BATTLE OF BLACKBURN'S FORD—THE BATTLE BEGINS—THE ENEMY DRIVEN BACK—INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE There were frequent rumors while in camp at Manassas that the Yankees were advancing. On the 17th of July the report proved true; the Yankees were coming sure enough this time. Longstreet's Brigade marched down to Blackburn's Ford on Bull Run some mile and a half or two miles north of Manassas. The regiments, except the Eleventh, were formed in line of battle above and below the ford, along the south bank of the creek, or run, as it is called, a small wooded stream with the ground rising on the north side to quite a bluff, heavily timbered, the road from the ford leading up through a narrow ravine. Other brigades were posted along Bull Run above and below Blackburn's Ford. The men on the line of battle made temporary breastworks along the bank of the run, with old logs, driftwood, and fence rails, and awaited the coming of the enemy—skirmishers having been thrown well forward on the high ground beyond the stream and woods. The Eleventh Regiment, held in reserve, was placed behind a small bluff, a short distance south of the stream and above the ford. This bluff was pretty good protection except from fragments of shells bursting overhead. The enemy did not appear until the next day in the afternoon, when the attack was made on the position at the ford about three o'clock. Company A of the Eleventh Regiment was on picket, or skirmish line, across the run, when a Yankee quartermaster captain rode down the road, and enquired of one of the company if he knew where General McDowell's (the Yankee commander's) headquarters were. The man replied, "No, I don't know where General McDowell's headquarters are, but I can show you to General Beauregard's very quick." The captain seeing his mistake wheeled his horse and dashed away. Several of the pickets fired on him, when he tumbled from his horse dead, shot through the body. The captain had on a pair of spurs, which one of the men took off, and when the company returned to the regiment after the Yankees advanced in force, gave the spurs to Major Harrison, who put them on and in a short time thereafter received his death wound. Unlucky spurs these! My recollection is, as I heard it after the battle, that when the Yankee fell from his horse, Henry Beckwith said, as they approached him, "If he is shot through the belt, I killed him. I aimed at his belt"; and that the ball had entered the body at or near the belt. Tom Davis, Leslie Price, and Jim Foulks, I think, were the other men who fired. Who really fired the fatal shot was not known. THE BATTLE BEGINS