A junction was now effected by the strong forces of the rebel Generals Jackson and Longstreet, at a point east of the Bull Run mountains. Just before this junction General Pope had attacked Jackson at Manassas; and the engagement was a very fierce one. The conflict raged desperately, and it was difficult to decide which side would win the day; but after a long and deadly fight the patriots were beaten back towards Gainesville. The rebel loss in this battle was very severe—more so than that of the Union army: but the exact numbers cannot be stated, for no official report of the disasters was allowed to be published. The National troops lost six thousand men. During this time General Halleck had sent many dispatches to General McClellan ordering reinforcements to be sent to General Pope: which orders could not, at first, be obeyed, for the reason that General McClellan’s troops, after their long fighting during the retreat, were not in a suitable condition to go into battle. General McClellan, however, used all possible diligence in sending on reinforcements, and telegraphed General Halleck on the morning of the 29th, “Franklin’s corps is in motion; started about six o’clock, A. M. I can give him but two squadrons of cavalry. I should not have moved him but for your pressing orders of last night.” Quick dispatches passed between General Halleck and General McClellan till the 30th; by which it appeared clearly that General McClellan’s army was in no condition to send reinforcements to the aid of General Pope; and that he deserved neither the accusations of tardiness, cowardice, or treason, which were hurled against him. On the 29th and 30th the main body of the rebel army, under General Lee, was pressing forward through the mountains, elated with what they claimed as victories, strengthened by strong supports under Longstreet, and confident that they were pursuing a resistless march for the invasion of the North. And they had good right to feel elated; for the men who pushed forward, while they were poorly fed, half-starved, scantily clothed, with bare feet, torn and bleeding, were not made of stuff to anticipate defeat. The corps of Generals Sumner and Franklin had now arrived to the assistance of General Pope, who could not refrain from bitter complaints that they had not reached him sooner; but he was prompt in preparations to resist the enemy’s advance upon Washington. The rebel army rapidly gathered all its force before the forces of General Pope. The centre was commanded by Colonel Lee; the right by Longstreet; and the left by Jackson. The Union troops spread out in a line that confronted the enemy; the Union batteries crowned the hill which they had occupied in the disastrous battle of Bull Run. The more advanced portion of the line at Grovetown was composed of the corps of Generals Porter, Sigel, and Reno; General Heintzelman held the right, and General McDowell the left.