“Tell no one,” enjoined Seward. “That is not so. The battle is lost. The telegraph says that McDowell is in full retreat, and calls on General Scott to save the Capitol. Find the President and tell him to come immediately to Gen. Scott[’]s.” (In fact, late that afternoon, the last of the Confederate reinforcements arrived from Winchester and helped turn the tide. In pell-mell fashion, McDowell’s men retreated ignominiously to Washington, causing one wag to write that the troops evidently thought “these are the times that try men soles.”)
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
(echo:: @ ⌗)