Near Manassas, Va., July 23, 1861.

We have won a great victory in the biggest battle in the history 
of North America. God be praised, and grant that there will be no 
worse fighting in the days and months ahead.!

I have had little sleep in the last two days, as the Yankee Army 
finally arrived from its slow march and gave us battle on the 21st.  
Colonel Evans had me off running messages and errands, and I was not 
in the thick of the fighting.  But he was, and the two regiments of 
troops under him were heavily engaged.

We were posted on our Army's left flank above the stone bridge over 
Bull Run.  The Yankees came at us, but they were not in great force 
nor did they seem very intent on fighting us.  Col. Evans sat on his 
horse and said to me: "The Yanks are trying to amuse us here, they're 
just bluffing."

Just then a message came in by signal flag warning the Colonel that 
the Yankees' main attack force was slipping around our left, to the 
north. Evans immediately sent me off to report to General Beauregard 
that he was leaving a small force at the bridge, and going north with 
the rest to keep the Yankees back.

He was overwhelmingly outnumbered, but gave a good fight and fell back
slowly while  other Confederate forces came up to help.  All were driven 
back to the slope of a hill where a poor old widow lady lived; a Yankee 
artillery shell hit her house and she was killed.  Our troops were falling 
back when General Bee (another South Carolina man) tried to rally the 
troops and yelled over in the direction of Colonel Jackson's Virginia 
brigade: "There stands Jackson like a stonewall! RALLY BEHIND THE VIRGINIANS!  
(Jackson was a very poor professor at Virginia Military Instutute, and has a 
very odd personality--some of his former cadets told me so. But what a fighter!)

Many of our broken units did rally, though General Bee was almost
immediately killed. They reformed behind Jackson's Virginians, and, as 
other Confederate troops came rushing onto the field, right off the railroad 
trains from Winchester. Our forces pushed them back.  One of our shells 
exploded on the stone bridge, upsetting a wagon and blocking the Yankee troops 
caught on our side of Bull Run. They all went into a panic, and in a little 
while their entire Army was running back to Washington. We captured many 
cannons, flags, and thousands of muskets. We also captured a United States 
Congressman, who with a lot of other Washington socialites, had come out to 
watch what they thought would be the end of the Rebel Army. Hardly: we scooped 
up several of these picnic people, and of course let the civilians go . . .
all but the Congressman, who was sent ot Richmond.

President Davis was here for the battle, and though it was very bloody,
it certainly showed that the Confederate States Army is better than our
enemies' force.

Saltron was at first skittish from the cannon fire, but by day's end, he
hardly blinked.  He is eating very well, we having captured many items fit
for the tastes of man and beast alike.

Mary Jane tells me that all 6 of her brothers are either in the Army, or
heading to join it.  She will really be handling things alone at home.

God welcome the hundreds of poor souls who died in these fields.
His Providence extendeth to the ends of the Earth.