. And the whole course of
these events convinced the private soldiers, if not the commanding
general, that Johnston's highest ambition at that time was to gain time.
Did he not know as well as any one that the time of enlistment of many
of Patterson's men had nearly expired? And what more natural than for
him to keep the latter at bay till such a time as the withdrawal of very
many of his best troops would force him to retire? There were many true
Unionists, too, in the ranks of the rebels, who would have been glad of
opportunities to escape; this was well known. It seems impossible to
resist the conclusion that Patterson should have acceded to the
unanimous wish of his rank and file, and followed up his success at
Hainesville, by occupying Martinsburg on the 2d, advancing to 'Bunker
Hill' on the 3d, and dispersing the small rebel force known to be there,
and celebrating the 4th of July by marching on Winchester, and attacking
and reducing that post, as it seems he might easily have done at that
time. This would of course prevent the apprehended junction of Johnston
with Beauregard. The history of the war in the Old Dominion would then
have been differently written; Bull Run and its panic would not be a
stain upon our national honor, and--but who can not read the rest? It is
tru