From Whitman's account, what probably happened at the battle?
The Union army fought the Confederate army to a tie. The Union army was defeated and forced to retreat. The Union army won the battle and took Manassas Junction. The Confederate army had burned down the Long Bridge.
In June 1861, the Union army marched south from Washington, D.C., into Virginia. Its goal was to seize Manassas Junction, an important railroad center.
The following passage is the memory of Walt Whitman, who was living in Washington, D.C., at the time. Use it to answer the question below.
The defeated troops [started] pouring into Washington over the Long Bridge at daylight on Monday, 22nd July . . . all the men with this coating of sweat and rain, now recoiling back, pouring over the Long Bridge — a horrible march of twenty miles, returning to Washington baffled, humiliated, panic-struck.
Look at the underlined sentences from the passage.
The defeated troops [started] pouring into Washington over the Long Bridge at daylight on Monday, 22 nd July . . . all the men with this coating of sweat and rain, now recoiling back, pouring over the Long Bridge — a horrible march of twenty miles, returning to Washington baffled, humiliated, panic-struck.
Remember that Walt Whitman was writing about the Union army. Whitman uses words such as "defeated," "humiliated," and "panic-struck" to describe the returning Union soldiers. The Union army was defeated and forced to retreat.