First Battle of Manassas
Continued from: George Rust Bedinger
In the north, public outcry pushed the Union General–in-Chief Winfield Scott with inadequately trained Federal troops to advance of the Confederate positions at Manassas Junction, Virginia. McDowell attacked on July 21 and was initially successful, but the introduction of Confederate reinforcements under Stonewall Jackson, including the Company of Lt. Edwin G. Lee and George R. Bedinger resulted in a Southern victory and a chaotic retreat toward Washington by Federal troops. George Bedinger during the battle was described by an eye-witness as “always in the right place, and in spite of the dangers to which he was exposed and of which he was fully conscious, could not resist the temptation to be merry and to provoke merriment in others at this own and his companions’ occasional impulses to dodge the noisiest shells with which the enemy were making the day hideous.”
[Ref. http://www.stonewallbrigade.com/33E/unit.html]
General Jackson and his brigade earned the nickname "Stonewall" when, as they retreated to reform along Henry House Hill, Gen. Barnard Bee cried out to his ailing troops: "There stands Jackson like a stone wall. Rally behind the Virginians!”
After the first “Battle of Bull Run”, as the Confederates preferred to call the July 21 fight at Manassas, George Rust’s sister Virginia (Diddy) was in Lexington, Virginia visiting with the wife of her cousin Col. Edwin Gray Lee, Susan Pendleton. Susan’s parents were Rev. and Mrs. W. N. Pendleton of Lexington. The Reverend Pendleton had taken leave of his post as parson of the Episcopal Church and joined Jackson’s brigade as chief of his artillery. Diddy was initially concerned about the welfare of her brother George Rust, but received a note from him telling her he survived the battle unhurt and well. Her letter to her stepmother follows:
Lexington July 27th 1861
Dear Ma - It has been so very long since I have either heard from or written to you that I scarcely know how to commence. I now write at a venture with very little hope of your ever seeing the letter; however I will do my best & if you do not receive this it will not be my fault. I should have written to you long before this but as I could receive no letters from you, I very naturally concluded that you could receive none from me & therefore it would be worse than useless to write. You have of course heard before this of the battle on Sunday last but I think it very doubtful if you know anything about it for as far as I am able to judge with its price as scarce in the Northern press as ever, & I suppose the mass of the people as much deceived; the battle was truly a terrible one, it lasted from eight in the morning till five in the evening. George was in the thickest of the fight but thank God he did not receive a scratch. He is a member of Col. Pendleton's Artillery. Our loss was great but to be compared with that of the enemy, We lost between four and five hundred killed and fifteen hundred wounded. The enemy left seven thousand dead and wounded upon the battle field, beside a thousand taken prisoner. We captured over thirty pieces of Artillery, six hundred tents, and a most incredible supply of arms and provisions. Truly it was a great victory and I pray God to make us thankful to Him for his great love and mercy towards us in delivering us from the horde of our enemies. My anxiousness about George was great indeed. I could learn nothing of or from him until Thursday morning, except that the regiment to which I supposed he belonged had been cut to pieces. You may imagine my suspense and anxiety. On Thursday I received a hurried line from him assuring me of his perfect safety. My heart overflowed with love and thanksgiving to my Heavenly Father for having spared my brother. It was indeed a great victory but there were many [broken] hearts in our country. Measuring our friends loss in that victory, poor Mr. Willie Lee was wounded desperately and when we heard it was thought he must die. God have mercy on his poor young wife. Tucker and Holmes Conrad of Martinsburg were shot dead side by side, the only sons of their father. Mr. Peyton Harrison of Martinsburg (Mr. Conrad's nephew) was killed. Also Lloyd Powell of Winchester (Nina's closest brother). When we think of all the sad and stricken hearts throughout the land, I am afraid there is danger of our forgetting God's kindness towards us in causing us to triumph over our blood thirsty enemies. But I pray that he will give us humbly thankful hearts. I should think if he people of the North will possibly _?_ as the North in this battle it would prove to them the utter folly of attempting to conquer the South. _?_ have men fought desperately against fearful odds. Cousin Edwin Lee (who was in the midst of the fight as Gen. Jackson's Aide) says we had never more than twenty thousand engaged at one time, while the number of the enemy as stated in the papers was fifty-three thousand. I am most pleasantly situated here with Cousin Lee and his family. I met with nothing but kindness and affection from all and it was not for this horrible war, I should be quite happy. I am convinced now that unless we forget our God in the pride of our victory and thus cause him to forsake us that we have nothing to fear from our enemies for our men will fight till the last man is killed rather than sustain a defeat by such foes. This outrages and atrocities committed here, are outrageous of course you hear nothing of them where you are. Cousin Lee heard from _?_ the other day. She is in Middleburg with Nita. Aunt Chattie [Charlotte Rust], Grandma and Uncle George's wife all well. Aunt Ginnie is near Upperville. Uncle Armistead [Rust] and Uncle George are in Leesburg Col and Lt Col of the militia. I have a long letter from Trent the other day, all well at Bedford. He had just heard from you. It is perfectly outrageous about Aunt Susan. I give praise she is wholly lost to us. I think she knows how I feel towards her Nation and _?_ shameful. I am glad we have no connection with it, but, I will endeavor to control feeling and not give you the benefit of them. I do wish you would come home. I expect you can do so with perfect safety. Thence _?_ to you mother and sisters. Cousin Lee sends love. I wish you could come home.
Write _?_ your found
daughter.
V Bedinger [Virginia Bedinger]
[Note: The letter above to "Ma" is from Virginia (Diddy) Bedinger to her stepmother, Caroline Bowne (Lawrence) Bedinger in Long Island. Caroline had moved to Long Island, New York, presumably intending to spend the duration of the war in safety near her relatives there. Letters of the Lawrence’s document this. Virginia is asking her to come "Home", to Shepherdstown.
The letter also tells that Edwin G. Lee was a Colonel assigned as an aide to Gen. Jackson and that George Rust Bedinger was transferred from the infantry to the artillery. That would be the Rockbridge Artillery under Captain William T. Poague. Virginia refers to her Aunt Susan (Susan Peyton Bedinger (40)) who is in sympathy with the Union. Aunt Susan is the daughter of Daniel Bedinger (7) and Sarah Rutherford; she married Rev. Doctor Cornwall and was living in Woodbury, Connecticut. Henrietta (Bedinger) Lee (44), Susan Cornwall’s sister, during the war wrote her daughter, Ida, that concerning Susan: “I am sorry to say she has joined her voice in the baying and barking of the Northern Bloodhounds, and seems crazy upon the subject of Flag, Union, and Constitution.”]
Continued: Rockbridge Artillery
In the north, public outcry pushed the Union General–in-Chief Winfield Scott with inadequately trained Federal troops to advance of the Confederate positions at Manassas Junction, Virginia. McDowell attacked on July 21 and was initially successful, but the introduction of Confederate reinforcements under Stonewall Jackson, including the Company of Lt. Edwin G. Lee and George R. Bedinger resulted in a Southern victory and a chaotic retreat toward Washington by Federal troops. George Bedinger during the battle was described by an eye-witness as “always in the right place, and in spite of the dangers to which he was exposed and of which he was fully conscious, could not resist the temptation to be merry and to provoke merriment in others at this own and his companions’ occasional impulses to dodge the noisiest shells with which the enemy were making the day hideous.”
[Ref. http://www.stonewallbrigade.com/33E/unit.html]
General Jackson and his brigade earned the nickname "Stonewall" when, as they retreated to reform along Henry House Hill, Gen. Barnard Bee cried out to his ailing troops: "There stands Jackson like a stone wall. Rally behind the Virginians!”
After the first “Battle of Bull Run”, as the Confederates preferred to call the July 21 fight at Manassas, George Rust’s sister Virginia (Diddy) was in Lexington, Virginia visiting with the wife of her cousin Col. Edwin Gray Lee, Susan Pendleton. Susan’s parents were Rev. and Mrs. W. N. Pendleton of Lexington. The Reverend Pendleton had taken leave of his post as parson of the Episcopal Church and joined Jackson’s brigade as chief of his artillery. Diddy was initially concerned about the welfare of her brother George Rust, but received a note from him telling her he survived the battle unhurt and well. Her letter to her stepmother follows:
Lexington July 27th 1861
Dear Ma - It has been so very long since I have either heard from or written to you that I scarcely know how to commence. I now write at a venture with very little hope of your ever seeing the letter; however I will do my best & if you do not receive this it will not be my fault. I should have written to you long before this but as I could receive no letters from you, I very naturally concluded that you could receive none from me & therefore it would be worse than useless to write. You have of course heard before this of the battle on Sunday last but I think it very doubtful if you know anything about it for as far as I am able to judge with its price as scarce in the Northern press as ever, & I suppose the mass of the people as much deceived; the battle was truly a terrible one, it lasted from eight in the morning till five in the evening. George was in the thickest of the fight but thank God he did not receive a scratch. He is a member of Col. Pendleton's Artillery. Our loss was great but to be compared with that of the enemy, We lost between four and five hundred killed and fifteen hundred wounded. The enemy left seven thousand dead and wounded upon the battle field, beside a thousand taken prisoner. We captured over thirty pieces of Artillery, six hundred tents, and a most incredible supply of arms and provisions. Truly it was a great victory and I pray God to make us thankful to Him for his great love and mercy towards us in delivering us from the horde of our enemies. My anxiousness about George was great indeed. I could learn nothing of or from him until Thursday morning, except that the regiment to which I supposed he belonged had been cut to pieces. You may imagine my suspense and anxiety. On Thursday I received a hurried line from him assuring me of his perfect safety. My heart overflowed with love and thanksgiving to my Heavenly Father for having spared my brother. It was indeed a great victory but there were many [broken] hearts in our country. Measuring our friends loss in that victory, poor Mr. Willie Lee was wounded desperately and when we heard it was thought he must die. God have mercy on his poor young wife. Tucker and Holmes Conrad of Martinsburg were shot dead side by side, the only sons of their father. Mr. Peyton Harrison of Martinsburg (Mr. Conrad's nephew) was killed. Also Lloyd Powell of Winchester (Nina's closest brother). When we think of all the sad and stricken hearts throughout the land, I am afraid there is danger of our forgetting God's kindness towards us in causing us to triumph over our blood thirsty enemies. But I pray that he will give us humbly thankful hearts. I should think if he people of the North will possibly _?_ as the North in this battle it would prove to them the utter folly of attempting to conquer the South. _?_ have men fought desperately against fearful odds. Cousin Edwin Lee (who was in the midst of the fight as Gen. Jackson's Aide) says we had never more than twenty thousand engaged at one time, while the number of the enemy as stated in the papers was fifty-three thousand. I am most pleasantly situated here with Cousin Lee and his family. I met with nothing but kindness and affection from all and it was not for this horrible war, I should be quite happy. I am convinced now that unless we forget our God in the pride of our victory and thus cause him to forsake us that we have nothing to fear from our enemies for our men will fight till the last man is killed rather than sustain a defeat by such foes. This outrages and atrocities committed here, are outrageous of course you hear nothing of them where you are. Cousin Lee heard from _?_ the other day. She is in Middleburg with Nita. Aunt Chattie [Charlotte Rust], Grandma and Uncle George's wife all well. Aunt Ginnie is near Upperville. Uncle Armistead [Rust] and Uncle George are in Leesburg Col and Lt Col of the militia. I have a long letter from Trent the other day, all well at Bedford. He had just heard from you. It is perfectly outrageous about Aunt Susan. I give praise she is wholly lost to us. I think she knows how I feel towards her Nation and _?_ shameful. I am glad we have no connection with it, but, I will endeavor to control feeling and not give you the benefit of them. I do wish you would come home. I expect you can do so with perfect safety. Thence _?_ to you mother and sisters. Cousin Lee sends love. I wish you could come home.
Write _?_ your found
daughter.
V Bedinger [Virginia Bedinger]
[Note: The letter above to "Ma" is from Virginia (Diddy) Bedinger to her stepmother, Caroline Bowne (Lawrence) Bedinger in Long Island. Caroline had moved to Long Island, New York, presumably intending to spend the duration of the war in safety near her relatives there. Letters of the Lawrence’s document this. Virginia is asking her to come "Home", to Shepherdstown.
The letter also tells that Edwin G. Lee was a Colonel assigned as an aide to Gen. Jackson and that George Rust Bedinger was transferred from the infantry to the artillery. That would be the Rockbridge Artillery under Captain William T. Poague. Virginia refers to her Aunt Susan (Susan Peyton Bedinger (40)) who is in sympathy with the Union. Aunt Susan is the daughter of Daniel Bedinger (7) and Sarah Rutherford; she married Rev. Doctor Cornwall and was living in Woodbury, Connecticut. Henrietta (Bedinger) Lee (44), Susan Cornwall’s sister, during the war wrote her daughter, Ida, that concerning Susan: “I am sorry to say she has joined her voice in the baying and barking of the Northern Bloodhounds, and seems crazy upon the subject of Flag, Union, and Constitution.”]
Continued: Rockbridge Artillery