William Howard Russell

"[The Russians] dashed on towards that thin red line tipped with steel."

"I saw a steady stream of men covered with mud, soaked through with rain, who were pouring irregularly, without any semblance of order, up Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol. ... I ran down-stairs and asked an "officer," who was passing by, a pale young man, who looked exhausted to death, and who bad lost his sword, for the empty sheath dangled at his side, where the men were coming from. "Where from? Well, sir, I guess were all coming out of Virginny as fast as we can, and pretty well whipped too." "What! the whole army, sir?" "Thats more than I know. They may stay that like. I know Im going home. Ive had enough of fighting to last my lifetime."

"Why Beauregard does not come I know not, nor can I well guess. ... The inmates of the White House are in a state of the utmost trepidation, and Mr. Lincoln... in despair..."

"The impression produced by the size of his extremities, and by his flapping and wide projecting ears, may be removed by the appearance of kindliness, sagacity, and the awkward bonhommie of his face; the mouth is absolutely prodigious; the lips, straggling and extending almost from one line of black beard to the other, are only kept in order by two deep furrows from the nostril to the chin; the nose itself — a prominent organ — stands out from the face, with an inquiring, anxious air, as though it were sniffing for some good thing in the wind; the eyes dark, full, and deeply set, are penetrating, but full of an expression which almost amounts to tenderness; and above them projects the shaggy brow, running into the small hard frontal space, the development of which can scarcely be estimated accurately, owing to the irregular flocks of thick hair carelessly brushed across it."