l Run. Men overloaded with baggage, weighted down with
excitement, went at a double quick down the road, panting and sweating
in the noonday sun, while one of the field officers in the rear
accelerated the pace by a continual shouting, "Hurry up, men, they
are firing on our rear." This command was repeated so often and
persistently that it became a by-word in our brigade, so much so that
when anything was wanted to be done with speed the order was always
accompanied with, "Hurry up, men, they are firing on our rear." The
negro servants, evincing no disposition to be left behind, rushed
along with the wagon train like men beset. While we were on the
double-quick, some one noticed a small Confederate flag floating
lazily in the breeze from a tall pine pole that some soldier had put
up at his tent, but by the hurried departure neglected to take down.
Its owner could not entertain the idea of leaving this piece of
bunting as a trophy for the enemy, so risking the chance of capture,
he ran back, cut the staff, and returned almost out of breath to his
company with the coveted flag. We were none too precipitate in our
movement, for as we were passing through Germantown we could see the
long rows of glistening bayonets of the enemy crowning the hills to
our right. We stopped in Centerville until midnight, then resumed the
march, reaching Bull Run at Mitchell's Ford as the sun was just rising
above the hill tops.

Colonel Kershaw and Colonel Cash were filing down the east bank to the
left, while Colonels Williams and Bacon occupied some earthworks on
the right. These had been erected by former troops, who had encamped
there before us. General Beauregard had divided his troops into six
brigades, putting regiments of the same State together, as far as
possible, Bonham's being First Brigade. Beauregard was determined to
make Bull Run his line of defense. This is a slow, sluggish stream,
only fordable at certain points, its banks steep and rather rocky with
a rough plateau reaching back from either side. The western being the
more elevated, gave the enemy the advantage in artillery practice.
In fact, the banks on the western side at some points came up to the
stream in a bluff--especially so at Blackburn's Ford. In the rear and
in the direction of the railroad was the now famous Manassas Plains.
The Confederate line extended five miles, from Union Mills Ford
to Stone Bridge. At the latter place was General Evans, of South
Carolina,