n truly say, night
and day, to open communication to the South.

I soon removed my headquarters to Alexandria,[20] Virginia, and was
stationed there when the unfortunate battle of Bull Run was fought. We
could not believe the reports that came to us, but it soon became
evident that we must rush every engine and car to the front to bring
back our defeated forces. The closest point then was Burke Station. I
went out there and loaded up train after train of the poor wounded
volunteers. The rebels were reported to be close upon us and we were
finally compelled to close Burke Station, the operator and myself
leaving on the last train for Alexandria where the effect of panic was
evident upon every side. Some of our railway men were missing, but the
number at the mess on the following morning showed that, compared with
other branches of the service, we had cause for congratulation. A few
conductors and engineers had obtained boats and crossed the Potomac,
but the great body of the men remained, although the roar of the guns
of the pursuing enemy was supposed to be heard in every sound during
the night. Of our telegraphers not one was missing the next morning.

[Footnote 20: "When Carnegie reached Washington his first task was to
establish a ferry to Alexandria and to extend the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad track from the old depot in Washington, along Maryland Avenue
to and across the Potomac, so that locomotives and cars might be
crossed for use in Virginia. Long Bridge, over the Potomac, had to be
rebuilt, and I recall the fact that under the direction of Carnegie
and R.F. Morley the railroad between Washington and Alexandria was
completed in the remarkably short period of seven days. All hands,
from Carnegie down, worked day and night to accomplish the task."
(Bates, _Lincoln in the Telegraph Office_, p. 22. New York, 1907.)]

Soon after this I returned to Washington and made my headquarters in
the War Building with Colonel Scott. As I had charge of the telegraph
department, as well as the railways, this gave me an opportunity of
seeing President Lincoln, Mr. Seward, Secretary Cameron, and others;
and I was occasionally brought in personal contact with these men,
which was to me a source of great interest. Mr. Lincoln would
occasionally come to the office and sit at the desk awaiting replies
to telegrams, or perhaps merely anxious for information.

All the pictures of this extraordinary man are like him. He was so
marked