st; for he left one division at Centreville and
lost the rest by straggling and by the way in which the battery
and battalion already mentioned had "claimed their discharge" at
Blackburn's Ford. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth, while,
sorely against his will, the Federals were having their "monster
military picnic" at Centreville, he was reconnoitering his constantly
increasing enemy under the greatest difficulties, with his ill-trained
staff, bad maps, and lack of proper guides.

Lee had chosen six miles of Bull Run as a good defensive position.
But Beauregard intended to attack, hoping to profit by the Federal
disjointedness. Consequently none of the eight fords were strongly
defended except at Union Mills on the extreme right and the Stone
Bridge on the extreme left, where the turnpike from Centreville
to Warrenton crossed the Run. Bull Run itself was a considerable
obstacle, having fairly high banks and running along the Confederate
front like the ditch of a fortress. Three miles in rear stood Manassas
Junction on a moderate plateau intersected by several creeks. The
most important of these creeks, Young's Branch, joined Bull Run on
the extreme left, near the Stone Bridge and Warrenton turnpike,
after flowing through the little valley between the Henry Hill
and Matthews Hill. Three miles in front, across Bull Run, stood
Centreville, the Federal camp and field base during the battle.

Sunday, July 21, 1861, was a beautiful midsummer day. Both armies
were stirring soon after dawn. But a miscarriage of orders delayed
the Confederate offensive so much that the initiative of attack passed
to the Federals, who advanced against the Stone Bridge shortly after
six. This attack, however, though made by a whole division against a
single small brigade, was immediately recognized as a mere feint
when, two hours later, Evans, commanding the Confederate brigade,
saw dense clouds of dust rising above the woods on his left front,
where the road crossed Sudley Springs, nearly two miles beyond his
own left. Perceiving that this new development must be a regular
attempt to turn the whole Confederate left by crossing Bull Run, he
sent back word to Beauregard, posted some men to hold the Stone
Bridge, and marched the rest to crown the Matthews Hill, facing
Sudley Springs a mile away. Meanwhile four of "Joe" Johnston's five
Shenandoah brigades--Bee's, Bartow's, Bonham's, and Jackson's--had
been coming over from the right reserve