could have blocked it with the utmost ease. But it was left unguarded
and Pope had scarcely turned his back to spring on Jackson before
Lee slid through the Gap and sprang on him.

The contest that followed, called the Second Battle of Bull Run or
Manassas (August 30, 1862), was almost a repetition of the first,
except that in the earlier battle the Union soldiers had a fair
chance and on this occasion they had none at all. Indeed, Lee and
Jackson had Pope so situated that, despite the bravery of his men,
they battered and pounded him until he staggered from the field
in a state of hysterical confusion, wildly telegraphing that the
enemy was badly crippled and that everything would be well, and
following up this by asking if the capital would be safe, if his
army should be destroyed. It is indeed possible that his army would
have been reduced to a mere mob, had it not been for the proximity
of the fortifications of Washington, into which his exhausted
regiments were safely tumbled on the 2nd of September, 1862.

Thus, for the second time in two months, Lee calmly confronted the
wreck of an opposing host, which, at the outset, had outnumbered
him and confidently planned for his destruction.





Chapter XVII