HAMPTON'S LEGION SOLDIER DESCRIBES FIRST BULL RUN ON THE VERY DAY OF THE BATTLE Superb content letter from the battlefield of Bull Run, the first major battle of the war, as written by a member of Hampton's Legion on the very day of the battle! Pvt. (and future Capt.) Richard Manning, Jr., a member of Hampton's Legion and apparently a nephew of Wade Hampton, writes his mother at midnight on the day of the battle, 2pp. 4to., July 21, 1861, in ink and pencil. In part: "...Worn out almost by the fatigue of a long march, and hard-fighting, I sit down to write you...glorious victory gained by our army on this sacred day...We have had a terrible battle about 6 miles from M[anassas] Junction and our Legion was exposed to the hottest and thickest of the fight. Spratt has written that uncle Brown Captain Connor and others were killed - it is not so for Col. Johnson was the only one of my friends killed, Cousin Wade [Hampton] was wounded...Col. Johnson was leading as on most gallantly and shot through the head, a most terrible wound. Uncle Brown has just returned with Capt.'s Gary and Conner after having pursued the enemy as far as Centerville, completely routed and in a terrible state of demoralization. The fight lasted for 6 hours, with a loss of 60,000 (enemy) to 15,000 (our.) I was knocked down by a spent grape shot with a part of a shell passing through my hat and coat. I was stupid for some time afterward...Out of 113 in our company we have as far as we now know 75 or 80 left. All the companies in the Legion were cut to pieces more or less except one, which fled at the beginning of the action. Richard Hebersham was slightly wounded, a ball grazing his nose - near the nostril...This battle is a second Waterloo...". Light grease stain in the body of the letter, else very good. Manning would later serve on Johnston's staff before Atlanta and in the Carolinas.