It is worth while to pause for a moment in our narration to introduce upon the scene one of the most useful and remarkable men of the time, who became one of Miss Carroll's principal coadjutors; this was Senator Wade, of Ohio. He was successively justice of the peace, prosecuting attorney, State senator, judge of the circuit court, and United States Senator for three terms; he was also Acting Vice-President of the United States after Lincoln's death. If President Johnson's impeachment had been carried through he would have been the President for the rest of the term, and it was feared by his opponents that in that case he would have secured the Chicago nomination for the coming term, of which he was one of the candidates.
The first encounter of the Union army, a crowd of raw, undisciplined recruits, under new and inexperienced officers, with the better prepared Confederate army naturally resulted in a tremendous panic. Two carriages were present on the battlefield; one contained Senators Wade, Chandler, and Brown, Sergeant-at-arms of the Senate, and Major Eaton; in the other was Tom Brown, of Cleveland, Blake, Morris, and Riddle, of the House. Near the extemporized hospital, Ashley's Black Horse sweeping down on the recruits caused the panic. One of the gentlemen present thus described the scene. (The description can be met with in Coxe's Three Decades and in Riddle's Life of Wade, a work that should be more widely published.)
"It seemed as if the very devils of panic and cowardice had seized every mortal officer, soldier, teamster, and citizen. No officer tried to rally a soldier or do anything but spring and run toward Centerville. There was never anything like it for causeless, sheer, absolute, absurd cowardice--or rather panic--on this miserable earth before. Off they went, one and all--off down the highway, across the fields, towards the woods, anywhere, everywhere, to escape. The further they ran the more frightened they grew, and though we moved as fast as we could the fugitives passed us by scores. To enable themselves better to run they threw away their blankets, knapsacks, canteens, and finally their muskets, cartridge-boxes--everything. We called to them; told them there was no danger; implored them to stand. We called them cowards; denounced them in the most offensive terms; pulled out our heavy revolvers, threatened to kill them--in vain. A cruel, crazy, hopeless panic possessed them and infected everybody, front and rear."