"I could not
return home and remain inactive while every man in the South is
fighting for the defense of his country, so I will take my chance of
being exchanged."
"I am sorry you choose that alternative," McClellan said. "I hate to
see brave men imprisoned if only for a day; and braver men than
those across yonder stream are not to be found. My officers and
men are astonished. They seem so thin and worn as to be scarce
able to lift a musket, their clothes are fit only for a scarecrow, they
are indeed pitiful objects to look at; but the way in which they
fight is wonderful. I could not have believed had I not seen it, that
men could have charged as they did again and again across ground
swept by a tremendous artillery and musketry fire; it was
wonderful! I can tell you, young sir, that even though you beat us
we are proud of you as our countrymen; and I believe that if your
General Jackson were to ride through our camp he would be
cheered as lustily and heartily by our men as he is by his own."
Some fifty or sixty other prisoners had been taken; they had been
captured in the hand-to-hand struggle that had taken place on some
parts of the field, having got separated from their corps and mixed
up with the enemy, and carried off the field with them as they
retired.
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