Beschreibung:

CIVIL WAR FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN]. Autograph letter signed of an unidentified Confederate soldier ("Ellis") of the 5th South Carolina Infantry Regiment, Manassas Junction, 24 July 1861. 4 pages, 4to plus a half sheet written across, blue stationery, some browning on page 4, otherwise fine. AN EXCEPTIONALLY VIVID CONFEDERATE SOLDIER'S ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN: "THE BURSTIN SHELL, GRAPE SHOT, BULLETS, WERE JUST HAILING ALL AROUND US" A rare, detailed account of the first major battle of the Civil War, written by a member of the 5th South Carolina Infantry, commanded by Micah Jenkins (1835-1864), one of three regiments in David Jones's (1825-1863) Brigade positioned along the Confederate right at the opening of the battle. At the beginning of his account, he clarifies his misconceptions about combat: "I have often seen battles fought in Poetry and it all sounded very well, but I never had the faintest idea of the reality until Thursday and Sunday." Ellis begins with a brief account of a reconnaissance in force made by the Union Army at Blackburn's Ford on July 18: "which was very desperate and resulted in our victory, losing some 40 killed & wounded and killing...about 500 of the Yankees." Although this was a relatively small affair (there were actually only 83 Union casualties), some Confederates labeled this the First Battle of Bull Run. He discusses a scouting mission the night before the main battle in which "we climbed a tall tree" and "could see them passing and could hear them singing and rattling the bones, cursing and cheering as regiment after regiment joined them " July 21st began with an artillery bombardment: "They commenced the firing and in an hour afterward the whole creek for the distance of 3 or 4 miles was a perfect blaze and roar from cannon, shell and musketry. Our brigade, 1 SC & 2 Miss Regts. were sent out in their rear to cut off their retreat...we got orders to return on our side of the creek again." As the Union attack upon their left flank unfolded, the Confederates began shifting troops to meet the threat: "we were ordered to march again to take an 18 gun battery." Noting that his brigade would attack along side those of James Longstreet and Richard Ewell, Ellis writes: "Genl Jones told us we would fire 1 round and load then charge bayonets. Well they discovered us and drew up on the side of the hill and just before we got all four Brigades formed they opened on us with musketry and bombs and got us in this position." He draws a small diagram depicting the three regiments in his brigade and the enemy position. Ellis continues: "the Yankees commenced firing on the Mississippians on our left and they then commenced (with out the command) to fire back. All this time we never fired a gun. So the other (17th) Miss Reg behind commenced firing at us as these ,,,,, marks indicate. We then made a charge up the hill yelling as loudly as we could - subject to a fire in the front...the burstin shell, grape shot, bullets were just hailing all around us. Just over the hill was a thicket out of which the Yankees shot and ran back. We then charged into it after them and the Miss shot into it so fast from behind us we had to come out of it. Col. Jenkins then rallied the Regt at the right of the hill and poured another volley into them and they ran like hounds." He notes that at the height of the battle, the reserve regiments of Mississippians "had scattered and were going the other way" preventing Jenkins from following up his victory. Ellis proudly exclaims: "Our Regt had to do the fighting for [three brigades]...It was one of the most fearful charges on record & if the Yankees had had one thimble full of pluck about them they could have killed the last one of us." He continues with a somber description of the battle's aftermath: "Now my dear cousin comes the most horrible of all, the dead and wounded. We had but 3 killed - 1 by shell, 1 by Mississippian & 1 some other way...There were about 20 w