Free Talons of Eagles by William W. Johnstone

Louisiana ladies and sewed a battle flag for the Marauders. Jamie smiled when he saw it, but offered no objections to its use . . . as a matter of fact, he was rather amused by it.
    It was a black flag with a pirate’s skull and crossbones in the center.
    Leaving his two companies resting in the woods, Jamie rode over to Beauregard’s headquarters—his aide, Little Ben Pardee, rode with him. General Joseph E. Johnston was there. Johnston, being the senior officer, was in command of the entire Rebel army. But for the Battle of Manassas (the Yankees called it Bull Run), he left Beauregard in complete command.
    It was the 20th of July, 1861.
    Reinforcements were arriving almost hourly. General T.J. Jackson and his Virginia Brigade had arrived, as had General B.E. Bee from South Carolina and General E.K. Smith and his men. General Theophilus Holmes had arrived with his troops, as had Colonel Hampton and his South Carolina Hampton Legion and Colonel Bartow’s Georgia Brigade. Many had their own flags, and it was getting confusing, for the flags were all different, some of them not even using the Confederate colors. The flag of the Florida Independent Blues, for example, was a blue background with seven white stars on top, a flower in the middle, and the words ANY FATE BUT SUBMISSION, in a half circle on the bottom. One flag from South Carolina had blue and red squares with a fox, a cannon, a quarter moon, and a palm tree embroidered on the flag. Soon most of the flags would be replaced by the Rebel battle flag, which had thirteen white stars against a blue X, the stars representing the eleven Confederate states plus the two that the Rebels claimed, Missouri and Kentucky.
    General Beauregard’s HQ during the Battle of Manassas was a private home near Manassas Junction. President Jefferson Davis would meet with Beauregard there, and some fifteen months later, President Abe Lincoln would meet with some of his generals in the very same house.
    In addition to the thousands of Confederate troops already gathered, by July 21, more than nine thousand other Rebels had made the trip by railroad to beef up the Confederate army. At the same time, the Union forces were also being increased—by reporters and civilian well-wishers who came bringing picnic lunches and kegs of beer and stronger spirits. They pitched tents and laid down blankets and cots. They came by the hundreds, getting in the way and in general making a nuisance of themselves. They were in high spirits, some having traveled long distances to witness firsthand the Union army give the Confederate army a good sound licking and to teach these upstart Southerners a lesson. They settled in under whatever shade they could find and uncorked their spy glasses and field glasses and got ready to have a party after the battle that would soon and forever after be called the Battle of Bull Run.

8
    One of Jamie’s men who had lived for a time in Ohio, and did not have a pronounced Southern drawl, slipped into Yankee held territory and mingled with the crowds for a day, before slipping back across the lines that night.
    â€œMust be near ’bouts a thousand civilians over there, Major. Man name of Matt Brady is over there with his cameras, and there are congressmen and senators from Washington, D.C., there. And they got troops comin’ in just like we have.”
    One of General Johnston’s aides was in camp, and he asked, “Civilians? Why?”
    â€œTo watch the Yankees whip us, sir.”
    The aide smiled. “They just might be in for a slight disappointment.”
    â€œWe’re counting on that,” Captain Dupree said.
    â€œMajor MacCallister, General Johnston has orders for you and your Marauders. When the battle starts in earnest, he wants you and your men to cross the stream and launch a flanking action here.” He pointed to a map. “Create a lot of confusion.”
    â€œWe do that right well,” Sparks