"A Brilliant Victory"
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On July 21, 1861, Union and Confederate troops faced off in the first major land battle of the American Civil War, the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run). Samuel Rutherford Houston, a Presbyterian minister from Virginia, notes in his diary the rumors and newspaper accounts of the battle:
Sab. [Sabbath, July] 21: We have reliable intelligence that a battle was fought between the Federals and our men below Charleston...[Federals] routed, many killed...<em>The</em> <em>Dispatch</em> calls it 'a brilliant victory...'
July 23: A rumor has reached us that a telegram to Newburn Depot announced another battle at Manassas Junction (on Sunday) and another victory for the Confederates! …A letter from one of the company to which Willie* belongs states that on last <span style="text-decoration: underline">Thursday </span>they all marched to meet the enemy at a point about 20 miles below Charleston near where the battle mentioned (Sun 21) above was fought on the day previous – we look for the mail of tomorrow with intense anxiety – whatever the intelligence may be I trust we shall have hearts [illegible] (if it be sad) to perfect submission with God’s will and if it be chearing [sic] to give him all the glory … How unhappy the condition of this land – the victory gained at Mansasas will I fear great[ly] exasperate the foe and cause them to redouble their efforts…
<em>*presumably William Paxton Houston, Samuel’s eldest son.</em>
The diary is part of the <a href="https://lib.lsu.edu/special/findaid/3451.pdf">Samuel Rutherford Houston and Family Papers, Mss. 3451</a>, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.</div>
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