As they advanced into Virginia, the men, animated by their surroundings, stepped briskly forward, and the country-side was gay with fantastic uniforms and gorgeous standards.  But the heat was oppressive, and the roads lay deep in dust.  Knapsack, rifle, and blankets became a grievous burden.  The excitement died away, and unbroken to the monotonous exertion of the march the three-months’ recruits lost all semblance of subordination.  The compact array of the columns was gradually lost, and a tail of laggards, rapidly increasing, brought up the rear.  Regiment mingled with regiment.  By each roadside brook the men fell out in numbers.  Every blackberry bush was surrounded by a knot of stragglers; and, heedless of the orders of those officers who still attempted to keep them in the ranks, scores of so-called soldiers sought the cool shade of the surrounding woods.* (* Sherman’s Memoirs volume 1 page 181.) When darkness fell the army was but six miles from its morning bivouacs; and it was not till late the next day that the stragglers rejoined their regiments.

McDowell had intended to attack at once.  “But I could not,” he says, “get the troops forward earlier than we did.  I wished them to go to Centreville the second day, but when I went to urge them forward, I was told that it was impossible for the men to march further.  They had only come from Vienna, about six miles, and it was not more than six and a half miles further to Centreville, in all a march of twelve and a half miles; but the men were foot-weary—­not so much, I was told, by the distance marched, as by the time they had been on foot, caused by the obstructions in the road, and the slow pace we had to move to avoid ambuscades.  The men were, moreover, unaccustomed to marching, and not used to carrying even the load of “light marching order...”  The trains, hurriedly gotten together, with horses, waggons, drivers, and waggon-masters all new and unused to each other, moved with difficulty and disorder, and were the cause of a day’s delay in getting the provisions forward."* (* O.R. volume 2 page 324.  McDowell’s Report.)

On the morning of the 18th, in order to attract the enemy’s attention from his right, a brigade was sent south, in the direction of Bull Run.  The Confederate outposts fell back over Blackburn’s Ford.  The woods about the stream concealed the defenders’ forces, and the Federals pushed on, bringing artillery into action.  Two Confederate guns, after firing a few shots, were withdrawn under cover, and the attacking troops reached the ford.  Suddenly, from the high timber on the further bank, volleys of musketry blazed out in their very faces, and then came proof that some at least of the Federal regiments were no more to be relied upon in action than on the march.  A portion of the force, despite the strong position of the enemy and the heavy fire, showed a bold front, but at least one regiment turned and fled, and was only rallied far in rear.  The