Siglo XIX Americano III

Chapter 12: Winchester.

While General Jackson was hurrying back from Franklin, critical events were occurring at Richmond, which must be known in order to appreciate the value of his victories, and their effect upon the public mind. The destruction of the ship Virginia by her crew, on the 11th of May, has been narrated. This blunder left the River James open to the enemy's fleet, up to the wharves of the city. The Confederate engineers had indeed projected an earthwork upon an admirable position, seven miles below, where the lands of a planter named Drewry overlooked a narrow reach of the stream, in a lofty bluff or precipitous hill. But so nerveless and dilatory had been their exertions, that when the river was thus opened to the enemy, there were neither guns mounted upon the unfinished ramparts of earth, nor obstructions completed in the channel beneath. The Legislature of Virginia had urged upon the Confederate War Department, the vast importance of defending this avenue to the Capital of the Commonwealth, and had received promises; but they remained unfulfilled. The hurried removal of military stores to theSouthwest; the packing of the archives of the Confederate Departments, and the significant movements of their occupants, now indicated the purpose of the Government to desert Richmond to the enemy. Not only was it left approachable by water; but the grand army of McClellan had pressed from the [356] peninsula up to the neighborhood of the city on the east, while a strong and increasing army underGeneral McDowell, at Fredericksburg, threatened it by a northern route of only three marches, with no adequate force to oppose him. It was in this gloomy hour, that the spirit of the General Assembly ofVirginia, and of the citizens of her Capital, flamed up with a lofty and unshaken heroism, worthy to be compared with the noblest displays of patriotism in all the ages. The former body addressed to thePresident of the Confederate States, a Resolution, requesting him to defend the city, if necessary, until one stone was not left upon another, and proposing to lay it as a sacrifice, with all its wealth, upon the country's altar. The Town-council met, and amidst the stern and unanimous enthusiasm of the citizens, seconded this resolve. They were determined, that if the city could not be successfully defended, it should only be yielded to the enemy as a barren heap of rubbish, the sepulchre, and glorious monument at once, of its defenders. The General Assembly sent its Committee to lay their wishes before thePresident; who thanked them for their devotion, and assured them that the evacuation of Richmond, if it occurred, would by no means imply the desertion of Virginia. Even while they conferred together, a courier brought him news, that some Federal ships of war, availing themselves of the absence of theVirginia, were ascending the river, with the evident intention of reaching Richmond. Rising from his seat, he dismissed the Committee, saying, “This manifestly concludes the matter ;” and proceeded to arrange for the removal of his family. But the timidity of the Federalists, afraid of torpedoes, or some other secret annoyance, and incredulous that so vital a point could indeed be left open for them, for this time saved the city; which, so far as its proper defenders were concerned, was already lost. The ships paused to make soundings, and to [357] reconnoitre the banks; and meantime, the citizens went to work. The City Council called upon the Confederate Engineers, to know what they lacked for the immediate completion of their works; and pledged themselves to supply everything. The citizens themselves turned laborers, and drapers and bankers were seen at the port, loading barges with stone. Two or three excellent guns were mounted; great timbers were hewn, floated to the foot of Drewry's Bluff, and built into a row of cribs; which, when ballasted with stone and bricks, promised to resist the momentum of the heaviest ships. By the 15th of May, when the advance of the Federal fleet appeared, after their cautious dallying, these beginnings of defences were made; and the three guns, manned by Confederate marines, gloriously beat off the gunboats Monitor and Galena, with no little damage of their boasted invulnerability.

The benefit wrought by these events upon the temper of the people, which was before tending fast to abject discouragement, cannot be described by words. The Confederate authorities had doubtless decided with perfect correctness, according to the technical maxims of war, that Richmond was untenable; but fortunately, the great heart of the “Unterrified Commonwealth” was wiser than the intellect of the Government. Her glorious example sent a quickening pulsation of generous shame, of hope, and of courage, through the veins of the army and of all the States. Throughout the Confederacy, her high determination was re-echoed; the people everywhere resolved rather to sacrifice their homes to the magnanimous work of defence, than to yield them a coveted prey to the enemy; the Governmentand Generals began, in good earnest, to prepare for holding the Capital against every assault.

This was, properly, the main object of the campaign, and all other movements were auxiliary to it.General Jackson's [358] command was expected to concur in securing the Capital, by so dealing with that of General Banks, as to neutralize his cooperation in movements against Richmond, whatever might be the form they assumed. General Lee, reasoning from the strategic principles which he thought should have governed McClellan and Banks, and from news of partial movements of the forces of the latter towards Eastern Virginia, anticipated the sudden withdrawal of his whole army from the Valley, toFredericksburg, for a combined movement with McDowell against Richmond; or even to the peninsula.General Jackson was steadfast in the opinion, that Banks's objective point was still Staunton, and the command of the Central Railroad; and he therefore confidently expected to fight him in the Valley.General Joseph E. Johnston, who, as commander of the Department of North Virginia, was still GeneralJackson's immediate superior, constantly instructed him and General Ewell, in his despatches to them, to observe these two injunctions: If General Banks moved his army to McDowell at Fredericksburg, to march immediately by way of Gordonsville, and join General Anderson at some point in front of the former town; or if he remained in the Valley, to fight him there immediately, only avoiding the effusion of blood in assaults of a fortified position. But he left it to them to decide which of these alternatives was about to become necessary. In the case that they were compelled to follow Banks to Fredericksburg,General Edward Johnson was to be left with his six regiments, to hold the Valley against Fremont, as he best might. Two more fine brigades were sent from Richmond to Gordonsville, to assist GeneralJackson in his movement against Banks; but before a junction was effected with him, they were suddenly ordered back to the neighborhood of Richmond, to defend the approaches on the side ofFredericksburg; where they soon after suffered a disastrous [359] defeat from McClellan's advance, at Hanover Court House. Jackson was also very nearly deprived of the assistance of General Ewell, by the same uneasiness concerning an attack from the side of Fredericksburg. After a series of despatches, varying with the appearances of danger, the latter General was finally instructed by the Commander-in-Chief, that it would be necessary for him to move at once from Swift Run Gap towards Gordonsville. But he had just been informed by General Jackson, that he was hastening back, to effect a junction with him near Harrisonburg, and to assail Banks. Mounting his horse, without escort, General Ewell rode express, night and day, and met Jackson on the Sabbath, May 18th, at Mossy Creek, to inform him of this necessity for inflicting so cruel a disappointment upon him. The latter uttered no complaint, and made no comment; although the sleepless energy with which he had been pressing forward, told how dear the project was to his wishes. He meekly replied; “Then Providence denies me the privilege of striking a decisive blow for my country; and I must be satisfied with the humble task of hiding my little army about these mountains, to watch a superior force.” The warm and generous heart of Ewell was touched with such an exhibition of unselfish devotion, and was unwilling to desert him. He therefore proposed that if Jackson, under whose immediate orders he was, as ranking Major-General, would assume the responsibility of detaining him until a remonstrance could be uttered against his removal, he would remain. The contingency under which General Johnston had authorized him to leave the Valleyhad not yet occurred; and the discretion which their general instructions conceded to General Jackson, for regulating his movements according to circumstances, authorized such an exercise of power. It was therefore concluded between them, that the junction should be completed at New Market, a day's [360] march below Harrisonburg. The unwearied Ewell, after resting his limbs during public worship, again mounted his horse and returned to hurry on his division.

It is now time to pause, and explain the proceedings of General Banks. His precipitate withdrawal fromHarrisonburg, upon the movement of Generals Jackson and Ewell, has been described. He retired first to New Market, and then, leaving a heavy rear-guard in that region, to Strasbourg, twenty miles aboveWinchester; where he began fortifying himself in a strong position, commanding at once the great Valley Turnpike leading to Winchester, and the Manassa's Railroad leading towards Alexandria. The cavalry ofAshby, following close upon his rear, watched all the roads of the main Valley; while that of GeneralEwell guarded the communications between the Masanuttin Mountain and the Blue Ridge. A system of strategy was now begun by the Federalists, dictated by the senseless fears of the Executive atWashington, and by the judicial blindness dispensed to them from a Divine Providence merciful to theConfederates, in which every movement was a blunder. The aggressive attempt upon Staunton was postponed, at the precise juncture when it should have been pressed with all their forces combined; andGeneral Banks was consigned to the defence of Strasbourg. Whereas, if Staunton was not won at once, then his whole force should have been transferred without delay to aid an aggressive movement fromFredericksburg, as General Lee anticipated. Milroy having been caught, beaten, and chased, like a hunted beast, through the mountains, Blenker's division was now hurried to the support of him andGeneral Fremont. It arrived just when Jackson had left them alone, and it left General Banks just when he was about to be assailed by him. Worse than all: as though an army of nearly forty thousand men, under Generals McDowell [361] and Augur, were not enough to protect the road from Fredericksburgto Washington against the embarrassed Confederates, Banks detached the best brigades he had,--those of Shields and Kimball, containing seven thousand men,--and sent them on the 14th of May, by way ofLuray and Front Royal, to support the forces on the Rappahannock. It was this movement, so unaccountable in its folly, which, being observed by General Ewell, led him to believe, for a moment, that Banks's whole force had gone to assail Richmond from that quarter. This unlucky General thus reduced himself to about eighteen thousand men, at the critical moment when the storm was about to burst upon him. And he completed the chapter of errors in this, that by sending away General Shields he evacuated the New Market Gap, and gave to General Jackson the fatal option to assail him either in front or in flank. The latter watched all his mistakes with a silent intelligence; and while nothing escaped his eagle eye, it never betrayed his purposes by even a sparkle of elation.

That the measures now taken by General Jackson may be comprehended, the reader must recall the outline already given of the topography of the Valley of Virginia. From the neighborhood of Elk Run,General Ewell's recent position, to that of Strasbourg,--a distance of fifty miles,--the Valley is divided by the Masanuttin, a high and precipitous mountain, parallel to the Blue Ridge, which, at both its ends, terminates suddenly in lofty promontories dominating the plains. The valley between it and the Blue Ridge is more narrow and rugged than that west of it; but it is watered throughout its whole length by the South Shenandoah, and gives space enough for the fertile and populous county of Page, with its seat of justice at the village of Luray. One good road only connects this subordinate valley laterally with the main Valley — the turnpike across New Market Gap. But, longitudinally, the county of Page is traversed by several [362] excellent highways, parallel to the general course of its river and mountain barriers. Just west of the base of the New Market Gap is seated the village of that name, upon the great Valley Turnpike, and in the midst of a smiling champaign. The force which occupied this Gap, and commanded this village, was, in a sense, master of both valleys. This was the position which Banksdeserted without cause, when he detached General Shields to Eastern Virginia. As the traveller proceeds northeast down the county of Page, he enters the county of Warren, lying just where the lesser valley merges itself again in the greater. The north fork of the Shenandoah River, which coasts the western base of the Masanuttin Mountain, turns eastward around its northern end from the neighborhood of Strasbourg, and meets the south fork emerging from the other valley, near Front Royal, the seat of justice of Warren county. The excellent paved road from this village to Winchester leads by a course of eighteen miles, across both branches of the river, just above their union, and through a country of gentle hills, farms, and woodlands, converging towards the great Valley Turnpike as it approaches the town.

When Shields evacuated New Market, Colonel Ashby advanced his quarters to it, and extended his pickets to the neighborhood of Strasbourg, where he closed the whole breadth of the great Valley, there much contracted, by a cordon of sentries. Every movement above was thus screened effectually from the observation of General Banks. General Jackson, leaving Mossy Creek Monday, the 19th of May, proceeded by two marches, to the neighborhood of New Market. He there met the fine brigade ofGeneral Richard Taylor, which had marched from Elk Run valley by the Western side of the Masanuttin Mountain. On Wednesday, the 21st he crossed the New Market Gap, and in the neighborhood ofLuray, completed his union with the [363] [364] remainder of General EwellPs forces. His army now contained about sixteen thousand effective men, with forty field guns. It was composed of his own division, embracing the brigades of Winder, Campbell, and Taliaferro, of General Ewell's division, which included the brigades of Taylor, Trimble, Elzey, and Stewart, and the cavalry regiments of Ashby,Munford, and Flournoy, with eight batteries of artillery. At Mossy Creek, he had been met byBrigadier-General George H. Stewart, a native of Maryland, whom the Confederate Government had just commissioned, and charged with the task of assembling all the soldiers from that State into oneCorps, to be called The Maryland Line. To begin this work, General Jackson at once assigned to his command the First Maryland regiment of Colonel Bradley T. Johnson, and the Brockenborough Battery, which was manned chiefly by citizens of Baltimore, as the nucleus of a brigade.

He had determined to march by Luray and Front Royal, in order to avoid the necessity of attackingBanks in his strong fortifications. This route offered other advantages: it placed him between his enemy and Eastern Virginia, whither General Lee feared he was moving: it enabled him to conceal his march from Banks more effectually, until he was fairly upon his flank: and it ensured the issuing of that General from his entrenched position in order to save his communications. Leaving the picket line of Ashby inBanks's front, he marched with all his other forces towards Front Royal: where, he was aware, a Federal detachment of unknown force was stationed. The advance of the army, consisting of the First Maryland regiment and the battalion of Major Wheat from Taylor's brigade, under the command ofGeneral Stewart, reached the village about two o'clock P. M., on Friday, May 23d. They had been ordered to diverge from the main road which enters the village from the [365] south, into a rugged pathway across the hills, which led them into another road descending into the village from the mountains on the east. The surprise of the Federalists was complete, and it was evident that the first news they received of the presence of a hostile army, was the volley fired by Stewart into their picket, a mile from the village. Yet they showed themselves prepared to make a spirited resistance. Their advance was speedily driven through the town, with the loss of some prisoners, when their main force took up a position upon a commanding height on the side next Winchester, overlooking the village, and the approach of the Confederates from the opposite side. From this hill they cannonaded the troops as they approached, but without effect. The commands of Colonel Johnson and Major Wheat, deployed as skirmishers, with a company of Cavalry accompanying them, dashed through the streets, and across the fields in front, with impetuosity; while General Jackson ordered Taylor's Louisiana brigade to support them by a movement on the left flank, through a wood which lay on that side of the village. Before this effort could be completed, however, the gallant skirmishers had dislodged the enemy, and the General galloped forward to the height they had just occupied. On the nearer side of the South Shenandoah, which flowed just beyond this hill, was the enemy's camp, pitched in a charming meadow along the water-side, but now wrapped in flames, and sending up volumes of smoke to the skies, while under its cover, their whole infantry was marching, in excellent order, up the road which obliquely ascended from the other bank, every rank distinctly displayed to view. Their guns were again posted on the rival height to that on which Jackson stood, far above the infantry, prepared to protect its retreat. As the General beheld this picture, he was seized with uncontrollable eagerness and impatience, and exclaimed: “Oh, what [366] an opportunity for artillery! Oh, that my guns were here!” Then turning almost fiercely to the only aid who accompanied him, he commanded him to hasten to the rear, and “order up every rifled gun, and every brigade in the army.” Some guns were, after a little, brought up; but the enemy had meantime passed the crest of the ridge, and the pursuit was resumed; the Generalriding among the skirmishers and urging them on.

Here occurred a striking effect of a vicious usage, which it was the honor of General Lee to banish from the armies in Virginia. This was the custom of temporarily attaching to the staff of a General commanding a division or an army, a company of cavalry to do the work of orderlies and couriers. By this clumsy contrivance, the organization of the cavalry regiments was marred, the men detached were deprived of all opportunity for drill, and the General had no evidence whatever of their special fitness for the responsible service assigned them. Nay, the Colonel of cavalry required to furnish them, was most likely to select the company least serviceable to him by reason of deficient equipments, or inexperience. At the time of the combat of Front Royal, the duty of couriers was performed for General Jackson, by a detachment from one of Colonel Ashby's undisciplined companies, of whom many were raw youths just recruited, and never under fire. As soon as the first Federal picket was driven in, and free access to the village won, orders were despatched to the rear brigades, to avoid the laborious and circuitous route taken by the advance, and to pursue the direct highway to the town, a level tract of three miles, in place of a precipitous one of seven or eight The panic-struck boy, by whom the orders were sent, thought of nothing but to hide himself from the dreadful sound of the cannon, and was seen no more. WhenGeneral Jackson sent orders to the artillery and rear brigades to hurry to the pursuit, [367] instead of being found near at hand, upon the direct road, they were at length overtaken, toiling over the hills of the useless circuit, spent with the protracted march; for they had received no instructions, and had no other guide than the footprints of those who preceded them. Thus night overtook them by the time they reached the village; and they lay down to rest, instead of pursuing the enemy. This unfortunate incident taught the necessity of a picked company of orderlies, selected for their intelligence and courage, permanently attached to Headquarters, and owning no subordination to any other than the General and his staff. Such is the usage now prevalent in the Confederate armies.

But on this occasion the enemy did not escape through this accident. In the forenoon, Colonel Ashbyand Colonel Flournoy had been detached with all the cavalry except a company or two, to cross the south fork of the Shenandoah at McCoy's Ford, above the position of the Federalists, for the purpose of destroying the telegraphic and railroad communications between Front Royal and Strasbourg, and of preventing the passage of reinforcements or fugitives between the two posts. Colonel Flournoy, with his own and Colonel Munford's regiments, kept a short distance west of the river, and having executed his orders, now appeared upon the Winchester road, in the most timely manner, to join in the pursuit. At the north fork of the Shenandoah, the retreating Federalists made an abortive attempt to burn the bridge. Before they could fully accomplish this purpose the Confederates were upon them and extinguished the flames, but not until they had made one span of the bridge impassable for horsemen.Colonel Flournoy, however, accompanied by the General, with difficulty passed four companies of his own regiment across the river, and ordering the remainder to follow, hurried in pursuit. The Federals were overtaken near a little hamlet named Cedarville, five [368] miles from Front Royal, where their whole force, consisting of a section of artillery, two companies of cavalry, two companies ofPennsylvania infantry; and the 1st Maryland regiment of Federal infantry, now placed themselves in order of battle to stand at bay. General Jackson no sooner saw them than he gave the order to charge with a voice and air whose peremptory determination was communicated to the whole party. ColonelFlournoy instantly hurled his forces in column against the enemy, and broke their centre. They, however, speedily reformed in an orchard on the right of the turnpike, when a second gallant and decisive charge being made against them, their cavalry broke and fled, the cannoneers abandoned their guns, and the infantry threw down their arms, and scattered in utter rout. Other Confederate troops speedily arriving, the fields and woods were gleaned, and nearly the whole opposing force was killed or captured. The result was, the possession of about seven hundred prisoners, immense stores, and two fine ten-pounder rifle guns. The loss of the patriots, in the combat and pursuit; was twentysix killed and wounded.

Thus, two hundred and fifty men were taught, by the dash and genius of Jackson, to destroy a force of four times their number. His quick eye estimated aright the discouragement of the enemy, and their wavering temper. Infusing his own spirit into the men, he struck the hesitating foe at the decisive moment, and shattered them. A glorious share of the credit is also due to the officers and men of the detachment. General Jackson declared with emphasis to his staff, that he had never, in all his experience of warfare, seen a cavalry charge executed with such efficiency and gallantry; commendation, which, coming from his guarded and sober lips, was decided enough to satisfy every heart.

While these occurrences were in progress, Colonel Ashby, after [369] crossing at McCoy's ford, inclined still farther to the west, so as to skirt the northern base of the Masanuttin Mountain. His route led him to Buckton, the intermediate station of the railroad, between Front Royal and Strasbourg, where he found a body of the enemy posted as a guard, behind the railroad embankment, and in a store-house or barn of logs, which afforded them secure protection from his fire. Dismounting his men, he led them in person against the Federals, and speedily dispersed them. The track of the road was then effectually destroyed, so as to prevent the passage of trains. But in this hazardous onset, several of his soldiers were lost, and among them, his two best captains, Fletcher and Sheetz. The latter especially, although the year before but a comely youth taken from the farm of his father, had already shown himself a man of no common mark. Collecting a company of youths like himself in the valleys of Hampshire, he had armed them wholly from the spoils of the enemy, and without any other military knowledge than the intuitions of his own good sense, had drilled and organized them into an efficient body. He speedily became a famous partisan and scout, the terror of the invaders, and the right hand of his Colonel. Sheetzwas ever next the enemy; if pursuing, in command of the advanced guard; or if retreating, closing the rear; and Jackson had learned to rely implicitly upon his intelligence; for his courage, enterprise, sobriety of mind, and honesty, assured the authenticity of all his reports.

The skirmishers of General Ewell had now penetrated within four miles of Winchester, and the whole Confederate army, collected along the turnpike leading from Front Royal to that place, commandedBanks's communications, by numerous easy approaches. On the morning of Saturday, May 24th, that illstarred General, who was beaten before he fought, had only three practicable expedients. One was to retreat to the Potomac by [370] the Winchester road: another to defend himself at Strasbourg: the other, to avail himself of the Confederate advance on the former town to pass their rear at Front Royal, and so seek a refuge towards Manassa's Junction and Alexandria. But he was now in the clutches of a master, who had his wary eye upon every contingency. Jackson determined to move the body of his army neither to Strasbourg nor to Winchester, but to Middletown, a village upon the great Winchester road, five or six miles from Strasbourg, and thirteen from the latter place. General Ewell, with Trimble's brigade, the 1st Maryland regiment, and the batteries of Brockenborough and Courtney, was directed to pursue his movement upon Winchester by the Front Royal road, observing appearances of the enemy's retreat, and prepared to strike him in flank. Brigadier-General Stewart, in temporary command of the cavalry regiments of Munford and Flournoy, was directed to strike the Winchester road at the village of Newtown, nine miles from that town, with directions to observe the movements of the enemy at that point. General Jackson himself, with all the remainder of the army, marched by a cross road fromCedarville towards Middletown. Colonel Ashby's cavalry was in front, supported by Chew's battery, and two rifled guns from the famous battery of Pendleton, now commanded by Captain Poague. Next followed the brigade of Taylor, and the remainder of the infantry. Colonel Ashby kept his scouts on his left extended to the railroad, so as to note any signs of a movement towards Front. Royal. All the detachments of the army were in easy communication; and whether the enemy attempted to make a stand at Strasbourg, at Winchester, or at any intermediate point, the whole force could be rapidly concentrated against him. Before the main body was fairly in motion, Brigadier-General Stewart had already sent news of his arrival at Newtown, where he captured a number of ambulances, [371] with prisoners and medical stores, and found evident sins of a general retreat upon Winchester.

General Jackson now advanced upon Middletown, confident that his first surmise would be confirmed, and that he should strike the retreating army upon the march. Half-way between that place andMiddletown, his advance was confronted by a body of Federal cavalry, evidently sent to observe him.Captain Poague's section of artillery being then in front, the General ordered him instantly to gallop forward, take a position at short range, and fire into them. This was done with perfect success, and the detachment scattered; which was a novel instance of a charge effected by field artillery. When the little village of Middletown came in view, across the broad and level fields, the highway passing through it, at right angles to the direction of General Jackson's approach, was seen canopied with a vast cloud of gray dust, and crowded beneath, as far as the eye could reach, with a column of troops. At the sight, the artillery dashed forward in a gallop for a rising ground, whence to tear their ranks with shell. Ashbyswooped down upon the right like an eagle; cut through their path, and arrested their escape on that side; while General Taylor throwing his front regiment into line, advanced at a double quick to the centre of the village, his men cheering and pouring a terrific volley into the confused mass which filled the street. Never did a host receive a more mortal thrust. In one moment, the way was encumbered with dying horses and men; and at every fierce volley, the troopers seemed to melt by scores from their saddles; while the frantic, riderless horses, rushed up and down, trampling the wounded wretches into the dust. But the astute cowardice of the Federals, made the real carnage far less than the apparent; they fell from their horses before they were struck, and were found, when the victors leaped into the road, squat behind the stone [372] fences which bordered it, in long and crowded lines, where they all surrendered at the first challenge. Among the remainder of the Federal cavalry, the wildest confusion ensued, and they scattered in various directions. Two hundred prisoners and horses with their equipments, remained in the hands of the Confederates at this spot. But it did not yet appear what part of the retreating army was above, and what below, the point of assault. As soon as the bullets ceased to fly, the astonished citizens gathered around; and when they saw the miserable, begrimed, and bloody wreck of what had just been a proud regiment of Vermont cavalry, they exclaimed with uplifted hands; “Behold the righteous judgment of God; for these are the miscreants who have been most forward to plunder, insult, and oppress us!” By some of them, General Jackson was informed, that dense columns of infantry, trains of artillery, and long lines of baggagewagons, had been passing from Strasbourg since early morning.

Many wagons were seen disappearing in the distance towards Winchester, and Colonel Ashby, with his cavalry, some artillery, and a supporting infantry force from Taylor's brigade, was sent in pursuit. But a few moments elapsed before the Federal artillery, which had been cut off with the rear of their army, began to shell the village from the direction of Strasbourg. General Jackson, regarding this as an indication of a purpose to cut a way for retreat through his forces, immediately formed Taylor's brigade south of the village, and advanced it, with a few guns, to meet their attempt. The brigade of ColonelCampbell soon after arriving, was brought up to support it. But the enemy's courage was not adequate to so bold an exploit; the cannonade was only tentative; and, after a short skirmish, a column of flame and smoke arising from the valley of Cedar Creek told that they had fired the bridge over that stream, in order to protect themselves from attack. This fragment of the broken army, which was [373] probably small in numbers, finally fled westward; and either took refuge with General Fremont in the valley of theSouth Branch, or made its way, piecemeal, to the Potomac, along the base of the Great North Mountain. A large amount of baggage fell into the hands of the victors at the scene of this combat; entire regiments, apparently in line of battle, having laid down their knapsacks, and abandoned them.

General Jackson was now convinced that the larger game was in the direction of Winchester, and returned with his whole force to pursue it. The Stonewall Brigade, which had now come up, took the front, and the whole army advanced towards Newtown. The deserted wagon-train of the enemy was found standing, in many cases with the horses attached, and occupied the road for a mile. Upon approaching Newtown, the General was disappointed to find his artillery arrested, and wholly unsupported by the cavalry; while the enemy, taking heart from the respite, had placed two batteries in position on the left and right of this village, and again showed a determined front. Nearly the whole ofColonel Ashby's cavalry present with him, with a part of the infantry under his command, had disgracefully turned aside to pillage; so that their gallant commander was compelled to arrest the pursuit. Indeed, the firing had not ceased, in the first onset upon the Federal cavalry at Middletown, before some of Ashby's men might have been seen, with a quickness more suitable to horse-thieves than to soldiers, breaking from their ranks, seizing each two or three of the captured horses, and making off across the fields. Nor did these men pause until they had carried their illegal booty to their homes, which were, in some instances, at the distance of one or two days journey. That such extreme disorders could occur, and that they could be passed over without a bloody punishment, reveals the curious inefficiency of officers in the volunteer Confederate army. [374]

The rifled guns of Captain Poague were immediately placed in position upon arriving near Newtown, oin an opposing eminence, and replied to the Federal battery upon the right of the village with effect; but it was sunset before they were dislodged, and the pursuit resumed. The enemy had improved this pause to set fire to a large part of their train containing valuable stores; and, as the army advanced, the gathering darkness was illuminated for a mile by blazing wagons and pontoon boats; while blackened heaps of rice, beef, and bread, intermingled with the bands and bars of glowing iron, showed where carriages laden with these stores had been consumed.

General Jackson's perfect knowledge of the ground surrounding Winchester, suggested to him the fear that the Federalists would occupy the range of hills to the left of the turnpike and southwest of the town, so as to command his approaches. He therefore determined to press them all night, in the hope of seizing the contested heights during the darkness. Without a moment's pause for food or sleep, the army marched forward in perfect order, some of the brigades enlivening their fatigues from time to time with martial music, while ringing cheers passed, like a wave, down the column for four miles, until their sound was lost in the distance. The last time Jackson's division had passed over this road, they were making their slow and stubborn retreat from the bloody field of Kernstown; and they were now eager to wipe out the disgrace of that check. The night was calm, but dark. All night long, the General rode at the front, amidst a little advanced guard of cavalry, seeking the enemy's bleeding haunches with the pertinacity of a blood-hound. Again and again he fell, with his escort, into ambuscades of their riflemen, posted behind the stone fences, which here line the road almost continuously. Suddenly the fire appeared, dancing along the top of the wall, accompanied by the sharp explosion [375] of the rifles, and the bullets came hissing up the road. The first of these surprises occurred soon after the burning wagons were passed. No sooner had the fire begun, than the General, seeing his escort draw rein and waver, cried in a commanding tone: “Charge them! Charge them!” They advanced unsteadily a little space, and then, at a second volley, turned and fled past him, leaving him in the road with his staff alone. But the enemy, equally timid, also retired, seemingly satisfied with their effort. The conduct of these troopers filled Jackson with towering indignation; and turning to the officer next him> he exclaimed: “Shameful! Did you see anybody struck, sir? Did you see anybody struck? Surely they need not have run, at least until they were hurt!” Skirmishers from the 33d Virginia infantry of Colonel Neff, were now thrown into the fields right and left of the turnpike, and advancing abreast with the head of the column, protected it for a time from similar insults. But as it approached Barton's Mills, five miles from Winchester, the enemy, posted on both sides of the road, again received it with so severe a fire, that the cavalry advance retired precipitately out of it, carrying the General and his attendants along with them, and riding down several cannoneers, who had been brought up to their support. So pertinacious was the stand of the Federalists here, the 27th, 2nd, and 5th Virginia regiments were brought up, and the affair grew to the dimensions of a night-combat, before they gave way. A similar skirmish occurred at Kernstown also, in which a few of the enemy were killed and captured. The army was now not far from its goal; and theGeneral, commanding the skirmishers to continue a cautious advance, caused the remainder to halt, and lie down upon the road-side, for an hour's sleep. He himself, without a cloak to protect him from the chilling dews, stood sentry at the head of the column, listening to every sound from the front. [376] Meanwhile, the wearied skirmishers pressed on, with a patient endurance beyond all praise, drenched with the dews, wading through the rank fields of clover and wheat, and stumbling across ditches, until their tired limbs would scarcely obey their wills. When the early dawn came to their relief, the heights commanding Winchester were in sight, and against the faint blush of the morning sky the figures of theFederal skirmishers upon the crest were distinctly relieved. The tired Confederates having rested a short time, General Jackson, in a quiet undertone, gave the word to march, which was passed down the column; and the host rising from its short sleep, chill and stiff With the cold night-damps, advanced to battle.

The town of Winchester is seated upon ground almost level; and such also is the surface south and east of it, through which the great roads from Strasbourg and Front-Royal approach. The former, especially, passes through smooth fields and meadows, by a smiling suburb and mill-house, a mile from the town; after which it surmounts a gentle ascent, and enters the street. But toward the southwest, a cluster of beautiful hills projects itself for a mile toward the left, commanding the town, the turnpike, and the adjacent country. They were then enclosed with fences of wood or stone, and covered with luxuriant clover and pasturage, with here and there a forest-grove crowning the eminences farthest west. Why the enemy did not post their powerful artillery upon the foremost of these heights, supported by their main force, can only be explained by that infatuation which possessed them, by the will of God, throughout these events. When General Jackson arrived near them at early dawn, with the main column, he found them occupied by a skirmish line only. After a careful examination of a few minutes, he ordered GeneralWinder to bring forward the Stonewall Brigade; which, forming in line of battle with the 5th Virginia on the right, 3:76 [377] advanced, and speedily dislodged the enemy from the first line of eminences. The General immediately advanced a strong detachment of artillery, composed of the batteries of Poague,Carpenter and Cutshaw, aid posted them advantageously just behind the crests of the hill. The enemy's main force now disclosed itself, occupying a convex line upon the high grounds, south, and southwest of the town; and while the Stonewall Brigade, with that of Colonel John A. Campbell, were disposed as supports to the batteries; a fierce cannonade, intermingled with a sharp, rattling fire of riflemen, greeted the rising sun. The May dews, exhaled by his beams, wrapped a part of the landscape in a silvery veil, into which the smoke of the artillery melted away. Just at this moment, General Jackson rode forward, followed by two field officers, Colonel Campbell and another, to the very crest of the hill, and amidst a perfect shower of balls, reconnoitred the whole position. Both the officers beside him were speedily wounded, but he sat calmly upon his horse, until he had satisfied himself concerning the enemy's dispositions. He saw them posting another battery upon an eminence far to his left, whence they hoped to enfilade the ground occupied by the guns of Poague; and, nearer to his left front, a body of riflemen were just seizing a position behind an oblique stone fence, whence they poured a galling fire upon the gunners, and struck down many men and horses. Here this gallant battery stood its ground, sometimes almost silenced, yet never yielding an inch. After a time, by direction of General Winder, they changed their front to the left, so as to present a more successful face to their adversaries; and while a part of their guns replied to the opposing battery, the remainder shattered the stone fence which sheltered the Federal infantry, with solid shot, and raked it with canister. Carpenter and Catshaw also kept up so spirited a contest with [378] the batteries in the direction of the town, as to silence their fire. GeneralJackson was hard to be convinced that the enemy would be so foolish as to yield the contest, without an attempt to drive his artillery from this vital position, and to occupy it with their own. At this stage of the battle, he rode up to Colonel Neff, of the 33d Virginia, supporting the battery of Carpenter, and after ordering the latter not to slacken his fire, said to the former; “Colonel, where is your regiment posted?” “Here,” he replied; “the right masked in this depression of ground, and the left behind that fence.” Said the General, “I expect the enemy to bring artillery to this hill; and they must not do it! do you understand me, sir! They must not do it! Keep a good look out!; and your men well in hand; and if they attempt to come, charge them with the bayonet; and seize their guns: Clamp them, sir, on the spot.” As he gave this order, his clenched hand and strident voice declared the energy of his fiery will, in such sort as to make the blood of every beholder tingle.

But the narrative must pause here, to return to the movements of General Ewell. During the previous evening, he had pressed the enemy back from the direction of Front Royal, until his advanced regiment, the 21st North Carolina, Colonel Kirkland was within two miles of Winchester. Here he rested his advance at 10 o'clock P. M., and his command slept upon their arms. At dawn he moved simultaneously with General Jackson, and the first guns of Carpenter were answered from the east, by those of his batteries. He advanced his left, Colonel Kirkland still in front, until he was met by a fire of musketry from the enemy's line, posted behind a stone fence, so destructive that the field officers were all wounded, and the gallant regiment compelled to recoil. This check was speedily retrieved by the 21st Georgia regiment, which in turn drove the enemy's [379] infantry from their cover. But General Ewell, upon the suggestion of Brigadier-General Trimble, was convinced that his better policy would be to move by his right. Bringing the remainder of his regiments forward, he executed this movement, and the enemy began at once to give way from his front.

The battle had now reached a stage which General Jackson perceived to be critical; the hour for striking the final blow had arrived. The enemy were evidently moving, by a still wider circuit, towards the wooded heights which commanded his extreme left. He now sent for the fine brigade of General Taylor, which was at the head of the column of reserve, in the rear of the mill-house. Before the messenger could bring it up, his eagerness overcame him, and he was seen riding rapidly to meet it. Conducting it by a hollow way, around the rear of his centre, he directed its rapid formation in line of battle, with the left regiments thrown forward to the westward of the enemy's position. Under a shower of shells and rifleballs, this magnificent body of troops wheeled from column into line, with the accuracy and readiness of a parade. As soon as General Jackson saw them in motion in the desired direction, he galloped along the rear of his line toward the centre, giving the word for a general advance. When he reached the hill occupied by the battery of Carpenter, where he had so exposed himself at the beginning, he mounted it again, with an air of eager caution, peering like a deer-stalker over its summit, as soon as his eyes reached its level. His first glance was sufficient; setting spurs to his horse, he bounded upon the crest, and shouted to the officers near him: “Forward, after the enemy!” No more inspiring sight ever greeted the eyes of a victorious captain. Far to the east, the advancing lines of Ewell rolled forward, concealed in waves of white smoke, from their volleys of musketry, and were rapidly overpassing the [380] suburbs of the town. On the West, the long and glittering lines of Taylor, after one thundering discharge, were sweeping at a bayonet charge up the reverse of the hills, with irresistible momentum. Nearer theGeneral, came the Stonewall Brigade, with the gallant 23d Virginia, who sprung from their lairs, and rushed panting down the hill-sides. Between him and the town the enemy were everywhere breaking away from the walls and fences where they had sheltered themselves, at first with some semblance of order, but then dissolving into a vast confusion, in which the infantry, mounted officers, and artillery crowded and surged toward the streets. But they found neither shelter nor respite there; the eager Confederates were too close upon them to allow time for any arrangements for defence. For a few moments, pursuers and pursued were swallowed from view, and the rout roared through every street, with rattling rifle-shots, and ringing cheers of the victors, until it disgorged itself upon the commons north of the town. The General, with his face inflamed with towering passion and triumph, galloped amidst the foremost pursuers, and urged them upon the enemy. The sidewalks and doorways were thronged with children, women, and old men, who rushed out, regardless of the balls, to hail the conquerors. Of these, some ran in among the horses, as though to embrace the knees of their deliverers; many were wildly waving their arms or handkerchiefs, and screaming their welcome in cheers and blessings, while not a few of the more thoughtful were seen, standing upon their doorsteps, with their solemn faces bathed in tears, and spreading forth their hands to heaven, in adoration. To complete the thrilling scene, two great buildings, in different places, were vomiting volumes of flame and smoke, which threatened to involve all in one common ruin; for the enemy, in cowardly spite, lighted them, and left them in flames in the midst of the town. But not one of the [381] endangered citizens sought to arrest any pursuing soldier for this; and after the first frenzy of their joy was passed, the old men and the females set to, and extinguished the fires. Delicate women were seen bringing water, and rushing into the burning building, stored with the ammunition of the enemy, to drag oft the Federal sick and wounded, who had been left there by their comrades, to be overwhelmed in the explosion which they expected to follow.

When General Jackson issued into the open ground again at the Martinsburg Turnpike, all the fields, which the depredations of the enemy had converted into a waste denuded of fences and crops, were dark with a confused multitude of fugitives, utterly without order or thought of resistance. From the head of every street, eager columns of Confederates were pouring, and deploying without awaiting the commands of their officers, into an irregular line, in order to fire upon the retreating mass. As this surged wildly away it left scattered over the common its human wrecks, in the shape of dead and dying, intermingled with knapsacks, arms, and bundles of stolen goods. Upon glancing around this picture, theGeneral exclaimed; “Never was there such a chance for cavalry; oh that my cavalry were in place!” When an officer near him remarked that the best substitute for a cavalry pursuit would be the fire of the field artillery, he replied; “Yes; go back and order up the nearest batteries you find.” After despatching this order, he sent another member of his staff, with the characteristic command, “to order every battery and every brigade forward to the Potomac.” In his official report he says; “Never have I seen an opportunity when it was in the power of the cavalry, to reap a richer harvest of the fruits of victory.” And again; “There is good reason for believing that, had the cavalry played its part in this pursuit as well as the four companies under Colonel Flournoy, two days [382] before, in the pursuit from Front Royal, but a small portion of Banks's army would have made its escape to the Potomac.” The cause of this untimely absence of the cavalry may be surmised by the reader, as to that part under Colonel Ashby. Disorganized by its initial success, it was so scattered that its heroic leader could gather but a handful around him on the morning of the battle. With these he had undertaken an independent enterprise, to cut off a detachment of Federalists on their left; and passing around the. scene of action he joined in the pursuit many hours after, at Bunker Hill. The 2d and 6th regiments had been placed under the temporary command of Brigadier-General George H. Stewart, of General Ewell's division. As they did not appear after the pursuit had been continued for some time, General Jackson sent his Aide, CaptainPendleton, after them. General Stewart replied that he was awaiting the orders of General Ewell, under whose immediate command he was, and could not move without them. While these were obtained, precious time was wasted, and two hours elapsed before the two regiments were upon the traces of the enemy. That a superior officer, addressing his commands to persons under the orders of his inferior, should direct them through him, if he is present, is a proper mark of consideration, and a means of regularity in governing. But it is a most effectual way to rob a commanding general of his command, to assume that he may not claim the services of the subordinate of his own subordinate, in the absence of the latter; when, if he were present, he could legitimately control him and all under him. The utmost which the former could ask, when receiving orders without the intervention of his immediate superior, would be, that his commanding general should remember to explain to that officer the orders thus given in his absence.

After pursuing for a few miles with infantry and artillery, [383] General Jackson perceived that the interval between his men and the enemy was continually widening. The warm mid-day was now approaching, and since the morning of the previous day, the troops had been continually marching or fighting, without food or rest. Nature could do no more. At every step some wearied man was compelled to drop out of the ranks by overpowering fatigue. The General therefore ordered the infantry to cease their pursuit, and return to the pleasant groves of Camp Stevenson, three miles north ofWinchester, for rest and rations, while the cavalry, which had now arrived, assumed the duty of pressing the enemy. This General Stewart performed with skill and energy, picking up a number of prisoners, and driving the Federalists through Martinsburg, and across the Potomac at Williamsport. General Bankswas one of the first fugitives to appear at Martinsburg, having deserted his army long before the conclusion of the battle. His forces were thus driven without pause, and within the space of thirtysix hours, a distance of sixty miles. At Martinsburg, enormous accumulations of army stores again fell into the victors' hands. When the cavalry drove the last of the fugitives across the Potomac, a multitude of helpless blacks were found cowering upon the southern bank, who had been decoyed from Winchesterand the adjacent country, by the story that Jackson was putting to death all the slaves whom he met, upon the charge of fraternizing with the Yankees. Many of these unhappy victims of fanaticism, deserted in the hour of alarm by their seducers, were cared for, and brought back to their homes, by the horsemen.

The remainder of the day was devoted by the army as well as their Commander, to repose. The tired men, disencumbered of their arms, reclined under the noble groves interspersed among their camp, while the famished horses grazed busily upon [384] the rich sward. The thunder of the battles and the shouting of the captains were soon followed by a Sabbath stillness, amidst which the General slowly rode back to the town. Having procured quarters in the chief hotel, he refused all food, and throwing himself across a bed upon his breast, booted and spurred, was sleeping in a moment, with the healthy quietude of infancy.

The next day was devoted to a religious rest, in order to pay that honor which General Jackson ever delighted to render to Almighty God, and to repay the troops, in some sort, for the interruptions of the holy day by battle. This purpose was announced to the troops in the following General order:

Within four weeks this army has made long and rapid marches, fought six combats and two battles, signally defeating the enemy in each one, captured several stands of colors, and pieces of artillery, with numerous prisoners, and vast medical, ordnance, and army stores; and, finally, driven the boastful host which was ravaging our beautiful country, into utter rout. The General commanding would warmly express to the officers and men under his command, his joy in their achievements, and his thanks for their brilliant gallantry in action and their patient obedience under the hardships of forced marches; often more painful to the brave soldier than the dangers of battle. The explanation of the severe exertions to which the Commanding General called the army, which were endured by them with such cheerful confidence in him, is now given, in the victory of yesterday. He receives this proof of their confidence in the past with pride and gratitude, and asks only a similar confidence in the future.

But his chief duty to-day, and that of the army, is, to recognize devoutly the hand of a protecting Providence in the brilliant successes of the last three days (which have given us the results of a great victory without great losses); and to make the oblation [385] of our thanks to God for his mercies to us and our country, in heartfelt acts of religious worship. For this purpose the troops will remain in camp to-day, suspending as far as practicable all military exercises; and the Chaplains of regiments will hold divine service in their several charges at 4 o'clock, P. M.

At the appointed hour the General attended public worship with the 37th Virginia regiment, and presented an edifying example of devotion to the men.

Winchester had been the great resort of Federal sutlers, who had impudently occupied many of the finest shops upon its streets, and exposed their wares for sale in them. The headlong confusion ofBanks's retreat left them neither means nor time to remove their wealth. All was given up to the soldiers, who speedily emptied their shelves. It was a strange sight to see the rough fellows, who the day before had lacked the ration of beef and hard bread, regaling themselves with confectionery, sardines, and tropical fruits. Their spoils, however, were about to produce a serious evil. The stores of clothing captured by the men in these shops, and in the baggage of the fugitives, were so enormous, that in a day the army seemed to be almost metamorphosed. The Confederate grey was rapidly changing into theYankee blue. Had this license been permitted, the purposes of discipline would have been disappointed, and the dangers of battle multiplied. General Jackson speedily suppressed it by this adroit and simple measure. He issued an order that every person in Federal uniform should be arrested, and assumed to be a prisoner of war going at large improperly, until he himself presented adequate evidence of the contrary. The men of the Provost-Marshal had not acted upon this order many hours before the army became grey again as rapidly as it had been becoming blue. The men either deposited their gay spoils in the bottom of their knapsacks, or sent them by the baggage-trains [386] which were carrying the captured stores to the rear, and donned their well-worn uniforms again.

General Jackson was not the man to lose the opportunities growing out of such a victory by inaction. The use to be made of his present successes was dictated by the authorities at Richmond; but it is believed their designs met the full approbation of his own judgment. Immediately after the battle of Winchester he had sent a trusty officer to the Capital with despatches explaining his views. The decision of the government was, that he should press the enemy at Harper's Ferry, threaten an invasion ofMaryland, and an assault upon the Federal capital, and thus make the most energetic diversion possible, to draw a part of the forces of McClellan and McDowell from Richmond. After allowing his troops two days of needed rest, the army was moved, Wednesday morning, May 28th, toward Charlestown, bySummit Point, General Winder's brigade again in advance. Charlestown is a handsome village, the seat of justice of Jefferson county, eight miles from Harper's Ferry. When about five miles from the former place, General Winder received information that the enemy was in possession of it in heavy force. Upon being advised of this, General Jackson ordered General Ewell with reinforcements to his support. ButGeneral Winder resolved not to await them, and advanced cautiously toward Charlestown. As he emerged from the wood, less than a mile distant from the town, he discovered the enemy in line of battle about fifteen hundred strong, and decided to attack them. Upon the appearance of our troops, the enemy opened upon them with two pieces of artillery. Carpenter's battery was immediately placed in position, with the 33rd Virginia regiment as support; and was so admirably served that in twenty minutes the enemy retired in great disorder, throwing away their arms and baggage. The pursuit was continued rapidly with artillery and infantry to [387] Hall-town, a hamlet a couple of miles from the Potomac. A short distance beyond that point, General Winder observing the enemy strongly posted on Bolivar Heights, and in considerable force, concluded that prudence required him to await his supports; and he therefore arrested the pursuit, and returned to the vicinity of Charlestown.

On the following day, the main body of the army took position near Hall-town, and the 2nd regiment, Virginia infantry, was sent to Loudon heights, with the hope of being able to drive the enemy fromHarper's Ferry, across the Potomac. But this movement was no sooner made than General Jacksonreceived intelligence which imperious! required him to arrest it, and provide for his own safety. The Federal Government, awakened by its disasters, to a portion of sense and activity, gave orders toGeneral Shields, to move upon General Jackson's communications from tie Rappahannock, and GeneralFremont from the valley of the South Branch. Both these bodies were now threatening to close in upon his rear, with a speed which left not a moment for delay. At Front Royal, the 12th Georgia regiment, so distinguished for its gallantry at McDowell, and previous engagements, had been stationed to watch the approaches of the enemy from the east, and to guard the prisoners and valuable stores captured there the previous week. Through the indiscretion of its commander, it was driven from the place, with the loss of all the prisoners, and a number of its own members captured; while the stores were only rescued from falling again into the hands of the Federalists, by the energy of a Quartermaster, who fired the warehouses containing them. Thus a loss of three hundred thousand dollars, in provisions and equipments, was incurred at the outset.

In the afternoon of the 30th, the whole army was in motion, retreating upon Strasbourg, the point at which it was expected [388] Shields and Fremont would attempt their junction. General Winder was ordered to recall the 2nd regiment from Loudon heights, and with the cavalry, to protect the rear of the army. On arriving at Winchester, General Jackson learned that the approach of the enemy to Strasbourgwas so imminent, that it was essential his rear should reach that place by mid-day of the 31st, in order to avoid separation from the main body, and capture. He, therefore, sent back orders to the Stonewall Brigade, not to pause in its march on the 30th, until it passed Winchester. It travelled, in fact, from Hall-town, to the neighborhood of Newtown, a distance of thirty-five miles: and the 2nd Virginia regiment, which had its steps to retrace from the heights beyond the Shenandoah, accomplished a march of more than forty miles, without rations. This astonishing effort was made also over muddy roads, and amidst continual showers! The next morning the rear-guard arose from their wet bivouac, stiff and sore of limb, and completed the march to Strasbourg in the forenoon. When they arrived there, they found the army halted and awaiting them; while General Ewell, with his division, facing toward the west, was sternly confronting Fremont, and offering him gage of battle. The latter had arrived in the neighborhood ofStrasbourg, by way of Wardensville, and issued from the gap of the great north mountain, as though to attack the retreating army. But when it stood thus at bay, he prudently withdrew, after a desultory skirmish, into the gorge from which he had issued. General Jackson now resumed a deliberate retreat, with his rear covered by his cavalry; seeking some position in the interior, where he could confront his foes without danger to his flanks.

During the week which embraced these brilliant events, the Quartermasters' and Ordnance departments of the army were laboriously engaged in collecting and removing the captured [389] stores. The baggage trains of the army, and those captured from the enemy were laden with the precious spoils, and sent toward Staunton. Every carriage which could be hired or impressed from the vicinity ofWinchester, was also employed; and yet a vast and unestimated mass which could not be removed, was consigned to the flames. Only those things which were brought safely away will be enumerated. It has been related how the soldiers themselves were permitted to dispose of the contents of the sutlers' stores. A large part of the army was thus equipped with clothing, boots and shoes, blankets, oil clothcoverings, and hats. One of the largest storehouses in Winchester was found filled with medicines,surgical instruments, and hospital appliances, of the choicest description. Of these a small portion were distributed to the surgeons for the immediate wants of their brave men; and all the remainder were sent to Richmond, where they were found abundant enough to replenish the medical stores of the great army. The mercy of Providence in this supply, was as manifest as His rebuke of the barbarity of the enemy. With an inhumanity unknown in modern history, they had extended the law of blockade to all medicines and hospital stores; hoping thus not only to make the hurts of every wounded adversary mortal, (where brave men would have been eager to minister to a helpless foe,) but to deprive suffering age, womanhood, and infancy of the last succors which the benignity of the universal Father has provided for their pangs. This cold and malignant design was in part disappointed by the victory of Jackson. The stores captured at Winchester not only supplied the conquering army, but carried solace and healing to the sick and wounded throughout the approaching campaign of Richmond. In bright contrast with this barbarity of the enemy, stands the magnanimity of Jackson. Finding a large and well provided hospital atWinchester, filled with seven hundred Federal sick [390] and wounded, he ordered that nothing of their stores or medicines should be removed, and having ministered to the sufferers with generous attention during the week they were in his power, he left everything untouched, when Winchester was again evacuated. The seven hundred enemies were paroled, not to fight again until exchanged.

The 31st of May, the 21st Virginia regiment left Winchester, in charge of twenty-three hundred prisoners of war. The whole number of the enemy captured was about three thousand and fifty. One hundred beeves, thirty-four thousand pounds of bacon, and great masses of flour, biscuit, and groceries, were secured by the Chief Commissary, while the Quartermasters removed stores in their department, to the amount of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. Two hundred Wagons and ambulances, with a number of horses, which would have been very great, but for the rapacity of the Confederate cavalry, were also secured. But the most precious acquisition was the ordnance stores, containing, besides ammunition, nine thousand, three hundred and fifty small arms, perfectly new, and of the most approved patterns.

These results of the week's campaign were won with small expenditure of blood by the patriot army. In all the engagements, from Front Royal to Strasbourg, sixty-eight men were killed, three hundred and twenty-nine were wounded, and three were missing; making a total loss of four hundred men. The General closed his official narrative with these words: “Whilst I have had to speak of some of our troops in disparaging terms, yet it is my gratifying privilege to say of the main body of the army, that its officers and men acted in a manner worthy of the great cause for which they were contending, and to add that, so far as my knowledge extends, the battle of Winchester was, on our part, a battle without a straggler.” [391]

It was while reposing after his victory at Winchester, that he wrote thus to Mrs. Jackson:

Winchester, May 26th, 1862. An ever kind Providence blessed us with success at Front Royal on Friday, between Strasbourg and Winchester on Saturday, and here with a successful engagement yesterday . ... I do not remember having ever seen such rejoicing as was manifested by the people of Winchester, as our army yesterday passed through the town in pursuit of the enemy. The town was nearly frantic with joy. Our entrance intoWinchester was one of the most stirring scenes of my life. Such joy as the inhabitants manifested, cannot easily be described. The town is greatly improved in its loyalty.

A few days after, while threatening Harper's Ferry, he sent messages to the Confederate Government by his zealous supporter and assistant, the Hon. Mr. Boteler of the Congress, begging for an increase of his force. He pointed out again that an assault upon the enemy's territory, indicating danger to their capital, was the most ready and certain method to deliver Richmond from the approaches of GeneralMcClellan. “Tell them,” he said, “that I have now but fifteen thousand effective men. If the present opening is improved as it should be, I must have forty thousand.” But the Government was unable to advance these reinforcements, and Divine Providence reserved to him the glory of assisting in the deliverance of our capital in a more direct manner.

This chapter will be closed with a reference to a fact which assists in fixing the seal of infamy upon theFederal Government, generals, and armies; the authorized robberies now begun in the valley of Virginia. Not only were the inhabitants plundered by the Federal soldiers as they marched through the peaceful country; but they were systematically robbed of their horses, [392] and other live-stock by GeneralBanks, in his march to and from Harrisonburg. This commander officially boasted to his Government, that the results of his conquest had supplied his artillery and trains with enough of excellent horses, besides many other valuable resources. Now none of these were prize of war; for so accomplished a leader was Jackson, in retreat as well as in triumph, that nothing belonging to his army fell into his enemy's hands. These horses, and other animals, were simply stolen from the rich and peaceful farmers of Rockinlgham and Shenandoah. Here was the beginning of a system of wholesale robbery, since extended to every part of the Confederate States which the enemy has reached! But if the reader assigned to General Banks any pre-eminence of crime or infamy, above his nation, he would do him injustice. The Federal Congress and Executive had already, by formal and unblushing legislation, ordained that the war should be a huge piracy, as monstrous as the rapacity of any of their lieutenants could make it. Under pretexts which could be used by any other nation, in any other war, with equal plausibility, to steal any species of private property whatever, laws had been passed, declaring all tobacco, cotton, and labor of slaves, in the Confederate States, or coming thence, to be “contraband of war,” and liable to confiscation. The true intent of this law was to subject these three kinds of property, the most important in our country, to systematic theft, and this purpose has since been most diligently and consistently carried out.

Chapter 13: Port Republic.

It has been related how General Jackson. assembled his army at Strasbourg before the occupation of that place by Fremont, and thus eluded the combination designed by him and Shields, in his rear. On the evening of June 1st, he resumed his retreat up the Valley. The object immediately demanding his attention was the rescue of his army from its perilous situation. The indirect purpose of the campaign was already accomplished; his rapid movements and stunning blows had neutralized the efforts ofGeneral McDowell against Richmond --Banks was driven from Winchester the 25th of May, and theFederal authorities were panic-struck by the thought of a victorious Confederate army, of unknown numbers, breaking into Maryland by Harper's Ferry, and seizing Washington City. Just at this juncture,McClellan had pushed his right wing to a point north of Richmond, at Hanover Court House, and within a single march of McDowell's advanced posts. On the 27th of May, the Confederate General Branchwas defeated at that place with loss, and the fruit of this success was the occupation of all the roads, and of the bridges across the waters of the Pamunkey, connecting Richmond with Fredericksburg andGordonsville, by the Federalists. Had the advice of McClellan been now followed, the result must have been disastrous to General Lee, and might well have been ruinous. The Federal [394] commander urged his Government to send General McDowell, with all the forces near Manassa's, under Sigel andAugur, by the route thus opened to them, to effect an immediate junction with his right wing, to hold permanently these lines of communication between Lee and Jackson, and to complete the investment ofRichmond. These operations, which the Confederates had no means to resist, with the addition of the forty thousand troops which they would have brought to McClellan's army, already so superior in numbers, would have greatly endangered Richmond and its army. .But the terror inspired by Jacksoncaused the President to refuse his consent; he was unwilling to expose his Capital to a sudden blow from this ubiquitous leader; and instead of sending General McDowell forward, he commanded him to retire nearer to Washington. General McClellan was further ordered by telegraph, to burn the bridges across the south Pamunkey, won by his recent victory, and by which his reinforcements should have joined him, lest the Confederates should move by them against Washington! Thus Providence employed the movements of General Jackson's little army to paralyze the forces of Fremont, Banks andMcDowell, amounting to eighty thousand men, during the critical period of the campaign. It is therefore with justice, that his successes in the Valley are said to have saved Richmond and Virginia. When the small means, the trivial losses, and the short time, with which this great result was wrought, are considered, it will be admitted that military genius has never, in any age, accomplished a more splendid achievement. It was indeed so brilliant, that the doubt has been suggested, whether the mind of Jacksonor of any other strategist, was prophetic enough to forecast and provide for so grand a conclusion, or whether it was the fortunate and unforeseen dispensation of chance, or of Providence. To the latter he delighted to attribute all his success; and he would [395] have been the first to concur in the estimate, which made him only an humble instrument in the hand of an omniscient Guide, who superintended his fallible judgment, overruled the efforts of his enemies, and, among the variety of possible effects, connected his measures with those consequences which were most beneficial to his country. But while this Christian solution is fully admitted, the honor of General Jackson, as an instrument, is vindicated by these facts, that, from the first, he strongly urged the movements which were at length made, as the surest means for these ends, and that he continued steadfastly of the same mind amidst all the mutations in others, produced by the fluctuating appearances of the campaign. The wisdom of his plan was seconded by a devotion and energy in action, which gave it such success as no other could have commanded.

A more glorious sequel yet remains to be narrated, in which General Jackson extricated himself from his baffled enemies, and assisted in crushing the remainder of the Federal forces near Richmond. The former of these results was effected at Port Republic; and to this spot the narrative now leads. WhenGeneral Jackson, on the evening of June 1st, resumed his retreat from Strasbourg, he was aware thatShields had been for nearly two days at Front Royal. The fact that he had not attempted an immediate junction with Fremont suggested the suspicion that he was moving for a point farther upon the rear of the Confederates, by way of Luray and New Market Gap. To frustrate this design, General Jacksonnow sent a detachment of cavalry to burn the White House bridge across the South Shenandoah, by which the Luray turnpike passed the stream, and also the Columbia bridge, a few miles above it. He knew that Shields had no pontoon train, for Banks had been compelled to sacrifice it at Newtown; and the rivers were still too much swollen to be forded. Having taken this precaution, he retreated up the [396] Valley turnpike in his usual stubborn and deliberate fashion, with his cavalry and Chew's light battery in the rear. It was the saying of his soldiers, that his marches were always easy when in retreat, but hard when pursuing. This calmness of movement not only promoted order, and gave time to bring off his supplies, but wrought an invaluable effect upon the spirits of the troops. A hurried march in retiring from the enemy suggests insecurity, and ministers a constant excitement to the minds of the men akin to panic, and easily converted into it. General Jackson's deliberation reassured his army; and they never lost confidence or spirit because they were compelled to retire for a time. It was by this means that he was enabled to preserve the order of his troops equally in retreat and in advance.

General Fremont, having ascertained that the Confederates were withdrawing, pursued with spirit; and, after nightfall, a portion of his horse came so near the rear-guard that they were challenged by them. They replied, “Ashby's cavalry” ; and, having thus deceived our forces, availed themselves of the advantage to charge the 6th regiment of cavalry, which was next the rear. These were thrown into disorder; and a few of them were ridden down, and wounded, or captured. Confusion was also communicated, to some degree, to the 2nd regiment next it; but the commander, Colonel Munford, soon reformed it, gallantly charged the enemy, repulsed them, and captured some prisoners. On the 2nd of June, the enemy succeeded in taking position where their artillery was able to cannonade theConfederate rear. The cavalry was thrown into disorder by the shells, and fled, carrying a part of its supporting battery with them. The Federal cavalry now pushed forward to reap the fruits of this success, when Ashby displayed that prompt resource and personal daring which illustrated his character. Dismounting from his horse, he [397] collected a small body of riflemen who were lagging, foot-sore and weary, behind their commands, and posted them in a wood near the road-side. Awaiting the near approach of the enemy, he poured into their ranks so effective a fire that a number of saddles were emptied, and a part of the survivors retired in confusion. The remainder were carried past by theirmomentum and even broke through the ranks of the rear regiment in a brigade of infantry,--that ofColonel Campbell,--commanded since his wounding at Winchester by Colonel J. M. Patton. But that officer, filing his next regiment from the road in good order, made way for the onset of the enemy, and, as they passed, gave them a volley which terminated their audacity. Only one of the party returned alive to his comrades, the remainder being all killed or captured. Colonel Patton, while reporting the events of the day to the General, at nightfall, remarked that he saw this party of foes shot down with regret. He seemed to make no note of these words at the time, but pursued his minute inquiries into all the particulars of the skirmish. After the official conversation was ended, he asked: “Colonel, why do you say that you saw those Federal soldiers fall with regret?” It was replied, that they exhibited more vigor and courage than anything which had been attempted by any part of the Federal army; and that a natural sympathy with brave men led to the wish that, in the fortunes of the fight, their lives might have been saved. The General drily remarked: “No; shoot them all: I do not wish them to be brave.” It was thus that he was accustomed to indicate, by a single brief sentence, the cardinal thought of a whole chapter of discussion. He meant to suggest reasonings which show that such sentiments of chivalrous forbearance, though amiable, are erroneous. Courage in the prosecution of a wicked attempt does not relieve, but only aggravates, the danger to the innocent party assailed, and the guilt of the assailants. There [398] is, then, a sense in which the most vigorous are the most worthy of death; and the interests of those who wage a just defence prompt them to visit retribution, first, upon those who are most dangerous.

The 2nd and 6th regiments of cavalry were now transferred from the command of General Stewart, to that of Ashby. When the latter returned to Winchester the week before, from the pursuit of Banks, he was met by his commission of BrigadierGen-eral of cavalry; an honor well earned by his arduous and important services. He was now raised to that position best adapted to his powers. While unsuited for the drudgery of the drill and the military police, General Ashby had every quality of a brilliant commander in the field. Seconded by diligent and able Colonels in his regiments, he would have led his brigade to a career of glory surpassing all his previous successes. But such a destiny was not in store for him; and his sun was now about to set in its splendid morning.

On the 3rd of June, the Confederate army placed the north fork of the Shenandoah behind it; andGeneral Ashby was entrusted with the duty of burning the bridge by which it passed over. Before this task was completed, the Federalists appeared on the opposite bank, and a skirmish ensued, in which his horse was struck dead, and he himself very narrowly escaped. The necessity of replacing this bridge, arrested Fremont for a day, and gave the tired Confederates a respite, which they employed in retiring slowly and unmolested, to Harrisonburg. A mile south of that village, General Jackson left the valley road, and turned eastward, towards Port Republic; a smaller place upon the south fork of theShenandoah, and near the western base of the Blue Ridge. It was not until the evening of June 6th, that the Federal advance overtook his rearguard, which was still within two miles of Harrisonburg, [399] posted at the crest of a wooded ridge, commanding the neighboring fields. General Ashby, as usual, held the rear; and the division of General Ewell was next. In part of the Federal army was a New Jersey regiment of cavalry, commanded by one of those military adventurers, whose appetite for blood presents so monstrous and loathsome a parody upon the virtues of the true soldier. A subject of theBritish crown, and boasting of his relationship to some noble English house, this person had offered his services to the Federal Government, siding with the criminal and powerful aggressors, against the heroic and righteous patriots, without one of those pleas of native soil and sentiments, which might rescue his acts from the criminality of naked murder. It had been his blustering boast, that at the first opportunity, he would deal with the terrible Colonel Ashby; and for this he sought service in this part of the Federalarmies. His opportunity was now come; he advanced his regiment to the attack, when General Ashby, taking a few companies of his command, met them in the open field, and at the first charge, routed them, and captured their Colonel with sixty-three of his men. The remainder fled into Harrisonburg in headlong panic; and the braggart mercenary found his fitting recompense in a long captivity.

The sound of the firing now brought General Ewell to the rear; and General Ashby assuring him that theFederal attack would be speedily renewed in force, asked for a small body of infantry, and proposed a plan, most brilliantly conceived, for turning their onset into a defeat. General Ewell entrusted to him the 1st Maryland regiment, of Colonel Bradley Johnston, and the 58th Virginia, under Colonel Letcher.Ashby disposed the Marylanders in the woods, so as to take the Federal advance in flank, while he met them in front at the head of the 58th. Indicating to General Ewell the dispositions of the enemy, which [400] he had exactly anticipated, and his own arrangements to meet them, he seemed to the spectators, to be instinct with unwonted animation and genius. At this moment, the enemy's infantry advanced; and a fierce combat began. They, approaching through the open fields, had reached a heavy fence of timber; whence, under the partial cover, they poured destructive volleys into the ranks of the 58th regiment.Ashby seeing at a glance their disadvantage, galloped to the front, and ordered them to charge, and drive the Federals from their vantage. ground. At this moment his horse fell; but extricating himself from the dying animal, and leaping to his feet, he saw his men wavering. He shouted, “Charge men; for God's sake, charge!” and waved his sword; when a bullet pierced him full in the breast, and he fell dead. The regiment took up the command of their dying General, and rushed upon the enemy, while the Marylanders dashed upon their flank. Thus pressed, the Federals gave way, the Confederates occupied the fence, and poured successive volleys into the fleeing mass, who were fully exposed to them until they passed out of musket range. If blood, by comparison so vile, could have paid for that of the generousAshby, he would have been fully avenged. The Lieutenant Colonel commanding the foremost Federal regiment, remained a prisoner in the hands of the Confederates, and the field was sprinkled over with killed and wounded.

With this repulse, the combat ceased: resulting in a loss to the confederates of seventeen killed, and fifty wounded, which fell chiefly on the 58th Virginia. The place where it occurred was not the one selected by General Jackson to stand the brunt of a general action, and it was therefore necessary to remove the wounded and the dead at once. The oversight of this humane task he entrusted to General Ewell. All the wounded who could bear a hasty removal were set on horses, and carried to a [401] place of safety. A few remained whose hurts were too painful to endure the motion; and of these General Ewell was seen taking a tender leave, replenishing their purses from his own, that they might be able to purchase things needful for their comfort in their captivity, and encouraging them with words of good cheer. The glorious remains of Ashby were carried to Port Republic, and prepared for the grave. After all the sad rites were completed, General Jackson came to the room where he lay, and demanded to see him. They admitted him alone; he remained for a time in silent communion with the dead, and then left hiM, with a solemn and elevated countenance. It requires little use of the imagination to suppose that his thoughts were, in part, prophetic of a similar scene, where his corpse was to receive the homage of all the good and brave. But the duties of the hour were too stern to give a longer time to grief. At a subsequent day, his official report paid this brief but emphatic tribute to his companion in arms.

“ In this affair, General Turner Ashby was killed. An official report is not an appropriate place for more than a passing notice of the distinguished dead; but the close relation which General Ashby bore to my command, for most of the previous twelve months, will justify me in saying that, as a partisan officer, I never knew his superior. His daring was proverbial, his powers of endurance almost incredible, his tone of character heroic, and his sagacity almost intuitive in divining the purposes and movements of the enemy.”

General Ashby was of a spare and graceful figure, irregular features, and swarthy complexion. His hair and beard were profuse, and of jetty black, while his eye was a clear, piercing gray. Accomplished from his youth in all the feats of horsemanship and wood-craft, he was already trained for irregular warfare, before he girded on his sword. His private life had [402] been marked by purity, generosity, and a chivalrous spirit; and the modest dignity and cultivation of his manners showed him the true gentleman. These qualities remained untarnished, and shone only the more, when he became a military commander. No coarse excess soiled for a moment the maidenly delicacy of his morals; no plunder ever stained his hands, nor did woman, nor disarmed enemy, ever meet anything but magnanimous kindness from them. IHe was necessarily entrusted, as commander of outposts and patrols, in a district subject to martial law, with a large discretion in dealing with private rights; but his measures were always directed with such wisdom and equity, as to command the approval of friends and foes. His was an understanding formed by nature for war. As a citizen, he would have passed through life unmarked, save for his virtues, modesty, and high breeding. But when his native State called her sons to the field, he found his proper element. Excitement roused his powers, danger only invigorated and steadied them; and his comrades instinctively recognized in his decision, unerring judgment, magnanimity, and resource, one born to command. When he fell, the presence of the enemy in his native county forbade his burial among his kindred; so that although his venerable mother, who had now given to her country her last son, with the devotion of a Roman matron, anxiously awaited his remains there, it was necessary to seek for them another resting place. His friends selected the grave-yard of the State University: thither they were conveyed with martial pomp, and buried while the thunders of the distant battle at Port Republic tolled a fitting knell for the great soldier. There, the tomb of Ashby should remain, a memorial to the generous youth of Virginia, to suggest to them in all future times, the virtues and patriotism which he illustrated by his life and death. [403] In all the qualities of the citizen, the young man could find no nobler or purer exemplar.

On the 7th of June, the main body of the army was assembled in the neighborhood of Port Republic.General Jackson was now repeating with Fremont the manoeuvre by which he had confounded Banks, by turning aside toward the base of the Blue Ridge. But his ready skill dictated some important differences in his strategy, to meet the different conditions of the case with which he now had to deal. The mountain was, to the Confederates, not only a fastness, but a base of operations; for the regions ofEastern Virginia beyond it offered them, by the various roads crossing it, both supplies, and a safe place of retreat. The line of operations of the Federalists was along the great Valley Turnpike; and this was parallel to the mountain. Hence, when Jackson took a position at the western foot of the Blue Ridge, he gained the advantage of a military base parallel to his enemy's line of operations, which enabled him to strike it at right angles, if it were prolonged by further advance into the country. Twice he resorted to this strategy, and each time it arrested the career of the superior army. His march from Swift Run Gap in May had taught him another advantage, belonging to the point which he now selected. A good road led from Port Republic across the mountain into Albemarle by Brown's Gap, offering him a safe outlet in case of disaster, and a means for drawing supplies from that fertile country. Before this road crowns the summit of the Blue Ridge, it passes through a valley, which constitutes the most complete natural fortress in all these mountains. Two arms of the mountain, lofty and ragged as the mother ridge, project from it on the right and left hand, embracing a deep vale of many miles' circuit, watered by a copious mountain stream; and while the mighty rim of this cup is everywhere impracticable for artillery and cavalry, [404] the narrow gorge through which the road enters it from the west, affords scarcely room to set a regiment in battle array, between the two promontories of the mountains. Here was obviously the place for a small army to stand at bay against superior numbers.

But General Jackson did not purpose to withdraw into this fortress, save in the last resort; for to do this, he must sacrifice the advantage which the unscientific strategy of his adversaries gave him, by keeping their two armies apart, and attempting to approach him upon convenient lines, while his army was already concentrated. Befooled with the old fallacy of crushing an inferior force by surrounding it from different directions, Fremont and Shields were pursuing this method, instead of uniting their troops before the collision; and they were destined to illustrate again, by their disasters, the correctness of the maxim, that the inferior force possessing the interior position between its enemies, must have the advantage, if it strikes them in detail while separated. The two Federal Commanders had neglected a junction below Strasbourg. By burning the Columbia and White House Bridges, General Jackson had prevented their union at New Market; and he was now prompt to make them continue their error.Shields was. still east of the Shenandoah, and there remained but two bridges, above or below, by which he could cross to the west side, to reach Fremont. One of these was at Port Republic, and was inJackson's possession; the other was at the mouth of Elk Run valley, fifteen miles below. This GeneralJackson now sent a detachment of cavalry to burn; when there occurred one of those manifest interpositions of Providence, which from time to time shewed the answer to his prayers for the divine blessing. A quarter of an hour before the Confederate troopers reached the bridge, the advanced guard of General Shields arrived there, sent by him to ascertain whether [405] [406] the structure was still standing; for he had now awakened to some conception of its importance to him. They found it safe: but hearing that there was a corporal's guard of Confederate soldiers a few miles above, watching a parcel of stores, they dashed off to capture them, instead of remaining to guard the bridge, or else returning to report its condition to their commander. The stores were captured, and the guard escaped; but when the head of Shields's main column reached the bridge, the Confederates had arrived, and the work was-hopelessly involved in flames. The Shenandoah, still swollen by the rains of a late and ungenial spring, was nowhere fordable, and the construction of a bridge in the presence of such a foe as Jackson was not an inviting enterprise. He was now master of the situation: he had comprehended all the conditions of the critical problem upon which he staked the very existence of his army; and while all others were full of anxious forebodings, he awaited the issue with calm determination.

The part which remained to him in the coming tragedy was to hold fast his command of the brigade atPort Republic, and to seize his opportunity to crush the one of his assailants, now approaching from opposite directions, whom he judged it most judicious to attack. But the nearness of both of them, (within less than a day's march,) left little room for seeking the advantage which he knew so well how to use, by rapid movements, and successive blows. To any inferior leader, the danger would have been imminent of a simultaneous attack in front and rear; for if the converging detachments of enemies are allowed time to make such attacks, then indeed, all the success expected from the bungling plan of thus surrounding an army, may be realized. To understand the consummate union of skill and audacity with which Jackson obviated this danger, and still compelled his enemies to fight him in detail, although within sight of the smoke [407] of each others' guns; a more particular description of the ground is necessary. Between Harrisonburg and Port Republic the country is occupied by the wooded ridges characteristic of a limestone region, elevated but rounded, and practicable for the movements even of artillery; and these are interspersed with farms and fields which fill the vales. These bold hills extend to the river's brink on that side; while between the waters and the mountain, where Shields was approaching, the country stretches out in low and smooth meadows, everywhere commanded from the heights across the stream. Between these level fields and the mountain itself, is interposed a zone of forest, of three miles' width, broken into insignificant hillocks, and interposed with tangled brush-wood, which stretches parallel with the river and the Blue Ridge, for a day's march above and below. The little village is seated on the southeastern side of the Shenandoah, in the level meadows, and just within the angle between the main stream and a tributary called South River. The only road to Brown's Gap, descending from the bold highlands of the northwest bank, over the long wooden bridge, passes through the hamlet, crosses the South River by a ford, and speedily hides itself, upon its way to the mountain-base, in the impenetrable coppices of the wood.

General Shields, disappointed in the hope of joining Fremont by the bridge at Elk Run valley, continued his march up the southeastern bank of the river, by the same difficult road which the Confederates had followed in their march from Swift Run in April. On the evening of Saturday, the 7th of June, his advance appeared at Lewiston, the country-seat of General Lewis, three miles below the village. The main object dictated by General Jackson's situation now was, to keep his enemies apart, separated as they were by the swollen stream, and to fight first the one or the other of them, as his interest might advise him. [408] The defeat of one would obviously procure the retreat of both; for their cautious and timid strategy required the concert of the two armies to embolden them for coping with their dreaded adversary. It was manifest that good generalship should select Shields as the victim of the first blow. His force was smaller than that of Fremont, and so it was reasonable to expect an easier victory over it. If he were beaten, his retreat would be hemmed in between the river and the mountain, to a single scarcely practicable road; whereas General Fremont would be able, if overthrown, to withdraw by a number of easy highways. If, on the other hand, the attack of the Confederates upon Shields were unsuccessful, they would be able to retire into their own country, and nearer their supplies; while if they were defeated in an assault on Fremont upon the other side of the river, they would have that barrier to a retreat in their rear, with Shields's army unbroken, threatening them with destruction. It might appear, at first thought, that the obvious way to carry out the purpose of attacking Shields and defeating him separately, was to withdraw the whole Confederate army at once to the same side of the river with him, burn the bridge, thus leaving Fremont alone and useless upon the other bank, and then fall with full force upon the former. This, any other good soldier than Jackson would probably have done; but his designs were more audacious and profound still. With whatever promptitude he might attack Shields, he saw that the battle-field must be upon the southeastern margin of the Shenandoah, and under the heights of the opposite bank; which, if he yielded all the country on that side to Fremont, would of course be crowned by his artillery. And then, the struggle would have been virtually against both his foes combined; although the waters still flowed between their troops. In addition, his powerful artillery, the right arm of his strength, would then [409] [410] have been paralyzed by the inferiority of its positions as compared with those ceded to Fremont upon the northwestern bank. Further, General Jackson was not willing to deprive himself of the power to take the aggressive against Fremont, after disposing of Shields, should his success in assailing the latter prove sufficiently crushing to encourage him to a second battle.

For these reasons, General Jackson neither ceded the northwestern bank to Fremont, nor burned the bridge. Where an inferior genius would have purchased the full union of his forces at the expense of allowing to his two enemies a virtual concert as injurious as an actual junction; he accepted a nominal separation of his own troops, perceiving that he would thus have the most effective co-operation. He purposed thus to hold both his adversaries at bay, until the propitious moment arrived to strike one of them a deadly blow. For this end, he selected for General Ewell an excellent position upon the road leading to Harrisonburg, five miles from the bridge, while he posted tile other division of his army, with several batteries of artillery, upon the heights next the river, but still upon the northwest side. Thence his guns could overlook and defend the bridge, the village, the narrow champaign extending towards Brown's Gap, and all the approaches on the side of Shields. In Port Republic itself he stationed no troops save a detachment of horse, which guarded the roads towards Lewiston, and protected his own quarters in the village. His dispositions were completed by bringing all his trains across the bridge and placing them near by, where they might be withdrawn either to the mountain or to Staunton. Two companies of cavalry were detached to watch the approach of General Shields, of which one was sent to reconnoitre, and the other was stationed as a picket guard upon the road to Lewiston. [411]

The morning of June 8th, which was the Sabbath day, dawned with all the peaceful brightness appropriate to the Christian's sacred rest; and General Jackson, who never infringed its sanctity by his owi choice, was preparing himself and his wearied men to spend it in devotion. But soon after the sun surmounted the eastern mountain, the pickets next the army of Shields came rushing to the Headquarters in the village, in confusion, with the Federal cavalry and a section of artillery close upon their heels. So feeble was the resistance which they offered, the advance of the enemy dashed across the ford of theSouth River almost as soon as they, and occupied the streets. The General had barely time to mount and gallop towards the bridge, with a part of his staff, when the way was closed; two others of his suite, attempting to follow him a few moments after, were captured in the street; and one or two, perceiving the hopelessness of the attempt, remained with the handful of troops thus cut off. But out of this accident, to them so involuntary, Providence ordained that a result should proceed essential to the safety of the army. As the captured Confederate officers stood beside the commander of the Federal advance, some of his troopers returned to him, and pointed out the long train of wagons hurrying away, apparently without armed escort, just beyond the outskirts of the village. He immediately ordered a strong body of cavalry in pursuit; and the hearts of the Confederates sank within them; for they knew that this was Jackson's ordnance train, containing the reserve ammunition of the whole army; and that all its other baggage was equally at the mercy of the enemy. But as the eager Federals reached the head of the village, they were met by a volley of musketry, which sent them scampering back; and when they returned to the charge, two pieces of artillery opened upon them, to the equal surprise and delight of their anxious captives, and speedily [412] cleared the streets with showers of canister. The explanation was, that one of the officers separated from the General's suite, seeing the impossibility of joining him, had addressed himself to rallying a handful of the fugitive picket guards, and with these, and a section of raw artillerists from the reserves, had boldly attacked the enemy. Thus the trains were saved, and a diversion was made, until the General could bring forward more substantial succors.

Nor was it long before these were at hand. Galloping across the bridge, and up the heights, to the camp of the 3rd and 1st brigades of his own division, he ordered the long roll to be instantly beaten, and the artillery to be harnessed. The horses were still grazing in the luxuriant clover-fields, and the men were scattered under the shade of the groves; but in a few moments the guns were ready for action, and two or three regiments were in line. Jackson ordered the batteries of Poague, Wooding, and Carpenter to crown the heights overlooking the river, and placing himself at the head of the leading regiment of the 3rd brigade,--the 37th Virginia of Colonel Fulkerson,--rushed at a double-quick toward the all-important bridge, now in the enemy's possession. When he approached it, he saw the village beyond crowded with Federal cavalry, but now checked in their pursuit of his trains; while one of their two field-pieces was replying to the Confederate artillery, and the other was placed at the mouth of the bridge, prepared to sweep it with murderous discharges of grape. One lightning glance was enough to decide him. Ordering Captain Poague to engage with one of his pieces the gun at the southern end of the bridge, he led the 37th regiment aside from the high road, so that they descended the declivity obliquely against the upper side of that structure, marching by the flank. Without pausing to wheel them into line, as they came within effective distance, he commanded them, with a tone [413] and mien of inexpressible authority, to deliver one round upon the enemy's artillerists, and then rush through the bridge upon them with the bayonet. They fired one stinging volley, which swept every cannoneer from the threatening gun, and then dashed with a yell through the narrow avenue. As soon as Jackson uttered his command he drew up his horse, and, dropping the reins upon his neck, raised both his hands toward the heavens while the fire of battle in his face changed into a look of reverential awe. Even while he prayed, the God of battles heard; or ever he had withdrawn his uplifted hands the bridge was gained, and the enemy's gun was captured. Thus, in an instant, was a passage won, with the loss of two men wounded, which might have become a second bridge of Lodi, costing the blood of hundreds of brave soldiers. So rapid and skilful was the attack, the enemy were able to make but one hurried discharge, before their position and their artillery were wrested from them. To clear the village of their advance was now the work of a moment, for the batteries frowning upon the opposite bank rendered it untenable to them; and the Confederate troopers next the baggage trains, plucking up heart, scoured the streets of every foe. Their retreat was so precipitate that they left their other piece of artillery behind them also, and dashed across the fords of South River by the way they came.

As they retired toward Lewiston, they met the infantry of Shields's army advancing to their support. But it was too late: the batteries were now all in position, and greeted their approach with a storm of projectiles from the farther side of the river, before which they were compelled to recoil with loss. The novel sight was now presented, of a retreating army pursued by two or three batteries of field guns, and retiring before them in helpless confusion. For as the Federal troops withdrew along the south side of the stream, the Confederates limbered [414] their guns and galloped over the swelling fields upon the north side, to other lofty positions, whence they still commanded the ground occupied by the retreating foe, until he concealed himself behind the forest near Lewiston. He thus verified the judgment of GeneralJackson, by finding himself as effectually debarred, by these masterly dispositions, from co-operating in the contemplated attack of Fremont, as though he had been separated from him by many days' marches. And although the most urgent motives prompted Shields to renew his attack in concert with his associate on the other side, so manifest was the triumph of Jackson's generalship, he did not again venture the hopeless attempt; but sat all day idle, within sound of the cannonade, which told him thatFremont was compelled to risk and lose the field, without his aid. One element of General Jackson's greatness and success was the decision and confidence with which he held the conclusions of his own judgment after he had once matured them. His reflection was careful, his caution in weighing all competing considerations great; but when his mind once adopted its verdict, it held to it with unwavering and giant grasp. This characteristic was strongly illustrated in these events. As the reader viewed the considerations detailed above, by which the plan of action was dictated at Port Republic, some of them have probably appeared to him so nice and delicate, that he was inclined to deem it rashness, to stake the existence of an army upon deductions drawn from them. But when General Jackson had weighed them all, his decision was made with an absolute confidence, and he was calmly prepared to risk everything upon it. When it was argued with him that, surely, General Shields would not suffer the critical hour to pass, without attempting again to co-operate with Fremont by a more serious and persistent attack, his only answer was, to wave his hand towards the commanding positions of his [415] artillery, and say; “No sir! No! He cannot do it; I should tear him to pieces.” And he did not do it! During all the remainder of the day's struggle, he remained passive; visited, doubtless, by misgivings not very comfortable, as to his own coming share in the attentions of the Confederate General. The latter now placed the third brigade, under Brigadier-General Taliaferro, in the village, to watch the fords ofSouth River and the roads toward Lewiston, on the one hand, while on the other, he guarded the course of the Shenandoah above the village and opposite to General Ewell's left, by a few pickets. The first brigade of, General Winder was sent down the river with a portion of the artillery, and posted upon the north side, to observe the discomfited enemy about Lewiston. The remainder of his division was disposed so as to be ready for the support of Ewell.

These dispositions had not been completed, when the firing to the north told that he was seriously engaged with Fremont. This General had moved out to the attack from Harrisonburg, (doubtless expecting the assistance of Shields upon the other side,) with the divisions of Blenker, Milroy andSchenck, making seven brigades of infantry, a brigade of cavalry, and a powerful train of artillery. This army was correctly estimated by General Ewell, at eighteen thousand men. His own division had now been recruited, by the addition of the six regiments of General Edward Johnson, known as the army of the northwest. Of these, the 12th Georgia, and the 25th and 31st Virginia, had been attached to the Brigade of Elzey; and the 52nd, 58th and 44th Virginia, lately under Colonel Scott, had been given toGeneral George Stewart, and associated with the Maryland line. The position chosen for meetingFremont was a continuous ridge, a little south of the point where the Keezletown road crosses that fromHarrisonburg to Port Republic. This range of hills crosses the latter highway obliquely, in such manner that [416] General Ewell's left, occupying it, was much advanced beyond his right, and rested, at its extremity, very near the prolongation of the Keezletown road, toward the west. The hills are elevated, but occupied by arable fields. In front runs an insignificant rivulet, while the rear and flanks of the position are covered by woods of noble oaks, penetrable even by a column of artillery, in many places, but yet affording excellent cover for sharpshooters. On this ridge, then, General Ewell deliberately posted his troops to receive the shock, while Colonel Canty, with the 5th Alabama infantry, stubbornly contested the advance of the enemy along the road from Harrisonburg. In the centre, upon the best positions, he placed four picked batteries, those of Courtney, Lusk, Brockenborough, and Rains, withGeneral Elzey's brigade in their rear, as a reserve force. On his right was the brigade of GeneralTrimble, in advance of the centre, and on his left, that of General Stewart. The guns were placed on the reverse of the hills, a little behind the crest, where the cannoneers were protected from all missiles which came horizontally; and the lines of infantry lay in the valleys behind them, almost secure from danger.

About ten o'clock A. M., the Federal artillery was posted opposite to this position, and a spirited cannonade began, which continued for several hours. Indeed, the battle was chiefly one of artillery; for this arm was the only one which the Federalists employed with any perseverance or courage. After feeling the Confederate lines for a time with this fire of cannon, Fremont advanced a part of Blenker's German division, upon his left. Finding no enemies near the front of his left, save a few videttes, who were easily repulsed, he sent back glowing accounts of his success, in driving in the Confederate right wing. When he had thus swung around for nearly a mile, he was rudely undeceived. The veteranGeneral Trimble, held his excellent [417] brigade well in hand, behind the crestof a forest ridge, which, in front descended by a gentle declivity, to the margin of a wide meadow, and was there bounded by heavy fence of timber. He commanded the troops to reserve their fire until the enemy appeared above the hill, within point-blank range, when he poured a deadly discharge into their ranks. The Germansrecoiled in disorder, and Trimble, seizing the moment, charged them with the bayonet, and drove them down the slope and across the meadow. It was then, especially that the foe paid the penalty of his assault. The Confederates pausing at the fence, and firing from it in security, and with deliberate aim, continued their murderous discharges, until the enemy had crossed the open ground, and taken refuge in the opposite wood. The green vale was strewn with hundreds of the dead and wounded; and the remainder left the field, to be rallied no more that day. The Federals now attempted to arrest Trimble's career, by posting a battery a half mile in front of his extreme right. But having received the 25th and 13th Virginia regiments, of Elzey's brigade, as reinforcements, he at once advanced with the purpose of capturing it. After several spirited skirmishes with its infantry supports, he forced his way to the ground, and found it deserted. General Trimble had now advanced more than a mile from his original position, while the Federal advance had fallen back to the ground occupied by them before the beginning of the action.

The enemy then developed a strong movement toward General Ewell's left, for which the Keezletownroad, proceeding westward from Cross Keys, provided such facilities. This advantage, with the superior numbers of the opposing army, manifestly suggested the fear of such a movement, and nothing but the most impotent generalship on their part, could account for the fact that they allowed the day to close, disastrously for [418] them, without making it. General Ewell's left being necessarily thrown strongly forward, would have been enfiladed by troops advancing from that quarter. Hence, he wisely guarded that wing, and employed the most of his reinforcements to strengthen it. A little after mid-day, when the battle was at its height, General Jackson rode to the field, from his post near Port Republic, and calmly examined the progress of the struggle. Returning, he sent back to Ewell the Louisiana brigade of Taylor, which had been moved to his support during the alarm at the bridge, and also detached the second brigade of his division, under Colonel Patton. The remainder of General Elzey's brigade was then moved to the left, leaving their post in the rear of the centre to these troops. Thus prepared, General Ewellawaited for a long time the expected onset upon his flank. It resulted in nothing more than a feeble demonstration, which was easily repulsed by two or three regiments of Elzey. Seeing this, Ewelladvanced his own line just before night-fall, drove in the enemy's skirmishers, and assumed a new position on ground which they had held during the battle. Thus the day closed, and his troops lay upon their arms, upon the vantage-ground they had won, ready to resume the strife, and hoping to routFremont at dawn on the morrow.

In this combat of Cross Keys, Ewell had about six thousand men in his line of battle, and only three thousand five hundred actually engaged. Yet Fremont reported to his government that he was compelled to yield to superior force, and found himself outnumbered at every point where he attempted a movement. The veteran Ewell remarked, that he felt all day as though he were again fighting the feeble, semi-civilized armies of Mexico. The loss with which the Confederates achieved this success, was surprisingly small, being only forty-two (42) killed, and two hundred and thirty-one wounded, The chief loss of [419] the enemy was probably in front of Trimble, where it amounted to many hundreds.

General Jackson, regarding Fremont as only repulsed, and not routed, still adhered to his purpose to risk his first decisive blow against Shields, for the reasons which have been explained; and he deemed the present the proper hour to strike it, while the former was reeling and confused from his rude rebuff, and the latter was standing irresolute in an exposed attitude. He therefore summoned General Ewell, after he had completed his dispositions for the night, to his quarters; and instructed him to send the trains over to the troops, for the purpose of issuing food to them; to have them again withdrawn to the south side of the Shenandoah, and at break of day to march to Port Republic, leaving a strong rear-guard to amuse and retard the enemy. Then, awaiting the rising of the moon, which occurred about midnight, he collected his pioneers; and caused them, under his own eye, to construct a foot-bridge across the fords of the South River, by which he designed to pass his infantry down toward Lewiston. This structure was hastily made by placing wagons, without their bodies, longitudinally across the stream. The axles formed the cross-beams for the support of the floor; and the latter was composed of long boards, borrowed from a neighboring saw-mill, laid loosely from one to another. This bridge, on the morrow, furnished an instance of the truth, that very great events may be determined by very trivial ones. It was intended that the flooring should occupy the whole breadth between the wheels of the wagons, giving passage to several men abreast. But by an oversight, just at the deepest and angriest part of the stream, the hinder axle of a large wagon was placed next. the foremost axle of the next. The inequality in the height, with the increasing depth of the current, made a space of nearly two feet, which, when the flooring was placed in order, presented a step, [420] or sudden descent, of that amount; and all the boards of the higher stage proved to be unsupported at their ends, and elastic, but one. As the men began to pass over in column, several were thrown into the water by this treacherous and yielding platform, until, at length, growing skittish of it, they refused to trust themselves, to any except the one solid plank; and thus the column was converted, at this point, into a single file.

The actual achievements of General Jackson at Port Republic were as brilliant as anything in the history of war. But his secret design embraced still more. It has already been explained that he did not arrest the pursuit of Fremont by at once burning the bridge across the Shenandoah, because he was unwilling to deprive himself of the ability to take the aggressive against that General. He now formed the bold purpose to concentrate his army, and fight both Shields and him, successively, the same day. Hence his eagerness to begin the attack on the former at an early hour. Stronger evidence of this startling design will be given. During the night he held an interview with Colonel Patton, commanding the 2nd brigade, which he then proposed to employ as a rear-guard to cover the withdrawal of General Ewell's forces from the front of Fremont. This officer found him, at two o'clock in the morning of the 9th, actively engaged in making his dispositions for battle. He immediately proceeded to give him particular instructions as to the management of his men in covering the rear, saying: “I wish you to throw out all your men, if necessary, as skirmishers, and to make a great show, so as to cause the enemy to think the whole army are behind you. Hold your position as well as you can; then fall back, when obliged; take a new position; hold it in the same way; and I will be back to join you in the morning.” Colonel Pattonreminded him that his brigade was small, and that the country between Cross Keys and the Shenandoahoffered few advantages [421] for protracting such manceuvres., He therefore desired to know for how long a time he would be expected to hold the army of Fremont in check. He replied: “By the blessing ofProvidence, I hope to be back by ten o'clock.”

Here then, we have revealed his whole purpose: He allotted five hours to crushing the army of Shields, and expected the same day to recross the Shenandoah and assail Fremont, or at least re-occupy his strong position upon the north bank, and again defy his attack. The Stonewall Brigade was accordingly ordered to begin the movement at the dawn of day; and by five o'clock it had crossed the South River, and was ready to advance against Shields. The Louisiana brigade of General Taylor came next, and as soon as they had passed the foot-bridge, the General eagerly moved with them to the attack, directing the trains to be passed toward Brown's Gap in the mountain, and the remainder of the troops to be hurried across as rapidly as they arrived, and sent to his support. But now the defect which has been described in the footway disclosed itself; proposals to arrest the passage of the troops long enough to remedy it effectually, or else to disuse the bridge, and force the men through the water, were all neglected by the commanders of brigades; and while six or eight thousand men were passed over in single file, ten o'clock arrived and passed by. The consequence was, that the first attack made upon the Federalists, being met with a stubborn resistance, and unsustained by adequate numbers, was repulsed with loss, and the battle was protracted far beyond the hour which permitted a second enlgagement that day on different ground. Thus three ill-adjusted boards cost the Confederates a hard-fought and bloody battle, and delivered Fremont from a second defeat far more disastrous than that of the previous day.

When General Jackson led the brigades of Winder and [422] Taylor against the Federalists, he found their main army posted advantageously at Lewiston. The level tract which intervenes between theShenandoah and the forest-zone which girdles the mountain's base, has been described. The whole space was here occupied with smooth fields of waving clover and wheat, divided by the zigzag wooden fences of the country. Near the edge of the forest stood the ample villa of General Lewis, surrounded by substantial barns and stables, and orchards; while a lane, enclosed by a double fence, led thence direct to a mill and dwelling upon the margin of the stream. This lane marked the basis of the enemy's line of defence. His right was supported upon the river, and his left upon the impenetrable wood, while his centre was defended by the extensive enclosures and buildings of Lewiston. Upon a hillock just at the edge of the thickets were planted six field-pieces, which commanded the road from Port Republic, and all the fields adjacent to it.

General Jackson's plan of battle was now promptly formed. He placed the Stonewall Brigade, commanded by Brigadier-General Winder, in front, supported on its right by one of the regiments ofBrigadier-General Taylor, and on its left by the 52nd and 31st Virginia regiments. The battery of Poaguewas posted in its front, while that of Carpenter was ordered to make its way through the tangled forest upon the right and find some commanding position, whence they could silence the enemy's guns aboveLewiston. The brigade of General Taylor was also sent to the right, by a detour through the woods, to capture those guns, and then to turn the position of the Federalists. But the almost impenetrable thickets rendered their progress slow, and by a slight mistake of their direction in these pathless coverts, they approached the left front, rather than the flank of the dangerous battery. Meantime the Stonewall Brigade, with its supports, had advanced across the level fields, [423] without any shelter from the animated fire of artillery and rifles, from the orchards and fences about Lewiston, and after a stubborn contest with overpowering numbers, was compelled to retire, leaving one six-pounder in the enemy's possession. As the Louisiana troops emerged from the woods on the hill-sides above, they saw with admiration the Virginians sustaining the unequal combat with heroic courage, until they were at length forced back, their ammunition exhausted, by sheer weight of numbers. The Federalists now advanced from their cover, with loud and taunting cheers, pierced the centre of Jackson's feeble line, and threatened to throw back the fugitives against the river which was upon their left, and thus to cut them off from retreat. But the regiments of Taylor, nothing daunted, charged the Federal battery, and driving the supports away, seized the six guns, which they held for a short time. General Ewell, who had now passed the whole of his division across the South River, was also hurrying to the front. He had just placed the 44th and 58th Virginia regiments, as a reserve, on the right of the road-way, and fronting towards it, under cover of the wood. Seeing Winder forced back, and two brigades of the enemy impetuously advancing through the Confederate centre, he now most opportunely launched the two regiments against their flank, and poured in a galling fire. The Federalists wheeled and confronted them, and, after a furious conflict, forced them back also with heavy loss. But a saving diversion had been made. The attack of Taylor upon their left had silenced their artillery for the time, and placed him far in rear of their advancing lines. The indefatigable Winder rallied his scattered infantry, and sought new positions for the remaining guns of Poague, and for the battery of Carpenter, who had now returned from his ineffectual struggle with the thickets; and the batteries of Chew, Brockenborough, Courtenayand Rains [424] contributed, to reinstate his battle, with such pieces as had not been crippled in the contest of the previous day. Thus the insolent foe was steadily borne back toward his original position atLewiston, and the buildings, orchards and fences, which he occupied there, were scourged by a pitiless storm of cannon-shot.

But it is time to return to General Taylor, who was left in possession of the Federal battery of six guns, upon the right. He was now, in turn, driven from them, by a brigade which made a detour through the thicket, and fell upon his right flank. At this critical juncture, General Ewell brought up the 44th and 58th Virginia regiments to his support, which had been rallied after their bloody contest on the centre, and advanced under Colonel Scott, with a steadiness unexampled in volunteer troops, after losses so severe as theirs. By their assistance, and that of the 2nd Virginia regiment from the Stonewall Brigade, Taylor's attack was renewed. Twice more was the contested battery lost and won. The Confederates, driven off for a time by the enfilading fire of the enemy in the woods above them, and the murderous volleys of canister in front, rushed again and again to the charge; and after the third capture, the prize remained in their possession, while the Federalists sullenly retired. The dead of both armies were intermingled around the guns, while nearly all the horses belonging to them, lay slaughtered behind them.

Meantime, General Jackson perceived that the struggle had become too protracted and serious to permit another collision with Fremont that day. The brigade of General Trimble, with two regiments from that of Colonel Patton, were slowly retiring before him from Cross Keys toward the river. At 10 o'clock A. M., a messenger was despatched to them by the General, with orders to hasten their march to his assistance, and to burn the bridge behind them. The brigade of General Taliaferro, which [425] had been left to occupy the village, was also hurried to the front, and arriving with great celerity, gave the parting volley to the retreating foe. The cavalry of Ashby was now launched after them, and their flight became a rout. Nearly half of an Ohio regiment were separated from their comrades by GeneralTaliaferro, and surrendered in a body; and the pursuit was continued eight miles farther by the cavalry, who gathered, as spoils of war, small arms and vehicles, with many prisoners.

In the battle of Port Republic, the Federalists had eight thousand men engaged, and the Confederatesthree small brigades of infantry, with three regiments of cavalry, and a superior artillery. The enemy fought with a steadiness and courage unwonted, and inflicted upon the troops of General Jackson, a serious loss of ninety-one officers and men killed, and six hundred and eighty-six wounded. They owed their escape from ruin, only to the narrow road by which they retreated, and the impenetrable wilderness by which it was bordered; which made the manoeuvres of cavalry impossible, and enabled a small rear-guard to cover their flight successfully. It was said that General Shields was fifteen miles in the rear with his reserves, when the battle occurred, and that the forces engaged were commanded byBrigadier-General Tyler.

As the evening approached, General Jackson recalled his jaded men from the pursuit, and led them by a side way, from Lewiston, towards the mouth of Brown's Gap, in the Blue Ridge. As they passed the field of battle on their return, they saw the hills opposite to Port Republic, black with the troops ofFremont, who had arrived in time to be impotent spectators of the flight of their friends. That commander now vented his disappointed malice in an act of inhumanity, for which he will be execrated until his name sinks into its merited oblivion. The tall wheat and the tangled thickets were full of the dead and of [426] mangled wretches, difficult to be discovered, and scattered over a length of three miles. A dreary and chilling rain was commencing. The Confederates were busy searching out and relieving the sufferers, and collecting the dead for a decent burial. Many wounded men had been carried into a farm-house near the river, and its surrounding buildings, and the yellow flag, the sacred badge of suffering, was conspicuously displayed from its roof, while the surgeons and chaplains were busily plying their humane labors. Suddenly Fremont advanced his artillery and riflemen, to the heights from which GeneralJackson had cannonaded the troops of Shields the previous day, and swept the whole field, and the hospital, with a storm of shot. The ambulances, with their merciful attendants, were driven away, and the wounded fled precipitately from their cots. The design of this outrage was obvious; it was supposed that the humanity of General Jackson, would prompt him to demand by flag of truce, an unmolested opportunity to tend the wounded; and on that request, the Federal General designed to found a pretext for claiming, in his despatches, the command of the field and the victory; which he knew belonged toJackson. But the latter was as clear-sighted, and as determined, as he was humane. No flag of truce, no request was sent: Thanks to the affectionate zeal of the soldiers, all the Confederate dead and wounded had been already removed; and they were just proceeding to extend the offices of humanity to their enemies, when this treacherous interruption occurred. So that the only result of Fremont's savage generalship was, that his own suffering comrades lay under the drenching rain, until he retired toHarrisonburg. By that time, many had died miserably of hemorrhage, exhaustion and hunger, whom their generous enemies would have rescued; and not a few of their dead, with some, perchance, of the mangled living, were partially devoured by swine before their burial I [427]

It was as General Jackson was returning on this day from the pursuit of the routed Federalists, that he first saw their diabolical explosive rifle-balls. A soldier presented him several which he had found in the dust of the road, unexploded. On examination they were found to be composed of two pieces of lead, enclosing a cavity between them, and cemented together by pressure. The hollow space was filled with fulminating powder, which was intended to explode by percussion, upon the impact of the ball against the bone of the penetrated body. Thus the fragments of lead would be driven in various and erratic directions through the mangled flesh, baffling the surgeon's probe, and converting the wound into a mortal one.

While Jackson sought a season of secure repose for his overtasked men within the mountain cove of Brown's Gap, Fremont made pretence of bridging the Shenandoah River in order to assail him again. The Confederate pickets reported that on the evening of the 9th he was bringing timber to the bank, and on the morning of the 10th he was using it for some structure in the water. But soon after, he seemed to think better of his dangerous position, and disappeared from the neighborhood. Doubtless, he had now learned the true condition of General Shields's army. The Confederate cavalry, under Colonel Munford, crossing the river above Port Republic, pursued to Harrisonburg, which they entered June 12th,Fremont having retired precipitately down the Valley, leaving his hospitals, and many arms and carriages, to capture. Four hundred and fifty prisoners were taken upon the field; and the sick and wounded found in the hospitals swelled the number to nine hundred. One thousand small arms, and nine beautiful field-pieces, with all their apparatus, fell to the victors as prize of war. On the 9th of June, the loss of the Federalists in killed and wounded did not much differ from that of the Confederates. On the 8th the [428] disproportion was enormous. In front of General Trimble's brigade alone, the dead were two hundred and ninety. When the most moderate addition is made for the loss inflicted by the terrific cannonade of the centre, and the spirited skirmishing on the left of General Ewell's line, the whole number of Federal killed and wounded cannot be placed at less than two thousand. And to this agreed the testimony of the prisoners and of the citizens.

The, heavy loss of the Confederates on the 9th was due to the superior position occupied by the Federalists, to the fact that General Shields's brigades fought better than Fremont's, and to the detention of General Jackson's column at the imperfect footbridge across South River, which caused his first attack to fail through deficient numbers. His zeal and eagerness led him to forget that no subordinates could be expected to urge their commands to the field with his fiery energy; and, in this sense, he required them to undertake too much. If there had been no bridge, and the infantry had been required to ford the summer stream in dense columns, so as to reach the field more simultataneously, the victory would have been more promptly and cheaply won. Again, if the Louisiana brigade of General Taylorhad been more accurately directed by its guides, through the tangled wilderness to the right of the battle-field, so as to strike the rear of the enemy's left, as was the purpose of their commander, instead of their left front; and if they had arrived at the moment of the front attack by Brigadier-General Winder, in place of appearing after he was repulsed, the army of Shields would have been destroyed. For, just below Lewiston, the champaign suddenly terminates, the hill-side thickets approach the river-bank, and to the mouth of the single narrow woodland track, by which the Federalists must have all retreated,General Taylor would have been nearer than they; while he would have commanded their approach to it from a superior and a [429] sheltered position. The discomfited enemy, thus arrested on the one side, and driven on the other, by the whole weight of the Confederate army, into the neck of such a funnel, would have been crushed to pieces. Such was Jackson's masterly plan: natural obstacles, and the mistakes of some subordinates, caused the performance to fall short of it.

But enough was accomplished to cover General Jackson with a blaze of glory. Fifteen days before, he was a hundred miles from his base, with a little army of fifteen thousand men, while forty thousand enemies were on his immediate front and flanks. Now, he was disembarrassed of them all, with a loss of not more than one thousand five hundred men; while two armies, whose aggregate was double his own, were flying from him, quivering with disaster, leaving his victorious hands full of trophies. From this hour, doubt and detraction were silenced; he stood forth acknowledged by all as a General of transcendent abilities. His mere name, henceforth, brought assurance of triumph to his friends, and panic to his enemies. Within forty days he had marched four hundred miles, fought four pitched battles,defeating four separate armies,--with numerous combats and skirmishes, sent to the rear three thousand five hundred prisoners, killed and wounded a still larger number of the enemy, and defeated or neutralized forces three times as numerous as his own, upon his proper theatre of war, besides the corps of McDowell, which was rendered inactive at Fredericksburg by the fear of his prowess.

On the 12th of June, before the dawn, the army were marched out from their confined and uneasybivouac in Brown's Gap, to the plains of Mount Meridian, upon the middle fork of the Shenandoah, a few miles above Port Republic. The two days rain was now succeeded by the brilliant suns and genial warmth of June. The troops were encamped in a range of woodland [430] groves between the two rivers, surrounded with the verdure of early summer, and the luxuriant wheat fields whitening for the harvest. Ilt this smiling paradise they solaced themselves five days for their fatigues, the men reposing under the shade, or bathing in the sparkling waters of the Shenandoah, and the horses feeding in the abundant pastures. The Saturday following the battle; was proclaimed by General Jackson as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, and all the troops were called to join with their General and their chaplains, in praises to God for his deliverances. The next day, a general communion was observed in the 3rd Virginia brigade, at which the Lord's supper was dispensed, in the wood, to a great company of Christian soldiers from all the army. At this solemnity the General was present, as a worshipper, and modestly participated with his men in the sacred feast. The quiet diffidence with which he took the least obtrusive place, and received the sacred emblems from the hands of a regimental chaplain, was in beautiful contrast with the majesty and authority of his bearing in the crisis of battle.

The following brief extract from his correspondence with his wife exhibits the same humble and devout temper. which ever characterized him:

Near Wier's Cave, June 14th.

Our God has thrown his shield over me in the various apparent dangers to which I have been exposed. This evening we have religious services in the army, lor the purpose of rendering thanks to the Most High for the victories with which he has crowned our arms; and my earnest prayer is that our ever kind Heavenly Father will continue to crown our arms with success, until our independence shall, through his divine blessing, be established.

Chapter 14: the Richmond campaign.

After the victory of Winchester in May, General Jackson had requested his friend Hon. A. R. Boteler to represent to the authorities near Richmond, his desire for reinforcements, that he might carry the war toward the Federal Capital. “Tell them,” said he, “that I have now fifteen thousand men. I should have forty thousand; and with them I would invade the North.” When this message was delivered to GeneralLee, the Commander-in-Chief, he replied: “But he must help me to drive these people away fromRichmond first.” Thus it appears that his sagacious mind had already formed the design of concentrating the army of Jackson with his own, in order to take the aggressive against McClellan. Had the battle of Port Republic been a disaster, this would have been impossible, and Richmond would probably have fallen into the hands of the assailants. As soon as the news of Jackson's victory there was received inRichmond, it was judged that the proper time had arrived for the great movement. To make it successful, it was necessary to mask Jackson's removal from the Valley, lest his enemies, lately defeated, should assail some vital point, and to continue the diversion of General McDowell's army from a union with McClellan. To further these objects, a strong detachment, consisting of the brigades ofWhiting, Hood, and Lawton, which made an aggregate of seven thousand men, was sent to Jackson[432] by the way of Lynchburg and Charlottesville. It was so arranged that the captives from Port Republic on their way to the military prisons of Richmond, should meet all these troops upon the road; and on their arrival there, General Lee dismissed the officers among them upon parole. He knew that they would hasten to Washington and report what they had seen. The report of General McClellanreveals the success of the expedient. He states that the answer made by Mr. Lincoln to the next of his repeated requests for the co-operation of General McDowell, was the following: that he could not now need that aid, inasmuch as the army of General Lee was weakened by fifteen thousand men just sent toGeneral Jackson, and the dangers of Washington City were to the same extent increased: (the Federalofficers, with their customary exaggeration, had doubled the number of Jackson's reinforcements.)

He, meanwhile, was deceiving the enemy in the Valley with equal adroitness. As soon as ColonelMunford established his cavalry at Harrisonburg, he sent him orders to arrest all transit up and down theValley, and even to limit the communication between his own troops on the outposts and, the Confederate infantry, to the narrowest possible bounds; so that no intelligence might steal through to the enemy. He also instructed him to press his outposts with energy against those of the enemy, and to drive him as far below as practicable. He desired thus to produce in Fremont the persuasion, that the whole Confederate army was about to advance upon him, to improve its victory in that direction. Last, he requested Colonel Munford to do all in his power, by other means, to foster this belief. Opportunity was already provided for carrying out this order. As the advance of the Confederates pressed towardFremont, they met, twelve miles north of Harrisonburg, a Federal flag of truce, in the hands of a major, followed by a long train of surgeons and ambulances [433] bringing a demand for the release of their wounded men. Colonel Munford had required the train to pause at his outposts, and had brought the major, with one surgeon, to his quarters at Harrisonburg; where he entertained them with military courtesy, until their request was answered by the commanding General. He found them full of boasts and arrogance: they said that the answer to their flag was exceedingly unimportant, because Fremontand Shields were about to effect a junction, when they would recover, by force, all they had lost, and teach Jackson a lesson which would cure his audacity. When Colonel Munford received the instructions we have mentioned, he called for Mr. William Gilmer of Albemarle, a gentleman of infinite spirit and humor, who was serving with his young kinsman as an amateur trooper, and gave him his cue. He silently left the village, but presently returned, in very different fashion, as an orderly, with despatches from General Jackson and from Staunton. With an ostentatious clanking of spurs and sabre, he ascended to Colonel Munford's quarters, and knocked in a hurried manner. “Come in,” said the gallantColonel. “And what answer do you bring, orderly, from General Jackson?” At this word, the Yankeeofficers in the adjoining chamber were heard stealthily approaching the partition, for the purpose of eavesdropping. “Why,” said Gilmer, “the General laughed at the demand for the surrender of the wounded prisoners. He has no notion of it.” “Do you bring any good news?” asked the Colonel. “Glorious news,” he answered. “The road from Staunton this way is chock-full of soldiers, cannon, and wagons, come to reinforce Jackson in his march down the Valley. There is General Whiting, GeneralHood, General Lawton, and General I-don't-know-who. I never saw so many soldiers and cannon together in my life. People say there are thirty thousand of them.” After a few such questions and answers, framed for the edification of the eavesdroppers, [434] Colonel Munford dismissed him, and he descended, to fill the hotel and the town with his glorious news. The whole place was speedily in a blaze of joy and excitement. Citizens came to offer supplies for the approaching hosts; and bullocks, flour, and bacon were about to be collected for them in delighted haste. After leaving his guests to digest their contraband news, for several hours, Colonel Munford at length sent for them, and told them that he had a reply from his General, respectfully declining to accede to their request; so that nothing now remained but to send them back to their friends, in the same honor and safety in which they had come. They departed much humbler, and as they imagined, much wiser men. He pushed his advance soon after them, to New Market; and upon their arrival at the quarters of General Fremont near Mount Jackson, the Federal army precipitately broke up its camp, and retreated to Strasbourg; where they began busily to fortify themselves. The Confederate cavalry then drew a cordon of pickets across the country just above them, so strict that the befooled enemy never learned General Jackson's whole army was not on his front, until he discovered it by the disasters of McClellan.

The larger part of the reinforcements sent from Richmond had halted near Staunton. On the evening of June 17th, General Jackson began to move his troops from Mount Meridian, and leaving orders with his staff to send away the remainder the next morning, he went to the town to set the new brigades in motion. No man in the whole army knew whither it was going. General Ewell, the second in command, was only instructed to move towards Charlottesville, and the rest were only ordered to follow him. Two marches brought them to the neighborhood of the latter town, where General Jackson rejoined them, and confiding to his chief of staff the direction of his movement, with strict injunctions of secrecy, departed by railroad, to hold [435] a preliminary conference with General Lee in Richmond. He directed that an advanced guard of cavalry should precede the army continually, and prohibit all persons, whether citizens or soldiers, from passing before them toward Richmond. A rearguard was to prevent all straggling backward, and when they encamped, all lateral roads were to be guarded, to prevent communication between the army and country.

But on reaching Gordonsville, whither the brigade of General Lawton had gone by railroad, he was arrested for a day by a groundless rumor of the approach of the enemy from the Rappahannock. Then, resuming the direction of the troops, he proceeded to a station called Frederickshall, fifty miles fromRichmond, where he arrested his march to give the army its Sabbath rest. No General knew better than he, how to employ the transportation of a railroad in combination with the marching of an army. While the burthen trains forwarded his stores he caused the passenger trains to proceed to the rear of his line of march, which was chosen near the railroad, and take up the hindmost of his brigades. These were forwarded, in a couple of hours, a whole day's march; when they were set down, and the trains returned again, to take up the hindmost, and give them a like assistance.

After a quiet Sabbath, the General rose at 1 o'clock A. M., and mounting a horse, rode express with a single courier, to Richmond. A few miles from his quarters, a pleasing evidence of the fidelity of his pickets was presented to him. He endeavored to pass this outpost, first as an officer on military business, and then as an officer bearing important intelligence for General Lee. But the guard was inexorable, and declared that his instructions from General Jackson especially prohibited him to pass army men, as well as citizens. The utmost he would concede was, that the captain commanding the picket [436] should be called, and the appeal made to him. When he came, he recognized his General; who, praising the soldier for his obedience to instructions, bound them both to secrecy touching his journey. Having held the desired interview with the Commander-in-Chief, he returned the next day to the line of march pursued by his troops, and led them, the evening of June 25th to the village of Ashland, twelve miles north of Richmond.

To understand the subsequent narrative, the reader must have a brief explanation of the position of the two great armies. The Chickahominy River, famous for the adventures and capture of Captain JohnSmith, in the childhood of Virginia, is a sluggish stream of fifteen yards width, which flows parallel to theJames, and only five miles north of Richmond. It is bordered by extensive meadows, which degenerate in many places into marshes, and its bed is miry and treacherous; so that it constitutes an obstacle to the passage of armies far more formidable than its insignificant width would indicate. During this year, especially, the excessive rains and repeated freshets had converted its little current into an important stream, its marshes into lakes, and its rich, level cornfields into bogs. But at the distance of half a mile from the channel, the country on each side rises into undulating hills, with farms interspersed irregularly among the tracts of forest, and the coppices of young pine. General McClellan, taking his departure from the White House, on the Pamunkey, and using the York River Railroad as his line of supply, had pressed his vast army to the east and north of Richmond. Its two wings, placed like the open jaws of some mighty dragon, the one on the north and the other on the south side of the Chickahominy, almost embraced the northeast angle of the city. To connect them with each other, he had constructed three or four elaborate bridges across the stream, with causeways leading to them, and along the length of the valley, [437] [438] by which he hoped to defy both mire and floods. On both sides, his front was so fortified with earthworks, abattis, and heavy artillery, that they could not be assailed, save with cruel loss. These works, on his left, were extended to the front of the battle-field of Seven Pines, and on his right to the hamlet of Mechanicsville; which, seated upon the north bank of the Chickahominy, six miles from Richmond, commanded the road thence to Hanover Court House.

The Confederate army, now under the immediate order of General Robert E. Lee, confrontedMcClellan, and guarded the course of the Chickahominy, as high as the half sink farm, northwest ofRichmond, where Brigadier-General Branch, of Major General A. P. Hill's division, was stationed within a few miles of Ashland. General Lee, after the battle of Seven Pines, had fortified his front, east ofRichmond, in order that a part of his forces might hold the defensive against the Federal army; while, with the remainder, he attempted to turn its flank north of the Chickahominy. To test the practicability of this grand enterprise, and to explore a way for General Jackson's proposed junction, he had causedGeneral J. E. B. Stuart, of the cavalry to make his famous reconnoissance of the 12th of June; in which that daring officer had marched a detachment of cavalry from north to south around McClellan's whole rear, and had discovered that it was unprotected by works, or by proper disposition of forces, against the proposed attack.

The conception of the Commander-in-Chief is thus developed in his own general order of battle, communicated to General Jackson. He was to march from Ashland on the 25th of June, to encamp for the night, west of the Central Railroad, and to advance at three A. M., on the 26th, and turn the enemy's works at Mechanicsville, and on Beaver-Dam Creek, a stream flowing into the Chickahominy a mile in the rear of that hamlet, where [439] he had a powerful reserve entrenched. Major-General A. P. Hillwas to cross the Chickahominy, to the north side, at the meadow bridges, above Mechanicsville, and associating to himself Branch's brigade, which was to advance so soon as the march of General Jacksonopened a way for it, was to sweep down against the enemy's right. As soon as the Mechanicsville bridge should be uncovered, Longstreet and D. H. Hill were to cross, the latter to proceed to the support of Jackson, and the former to that of A. P. Hill. The four commands were directed to sweep down the north side of the Chickahominy, toward the York River Railroad; Jackson on the left and in advance, Longstreet nearest the river and in the rear. Huger and Magruder were to hold their positions south of the Chickahominy, against any assault of the enemy, to observe him closely, and to follow him should he retreat. General Stuart, with his cavalry, was thrown out on Jackson's left, to guard his flank, and give notice of the enemy's movements.

The evening of June 25th found the army of General Jackson a few miles short of their appointed goal-at Ashland-instead of the line of the Central Rarioad. The difficulties of handling so large a force with inexperienced subordinates, concurred with the loss of the bridges on his direct line of march, (lately burned by order of the Federalists,) to delay him thus much. No commander ever sympathized more fully with the spirit of Napoleon's answer, when he replied to one of his marshals, in view of a similar combination of his armies for a great battle: “Ask me for anything but time.” Jackson's ardent soul, on fire with the grandeur of the operations before him, and with delight in their boldness and wisdom, and chafing at the delays of blundering and incompetent agents, forbade rest or sleep for him on this important night. He deliberately devoted the whole of it to the review of his preparations, and to prayer. Rations were to be [440] distributed and prepared by the men for three days. The lead ers of the different divisions, encamped around Ashland, were to be instructed in their routes, so that the several commands might take their places in the column without confusion or delay. After all his staff were dismissed for a short repose, he still paced his chamber in anxious thought, or devoted to wrestling with God the intervals between the visits of his officers. In the small hours of the night, two of the commanders of divisions came to suggest that he should move the army by two columns, on parallel roads, instead of by one. He listened respectfully, but requested that they would await his decision until morning. When they left him, the one said to the other: “Do you know why General Jackson would not decide upon our suggestion at once? It was because he has to pray over it, before he makes up his mind.” A moment after, the second returned to Jackson's quarters to fetch his sword, which he had forgotten; and, as he entered, found him upon his knees! praying, doubtless, for Omniscient guidance in all his responsible duties, for his men, and for his country.

Notwithstanding his efforts, the army did not move until after sunrise; when, all being ready, it advanced in gallant array toward the southeast, crossed the Central Railroad, and, meeting here and there the vigilant cavalry of General Stuart, which came in from the left at the cross-roads, approached the Pole- Green church, a century before sanctified by the eloquence of the Rev. Samuel Davies, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Jackson was now abreast of the enemy's right flank at Mechanicsville, and but a few miles north of it. Between him and the church was the Tottopottamoy, a little stream which still bears its Indian title. The pickets of McClellan occupied the opposite bank, and had destroyed the light wooden bridge, and obstructed the road beyond with prostrate trees. The Texan brigade of Hood, which [441] was in front, deployed a few skirmishers, who speedily cleared the opposing bank with their unerring rifles; and the wood beyond was shelled by one of Whiting's batteries while the bridge was rapidly repaired. This initial cannonade was intended to subserve the additional purpose of a signal, by which the Confederates before Mechanicsville might be advertised of his presence.

For many hours' the brigades of A. P. Hill had been patiently awaiting the expected sound, before the enemy's works. They now pressed forward, and a furious cannonade opened on both sides. GeneralHill, supported by Ripley's brigade, of D. H. Hill's division, speedily carried the little village, with the fieldworks and camp of the enemy, while the latter retired a mile to the eastward, to their stronger lines upon Beaver-Dam Creek. Jackson's advance would in due time have turned this position, as it hadMechanicsville, and would thus have given to the two Hills an easy conquest; but the presence of the Commander-in. Chief and the President of the Confederate States upon the field, with their urgency that the place should be carried without delay, impelled them to the attack. The heroic troops pressed up to the stream, and held the nearer brink throughout the night, but could effect no lodgement within the hostile works; and thus, at nine o'clock, the cannonade died away, and the opposing forces lay down upon their arms, after a bloody and useless struggle. As General Jackson's forces passed the Pole-Green church, and went into camp a little below, at Hundley's Corner, the sound of the guns and the roar of the musketry told them that the gigantic struggle had begun.

Thus opened the seven days tragedy before Richmond. The demeanor of its citizens during the evening of June 26th, gave an example of their courage, and their faith in their leaders and their cause. For many weeks, the Christians of the city had [442] given themselves to prayer; and they drew from heaven a sublime composure. The spectator passing through the streets saw the people calmly engaged in their usual avocations, or else wending their way to the churches, while the thunders of the cannon shook the city. As the calm summer evening descended, the family groups were seen sitting upon their door-steps, where mothers told the children at their knees, how Lee and his heroes were now driving away the invaders. The young people promenaded the heights north of the town, and watched the distant shells bursting against the sky. At one church, a solemn cavalcade stood waiting; and if the observer had entered, saying to himself: “This funeral reminds me that Death claims all seasons for his own, and refuses to postpone his dread rites for any inferior horrors,” he would have found a bridal before the altar. The heart of old Rome was not more assured and steadfast, when she sold at full price in herForum, the fields on which the victorious Carthaginian was encamped.

During the night, detachments of the enemy approached General Jackson's camps at Hundley's corner, but were checked by Brockenborough's battery, and the 1st Maryland, 13th Virginia, and 6th Louisiana regiments. At an early hour, the troops were put in motion, and speedily crossed the higher streams of the Beaver-Dam, thus turning the right of the enemy's position. The way was now opened, by their retreat, for the advance of General D. H. Hill, who crossing Jackson's line of march, passed to his front and left. The evacuation of the lines of Beaver-Dam also soon followed. At the dawn of day, the contest between the Federal artillery there, and that of General A. P. Hill had been resumed; but perceiving the divisions of General Jackson approaching their rear, the enemy retreated precipitately down theChickahominy towards Cold Harbor, pursued by Generals A. P. Hill and Longstreet, burning vast [443] quantities of army stores, and deserting many uninjured. As General Jackson approached Walnut Grove church, he met the Commander-in-Chief; and while he halted his column to receive his final instructions from him, the gallant division of A. P. Hill filed past, in as perfect array as though they had been unscathed of battle. General Lee presuming that the Federalists would continue to withdraw, if overpowered, toward the York River Railroad and the White House, directed General Jackson to proceed, with General D. H. Hill, to a point a few miles north of Cold Harbor, and thence to march to that place, and strike their line of retreat. Two roads led thither, the one direct, the other circuitous. The latter, which passed first eastward, and then southward, was the one which offered the desired route forGeneral Jackson; for the former would have conducted him to ground in the rear of the retreating army, already occupied by General A. P. Hill. General Jackson had selected young men of the vicinage, found in a company of cavalry near him, for guides. When he asked them the road to Cold Harbor, his habitual reticence, in this instance too stringent, withheld all explanation of his strategic designs. They therefore naturally pointed him to the direct and larger road, as the route to Cold Harbor. After marching for a mile and a half, the booming of cannon in his front caught his ear, and he demanded sharply of the guide near him: “Where is that firing?” The reply was, that it was in the direction ofGaines's Mill. “Does this road lead there?” he asked. The guide told him that it led by Gaines's Mill to Cold Harbor. “But,” exclaimed he, “I do not wish to go to Gaines's Mill. I wish to go to Cold Harbor, leaving that place to the right.” “Then,” said the guide, “the left-hand road was the one which should have been taken; and had you let me know what you desired, I could have directed you aright at first.” Nothing now remained, but to reverse the column, [444] and return to the proper track. It was manifest that an hour of precious time must be lost in doing this, while the accelerated firing told that the battle was thickening in the front, and every heart trembled with the anxious fear lest the irreparable hour should be lost by the delay. But Jackson bore the same calm and assured countenance, and when this fear was suggested to him, he replied: “No, let us trust that the providence of our God will so overrule it, that no mischief shall result.” Nor was he mistaken in this confidence; for the time thus allowed toGeneral D. H. Hill enabled him to reach the desired point of meeting north of Cold Harbor, just in front of Jackson, and brought them into precise conjunction. They then turned to the right and moved directly toward the supposed position of the enemy, with the division of Hill in front, followed by those of Ewell,Whiting, and Jackson in the order of their enumeration. After passing Cold Harbor, and arresting at that spot a few Federal carriages, they perceived the enemy about a half mile southward, drawn up in battle array, and fronting to the north. General Jackson, with a numerous suite, rode forward to observe their position; and at his suggestion a battery from Hill's division was posted opposite to them. But before they began to fire, several Federal batteries opened upon them a furious cannonade, by which theGenerals were speedily driven to a distant part of the field, and the Confederate guns were silenced, after a gallant but unequal contest of half an hour.

It was now two o'clock in the afternoon. The firing west of Cold Harbor told that General A. P. Hillwas fully engaged with the enemy there. In fact, he was fighting single-handed, the whole centre of the opposing host. For a time, General Jackson held his troops back in the margin of the woods looking toward the highway, and along the line of their march, in the hope that the enemy, retreating beforeGenerals A. P. Hill and [445] Longstreet, would expose their flank to a crushing blow from him. But the firing on his right began evidently to recede, showing that Hill, instead of driving the savage game into his toils, was giving way before their overpowering numbers. He then determined to bring his whole infantry into action. Assigning to General D. H. Hill the extreme left, he placed General Ewell's division next him. and sent orders to Generals Whiting and Lawton, and to the Brigadiers of his own original division, which brought up the rear, to form for battle along the road by which they were marching, and then moving in echelon, beginning on the left, to feel for the position of the enemy and engage him. The topography was unknown to Jackson and to his subordinates, the forests forbade a connected view of the country, and no time was left for reconnoissances. Nothing remained, therefore, but to move toward the firing, and engage the foe wherever he was found.

The expectations that the Federalists would continue their retreat, when hard pressed, toward the White House, was erroneous. Their commander proposed to himself another expedient: to concentrate his troops on the south of the Chickahominy, and relinquishing his connections with the York River, to open for himself communications with the River James below Richmond, now accessible to his fleets up toDrewry's Bluffs. Accordingly, his present purpose was to stand at bay upon the northern bank of the former stream, until he could withdraw his troops across it in safety. He chose, for this end, a strong position, covering two of his military bridges, and confronting with a convex array, the Confederateswho threatened him from the north and west. His right, or eastern wing occupied an undulating plateau, protected in front by thickets of pine and the rude fences of the country, and presenting numerous commanding positions for artillery. In front of that wing a sluggish rivulet, speedily [446] degenerated into a marsh, thickset with briers and brushwood, stretched away to the east, affording a seeming protection to that flank. An interval of a few hundred yards in front of his right was unprotected by any such obstruction; but the fields were here swept by a powerful artillery. And as his line passed westward, another rivulet commenced its course, and flowed in front of his whole centre and left wing, in an opposite direction to the first, until, merging itself into Powhite Creek, it passed into theChickahominy above. His centre was enveloped in a dense forest, which, with the marshy stream in front, precluded the use of artillery by the assailants. His left was posted in a belt of woodland, which descended with a steep inclination from the plateau to a deep and narrow gully, excavated for itself by the rivulet. Three formidable lines of infantry held this hill-side, the first hidden in the natural ditch at its bottom, the second behind a strong barricade of timber a little above, and the third near the top. The brow of the eminence was crowned with numerous batteries, which screened by the narrow zone of trees, commanded every approach to the position. Last, a number of heavy, rifled cannon upon the heights south of the Chickahominy, protected the extreme left, and threatened to enfilade any troops advancing across the open country to the attack. These formidable dispositions were only disclosed to the Confederates by their actual onset, so that manoeuvre was excluded, and the only resort was to stubborn courage and main force. And it was only on General Jackson's extreme left, that the Confederate artillery could find any position, from which the enemy could be reached effectively. The front upon which these two great armies were to contend was less than three miles in extent. Hence, as the brigades of Longstreet and A. P. Hill from the Confederate right, and of D. H. Hill and Jacksonfrom the left, moved into the combat on convergent radii, they formed, in many places, an order of battle two [447] [448] or three lines deep; and those first engaged were supported by those which arrived later.

The road along which General Jackson drew up his line for battle, made with the enemy's front an angle of forty or fifty degrees. Hence, the troops toward the right had the longer arc to traverse, in reaching the scene of combat, and all were required to incline toward their left, in order to confront the enemy.General D. H. Hill, on the Confederate left, moved first, and was soon furiously engaged. For two or three hours he struggled with the enemy with wavering fortunes, unable to rout them, but winning some ground, which he stubbornly held against a terrible artillery and musketry fire. General Ewell moved next, with one brigade upon the left, and two upon the right of the road which led from Gaines's Milltoward the Federal left. Crossing the marsh, he ascended the opposing hill-side, and engaged the enemy in the forest. Before their terrific fire, General Elzey, commanding his left brigade, fell severely wounded, and Colonel Seymour, commanding the Louisiana brigade of Taylor, was slain. Whole regiments were killed, wounded, or scattered, under this leaden tempest; but still their dauntless General rallied his fainting men, repaired his line, and held all his ground against the double and triple lines of the enemy; until just as his ammunition was exhausted, welcome succors arrived under General Lawton.

One cause of delay in the arrival of the remaining troops has already been seen, in the larger space which they were required to pass over in order to reach the enemy. Another, and a more dangerous one, arose out of a fatal misconception of General Jackson's orders by his messenger. Communicating to all the commanders in the rear of Ewell the plan for their advance, he had concluded by instructing them to await farther orders before engaging the enemy! But another officer of the staff, comprehending better the General's true intentions, and the urgency of [449] the occasion, corrected the error, and at length moved the remaining brigades into action. Their leaders could learn nothing of the country, to which they were all strangers; and their movements were partially concealed from each other by the numerous tracts of coppice and forest. Hence, instead of advancing toward the enemy in parallel lines, they unconsciously crossed each other; and several of them, at last, went into action far aside from the points at which they were expected to strike. But the Providence of that God to whom their General ever looked, guided them aright to the places where their aid was most essential.

The Stonewall Brigade, under General Winder, was next the last in the line of march,, and should therefore have formed almost the extreme right of General Jackson's battle. Their General, so soon as he comprehended the error of the instructions which held him inactive, advanced with chivalrous zeal. But his neighbors on the left, with whom he should have connected his right, having already passed out of sight in the thickets, he had no other guide than the din of the battle. Feeling his way rapidly toward this, he passed transversely from right to left, across the ground over which the corps had already swept, and found himself behind the struggling line of D. H. Hill. This indomitable soldier was just devising, with his two Briga diers, Garland and Anderson, upon his left, a daring movement, to break the stubborn resistance of the Federalists. Garland proposed to swing around their extreme right with his brigade; and, taking them in reverse, to charge with the bayonet, while the rest of the division renewed their attack in front. One formidable obstacle existed: a hostile battery at that extremity of the field threatened to enfilade his ranks while marching to the attack. To obviate this danger, Hill determined to storm the battery with five regiments; but only one--that of Colonel [450] Iverson, of North Carolina--arrived at it. He was severely wounded; and, after ten minutes, his men were driven from it by overpowering numbers; but this interval, during which its guns were silenced, was decisive. For, meantime, Winder had advanced the famed Stonewall Brigade, in perfect order; had rallied to him all the shattered regiments of Elzey and Hill which he found lurking under cover, or waging a defensive struggle; and now swept with an imposing line and a thundering cheer across the whole plateauoccupied by the enemy's right. Garland and Anderson dashed simultaneously upon their flank; the contested battery was in an instant captured a second time; and the whole wing of the Federal army, with their reinforcements, hurled back into the swamps of the Chickahominy. There they broke into a scattered rabble in the approaching darkness, and crouched behind the trees, or found their way across the stream to their friends. This brilliant movement, with simultaneous successes upon other parts of the field, decided the day. Nowhere were the panic and confusion of the beaten army more utter than here. The fields which were the scene of this terrific struggle composed the farms of two respectable citizens, named Maghee. The one of these farthest in the Federal rear was spectator of their rout. Regiments sent over by McClellan to support the wavering battle were seen to pause, even before they came under fire; to break, without firing a musket; and to throw away their arms, and fly to the swamp. As ordnance wagons and ambulances galloped toward the scene of action, they were arrested by the frantic fugitives, who snatched the animals from them, and, mounting two or three on each, fled toward the bridge, leaving ammunition and wounded comrades to their fate. One officer was seen, delirious with terror, with his hat in one hand, and his empty scabbard in the other, screaming as he ran: “Jackson is comingJackson is coming!” [451] Indeed, the baseness of the Northern soldiery was shown by the fact that, throughout this battle, it was usually the supporting regiments in the rear, unscathed as yet, which gave way first; while the resistance was sustained by the old United States regulars of Sykes and Porter in the front. In the volunteer regiments, the “will of the majority,” which was usually a determination to retire at the critical moment, was sometimes expressed against the authority of the officers by a formal popular vote. To the entreaties of their commanders their answers were: “We're tired out fighting;” “Got no more ammunition;” “Guess the rebels will be down to them bridges soon.” And so they broke away, and the rout was propagated from the rear to the front.

The two other, brigades of Jackson's old division, the 2nd and 3rd Virginia, under the lead of ColonelsCunningham and Fulkerson, also advanced with spirit as soon as they received correct orders. Having met messengers from the Commander-in-Chief, and General A. P. Hill, they obtained more correct guidance, and advanced to the Confederate right. The second brigade supported Brigadier-General R. H. Anderson, near General Longstreet's extreme right. Just as they arrived, the troops of Andersonwere giving ground momentarily before the enemy. Colonel Cunningham proposed to take the front, and give him an opportunity to reform behind his lines; but the gallant Carolinian insisted upon completing his own work. The shout was raised; “Jackson's men are here,” and his regiments answering with a cheer, rushed forward again, and swept all before them, leaving to the Virginians little more to do than to fire a parting volley. In like manner, the third brigade reinforced the line of A. P. Hill, near the centre, but only arrived in time to see the enemy give way before Whiting's division, which had come earlier to its help. As Colonel Fulkerson [452] advanced to relieve these wearied and decimated troops of the labors of the pursuit, the retreating enemy fired a last volley, by which he was'mortally wounded. In him GeneralJackson lost an able and courageous subordinate, who had proved himself equal to every task imposed upon him. Had he lived, the highest distinction must have crowned his merits; for his judgment, diligence and talent for command, were equal to his heroic courage.

Just before the three original brigades of Jackson, had marched the Georgia brigade of Lawton, nearly four thousand strong. The time had now come for them to fight their maiden battle. As they advanced towards the enemy's centre, they unconsciously crossed the line of march just before pursued byGeneral Whiting, and passing under a severe fire from a battery upon the plateau near Maghee's they crossed the marsh, and entered the wood in rear of General Ewell, passing between two regiments which had retired from the contest after exhausting their ammunition. Here the brigade was thrown into line, and advanced firing, with imposing force. Their appearance was most timely; for the shattered remnant with which Ewell still stood at bay, were firing their last rounds of cartridges. As the grim veteran saw this magnificent line of thirty-five hundred bayonets sweeping through the woods, he waved his sword with enthusiasm and shouted; “Huzza for Georgia!” Lawton, receiving directions from him, pressed forward with a steady advance, drove the enemy's centre from the woods, into the open fields, nearer the river, and connecting with D. H. Hill and Winder on his left, assisted them in sweeping the Federalists, at nightfall, into the swamps.

But the most brilliant achievement of the day was reserved for the division of General Whiting, consisting of the Mississippi brigade of Colonel Law, and the Texan brigade of General Hood. In Jackson's initial order of battle, they filled the space [453] between Ewell and Lawton, thus being the third division, counting from the left. Whiting, after being sorely embarrassed by the confused and erroneous instructions received, was properly informed of General Jackson's wishes, and put his two brigades in motion. Before they had advanced far, he met the Commanderin-Chief, who directed him to the part of the field held, at the beginning of the battle, by A. P. Hill. Passing through the forest from which this General. had already driven the enemy, he emerged into a broad, open field, in front of that ravine and gully, which have already been described as covering the leftcentre, and left of the Federal army. Farther toward the Confederate right, Longstreet was bringing up his division simultaneously, to storm this desperate line; and, after other brigades had recoiled, broken by a fire under which it seemed impossible that any troops could live, was just sending in his never-failing reserve, Pickett's veteran brigade. These troops, after advancing heroically over the shattered regiments of their friends, within point blank range of the triple lines before them, unfortunately paused to return the fire of the concealed enemy. The entreaties of their officers to charge bayonets were unheard amidst the terrific roar of musketry. It was as they stood thus, decimated at every volley, unable to advance, but too courageous to flee, that the brigades of Hood and Whiting were launched against the Federal lines on the left. The charge may be best described in the language of General Jackson himself.

Advancing thence, through a number of retreating and disordered regiments, he came within range of the enemy's fire; who, concealed in an open wood, and protected by breastworks, poured a destructive fire, for a quarter of a mile, into his advancing line; under which many brave officers and men fell. Dashing on with unfaltering step, in the face of these murderous discharges of canister and musketry, General Hood and Colonel [454] Law, at the heads of their respective brigades, rushed to the charge with a yell. Moving down a precipitous ravine, leaping ditch and stream, clambering up a difficult ascent, and exposed to an incessant and deadly fire from the entrenchments, these brave and determined men pressed forward, driving the enemy from his well-selected and fortified position.

In this charge, in which upwards of a thousand men fell, killed and wounded, before the fire of the enemy, and in which fourteen pieces of artillery and nearly a regiment were captured, the fourth Texas, under the lead of General Hood, was the first to pierce these strong-holds and seize the guns. “....” The shouts of triumph which rose from our brave men as they, unaided by artillery, had stormed this citadel of their strength, were promptly carried from line to line, and the triumphant issue of this assault, with the well-directed fire of the batteries, and successful charges of Hill and Winder upon the enemy's right, determined the fortunes of the day. The Federalists, routed at every point, and aided by the darkness of the night, escaped across the Chickahominy.

The next morning, as Jackson inspected this position, and saw the deadly disadvantages under which the Texans had carried it, he exclaimed; “These men are soldiers indeed” Here, and in front of Pickett's charge near by, all the Confederate dead were on the north side of the gorge. Just as soon as the enemy saw them determined to advance, in spite of their fire, and the first line was dislodged from the channel of the rivulet in front, the other two lines incontinently fled from their barricades, although well able still to have repulsed the shattered assailants twice over; nor did the artillery hold their ground with more firmness upon the brow of the ascent. But now, as the troops of Longstreet and Whiting drove the throng of their foes from cover into the open fields, they speedily reaped a bloody revenge for [455] all previous losses. The Federal infantry, resigning all thought of battle, fled across the fields or huddled together in the open vales, where the furious Confederates mowed them down by hundreds. The Federal artillery flying to another position a few hundred yards in the rear, opened upon retreating friends and advancing foes, distinguished nothing in the gathering gloom; and as the victors rushed upon the guns again, they drove before them as a living shield, a confused herd of fugitives, whose bodies received the larger part of the volleys of canister.

During the afternoon, General Jackson, with his escort, occupied a position near Cold Harbor, where five roads met, in the rear of his left centre. Ignorant of the delay which had kept his reserves for two hours out of the strife, and of its unlucky cause, he:grew more and more anxious as the sun approached the horizon, and the sustained firing told him that the enemy was nowhere broken. Sending first forStuart, he suggested to him a vigorous charge of cavalry; but this was relinquished as impracticable. His gigantic spirit was manifestly gathering strength, and its rising tides were chafing stormily against their obstacles. Riding restlessly to and fro to the different points of interest, he issued his orders in a voice which rang with the deadly clang of the rifle, rather than the sonorous peal of the clarion. Cheek and brow were blazing with the crimson blood, and beneath the vizor of his old drab cap, his eye glared with a fire, before which every other eye quailed. But a half hour of sunlight now remained. Unconscious that his veteran brigades were but now reaching the ridge of battle, he supposed that all his force had been put forth, and (what had never happened before) the enemy was not crushed. It was then that he despatched messengers to all the commanders of his divisions, with these words: “Tell them this affair must hang in suspense no longer; sweep the field with the bayonet.” The officers darted [456] away with their messages; but before they reached the line, the ringing cheers, rising from every side out of the smoking woods, told that his will was anticipated, and the day was won. At this sound, no elation lighted up his features, but subduing the tempest of his passion, he rode calmly forward to direct the pursuit of the enemy.

In this battle, General Jackson employed little artillery. Upon his wing a few of the batteries of D. H. Hillwere put in action at the extreme left, with small effect at first, upon the enemy's fire. Later in the day,Major Pelham, of Stuart's horseartillery, whose splendid courage Jackson then first witnessed took position in front of Cold Harbor, with two guns, and engaged the Federal batteries which obstructed the movements of Hill. One of his pieces was speedily disabled; but with the other, he continued the unequal duel to the close of the day. At sunset, the batteries upon the extreme left were reinforced by those ofCourtenay and Brockenborough. Thirty guns now opened upon the retreating enemy, and contributed much to his final discomfiture.

In the battle of Chickahominy, the Confederates used about forty thousand men, of whom twenty thousand belonged to the command of General Jackson, exclusive of the division of D. H. Hill, temporarily associated with it. General McClellan asserted that he had but thirty-six thousand men engaged. The length of his triple lines of battle, and the superior numbers met by the Confederates at every point, show that if this statement was correct, it excluded the reserves engaged at the close of the day; and if a similar subtraction were made on the other side, their numbers also would be reduced far below that amount. General Lee declared that the principal part of the Federal army was engaged. When it is remembered that this force embraced all of their regulars, and that the adroit use of the position selected [457] by McClellan debarred the Confederates from the employment of artillery, while it exposed them on both wings to that powerful implement of war, their victory will be received as a glorious proof of their prowess. They captured twenty-five pieces of artillery, and more than four thousand prisoners( while the field showed that the carnage among the Federalists was considerably heavier than among the patriots. The victory was purchased by a loss of five hundred and eighty-nine men killed on the field, two thousand six hundred and seventy-one wounded, and twentyfour missing, inJackson's corps. In the other divisions engaged, the loss was also heavy. Several circumstances made the price paid for the splendid advantages of this achievement, heavier than it might have been, and the fruits more scanty. Of these, the one most worthy of the attention of the Confederates, because susceptible of a remedy, was the lack of a competent general Staff, by which the plans of theCommander-in-Chief might be carried out with accuracy, and unity of action secured. Next, it should be remarked, that the generals were possessed of no topographical surveys, and were therefore compelled to manoeuvre their troops without any acquaintance with the ground, in an intricate country, obscured by woodlands, and devoid of any elevated points of view. The whole space over which Jackson's troops moved, was occupied by a succession of thickets of pine, and insignificant farms; so that scarcely anywhere did two brigades move in sight of each other, and an advance of a quarter of a mile invariably hid them from view. It was vain therefore, for the General to depend upon his own eyes; and with a scanty and ill-organized staff, he had no means of knowing, for a considerable time, whether his orders were executed or not.

On the morning of Saturday, June 28th, there was not a Federal soldier in arms north of theChickahominy. The two bridges by which McClellan had retreated were jealously guarded [458] by his sharpshooters, and by commanding batteries upon the southern heights, which forbade their passage, save at an expense of blood too great to be contemplated. Ewell's division, with the cavalry of Stuart, marched, early in the morning, for the York River Railroad; which they occupied without opposition, at Dispatch Station. The enemy thereupon retreated to the south side of the river, and burned the railroad bridge, while General Ewell destroyed a part of the track. Stuart, pursuing a detachment of cavalry toward the White House, found all the Stations in flames, including the dwelling and farm buildings ofGeneral Lee, at the latter place, and a vast amount of military stores destroyed. It was now manifest from the enemy's own act, that this line of retreat was finally surrendered. Two other alternatives remained to him: one was to cross the Chickahominy below, by the Williamsburg road and the neighboring ways; the other, to turn to the river James. To prevent the adoption of the former, GeneralEwell was ordered to guard Bottom's bridge, the next below the railroad, while the cavalry watched the lower course of the stream. To resist the latter, General Holmes's division was directed to watch the roads leading toward the James, with a portion of the cavalry, while Generals Magruder and Hugerguarded his front, and stood prepared to press the Federalists upon the first appearance of retreat. The Confederate forces upon the north bank of the Chickahominy remained there until their purposes were developed.

McClellan, although still superior to Lee in numbers and materiel of war, was now in a situation which might well excite his solicitude. His vast army, cut off from its established line of supplies, must either move at once or starve. Before him, and on both his flanks was a determined and victorious foe. Behind him was a forest country, possessing few good roads, and intersected by sluggish water-courses, which the unprecedented rais [459] had this year converted into swamps. But the forests were, in another aspect, his friends; for they concealed his designs and prevented the watching of his movements. One vigorous day's march, moreover, would bring him to his powerful fleet, which would give him a secure refuge and the needed supplies. Saturday evening, there were manifest signs of movement behind theFederal entrenchments, and Sunday morning they were abandoned, and the bridges across theChickahominy were broken down. General Longstreet now marched to the south side by the New Bridge; but the Grapevine Bridge opposite General Jackson's position was so destroyed that the pioneers consumed nearly the whole day in repairing it. Late in the afternoon, the Stonewall Brigade, with the General and his Staff, passed over, and inspected the country. At the Trent farm near by, were extensive bowers, ingeniously woven of cedar boughs, which had surrounded the headquarters whereMcClellan had recently resided, in a village of canvas, provided with every appliance of luxury. Here also was his telegraph office, whence lines diverged to each corps of his army and to Washington, with the floor littered with the originals of those fictitious despatches, with which his Government was wont to delude its people. A little farther, General Jackson found the forces of General Magruder, with theCommander-in-Chief, watching the retreating enemy; and, it was agreed, after consultation, that the evening was too far advanced for an effective movement, and that General Jackson should return to hisbivouac, and commence his march in pursuit at dawn the next morning. As he rode across the fields this evening, he witnessed a spectacle of inexpressible grandeur. The attention was attracted toward the east by the roar of an invisible railroad train, which seemed to be rushing toward the Chickahominy, far beyond the distant woods, with a speed which was constantly accelerated until it became friglhtf.iL [460] Suddenly, as the beholders were speculating upon the cause of this sound, a vast pillar of white smoke was seen to spring upwards into the sky, which rose higher and higher, and continually unfolded itself from within, in waves of snowy vapor, until it filled that quarter of the heavens. And, a moment after, the atmosphere, slower than the sunbeams, brought to the ear an astounding explosion, in which a multitude of nearly simultaneous thunder-claps were mingled into a roar louder than cannon. The explanation was learned afterwards. The retreating foe had loaded a train with a vast bulk of ammunition, and, firing the engine to its most intense heat, had launched it from Savage's Station, without a guide, with a slow match lighted. Just as it plunged into the Chickahominy, at the chasm where the bridge had lately been, the powder caught; and ammunition, engine, and carriages were blown into one huge wreck.

This was not the only form of destruction which the Federalists employed to prevent their enemies from profiting by the spoils. Their industry in attempting to demolish was equal to the haste of their flight. The whole country was full of deserted plunder; and this, indeed, was equally true of the tracts over which they had been driven on the north side of the river, from Mechanicsville downward. Army wagons and pontoon trains, partially burned or crippled; mounds of grain and rice, and hillocks of mess-beef smouldering; tens of thousands of axes, picks, and shovels; camp-kettles gashed with hatchets; medicine-wagons with their drugs stirred into foul medley; and all the apparatus of a vast and lavish host, encumbered the roads; while the mire under foot was mixed with blankets lately new, and overcoats torn in twain from the waist up. For weeks afterwards, the agents of the army were busy gathering in the spoils; while a multitude of the country people found in them partial indemnity [461] for the ruin of their farms. Great stores of fixed ammunition were saved, while more was destroyed.

Scarcely had General Jackson returned to the northern bank, when a rapid outbreak of firing told thatGeneral Magruder had attacked the enemy near Savage's station. Here were the last entrenchments behind which McOlellan could stand at bay. By a vigorous attack — in flank and front, he was driven out of them just at sunset, and pursued for a short space with great slaughter. The sound of this combat kindled again in Jackson's heart the fire of battle, and as he lay down under the open sky for a short repose, he gave orders that everything should be ready to move in pursuit at the earliest dawn. At midnight, however, a sudden shower awoke him, and finding himself wet through, he determined to sleep no more, but to precede the troops to the position of General Magruder, in order to have time for fuller conference. When the head of his column, composed again of the division of D. H. Hill, reached the scene of the evening's combat, the General was found drying himself by a camp-fire. Without procuring any food or refreshment, he now advanced through the troops of Magruder, and took the old highway which led to Williamsburg. When the station near Savage's came in view, a city of canvas was seen upon a distant hill-side, glittering in the morning sun. This was a vast field-hospital of McClellan, where twenty-five hundred sick and wounded, with their nurses, had been left by him to the care of theConfederates. General Jackson, having sent a suitable officer to receive the submission of these, advanced rapidly upon the enemy's traces. At every step the Federal stragglers issued from the thickets, and submitted themselves as prisoners of war, until a thousand additional men were sent to the rear. A vast drove of mules deserted by the Federal army, was gathered from the woods. Every hut and dwelling near the roadside [462] was also converted into a refuge for the wounded, whose numbers showed the sanguinary nature of the struggle of the previous evening. An officer congratulating theGeneral upon the great number of his prisoners, said jocularly, that they surrendered too easily, for theConfederacy would be embarrassed with their maintenance. He answered, smiling; “It is cheaper to feed them, than to fight them.”

Before reaching White Oak Swamp, an inconsiderable stream which crossed the road, he diverged toward the right in the direction of the Court House of Charles' City County, pursuing still the wrecks of the enemy's flight. It now became manifest that he had relinquished all thought of a retreat towardYorktown, and had turned decisively toward the river James. To explain the subsequent movements, the disclosure of McClellan's plans, still doubtful to the Confederate commander, must be a little anticipated. His purpose was to collect his army and all its apparatus upon the bank of the James, at some point below the mouth of the Appomattox: where the greater width and depth of the stream would enable his great fleets to approach him with convenience, and manoeuvre for his defence. To disencumber the roads leading directly thither, and leave them free for the march of his columns, he sent his whole baggage trains down the way which Jackson had now reached, leading from the neighborhood of Savage's Station on the railroad, to Charles. City Court House. Having followed this route until they were effectually protected, they made their way across from this thoroughfare, to the Seep water at Harrison's Landing. To protect them, Franklin's corps was stationed on the eastern bank of White Oak Swamp; and when Jackson reached it, he stubbornly contested its passage with him during the whole of Monday, June 30th. On the other hand, the corps of Keyes, from McClellan's left, with the beaten troops of Porter, were rapidly [463] marched to Malvern Hill, a range of highlands accessible by the shortest march from the southern end of the Federal line, and overlooking at once the river James, and the New Market, or river road, which leads from the city of Richmond down its northern side. The object of this movement on the part of McClellan, was to protect his communications with the deep water from an advance down the New Market road, which he had good reason to fear. The remainder of his great army was massed on Monday midway between the White Oak Swamp andMalvern Hill, under Generals Heintzelman and McCall, to watch the roads going eastward; by which theConfederates might insinuate themselves between his right and left, and pursue his baggage trains. These judicious dispositions, made in a forest country, and chiefly by night marches, were not immediately disclosed in all their details to the Confederate leader. But his troops were now directed, with a masterly and comprehensive foresight, to meet every contingency, in such sort that had all his purposes been carried out, the adroit concealments of his adversary would have been vain. Major General Holmes was ordered to cross from the south bank of the river James, which he had been left to guard, on the 29th, and march down the New Marker road, to prevent the enemy from reaching the water. He did not approach Malvern Hill until the 30th, when he found it already powerfully occupied by the enemy underKeyes and Porter, crowned by a formidable artillery, and flanked by gunboats in the river. Early on the 29th Major-Generals Longstreet and A. P. Hill were directed to cross the Chickahominy at the New Bridges, and march eastward by the Darby-town road, a highway parallel to the New Market road, and north of it. Major-Generals Huger and Magruder were directed to.press the enemy in front, by the road leading direct from Richmond to Charles City; while Jackson was to advance rapidly upon the [464] left, scour the south side of the Chickahominy, and endeavor to attain the enemy's rear.

Longstreet and A. P. Hill, who moved first on the 29th, first came up with the enemy's centre, upon the 30th, posted a little below the termination of the Darby-town road. Magruder, who advanced by the same road, was diverted by a request of General Holmes for reinforcements; and, thus unfortunately, was turned aside from the centre, where a fatal blow was practicable, toward the heights of Malvern Hill, which were now unassailable; and did not retrace his steps until the day was decided. But GeneralHuger still remained to support the attack of Longstreet and Hill upon the right; and General Jackson, on the other hand, if able to force his passage across White Oak Swamp, would have found himself upon the enemy's flank and rear. Such was the attitude of the respective parties at mid-day of June 30th.

When Jackson approached the stream last named, at this hour, he found in the fields near it, extensive camps deserted, and full of spoils, and another field-hospital crowded with wounded. The hills descended by long and gentle declivities on both sides toward the little water-course, and the meadows along its margin were soft and miry from the recent rains. On the Confederate side, the right of the road was occupied by the open fields of an extensive farm, and the left by a dense forest of pines. On the side occupied by Franklin, the fields extended far both to the right and left of the highway; but the low margin of the stream opposite the Confederate right was covered by a belt of tall forest, in full leaf, which effectually screened all the Federal left from view. But the hills on their right were occupied by fifteen or twenty cannon in position, and were black with long lines of infantry. General Jackson, riding, as was his wont, with the advanced guard, no sooner saw the ground than [465] he halted his army, and ordered twenty-eight guns to be brought up, by a little vale through the fields on his right, just deep enough to hide them effectually from the enemy's view. These, although upon his right wing, were directed to the batteries of the Federalists opposite his left. At a preconcerted signal, the guns, ready shotted, were now moved forward upon the brow of the eminence, and opened their thunders upon the enemy. So sudden and terrible was the revelation, they scarcely made .an effort to reply, but galloped away, leaving two or three rifled pieces behind them; while the ranks of infantry melted swiftly into the woods far in their rear. After a little, several batteries upon the enemy's left, concealed behind the belt of forest, began to reply to this fire; and, from this time, the two parties kept up a desultory artillery-duel during the day. But as each was invisible to the other, much damage was neither given nor received.

The General now advanced a section of artillery near the crossing of the stream, which speedily drove the Federal sharpshooters from the opposite bank and trees; and he ordered over the cavalry regiment of Colonel Munford. They found the wooden bridge broken up, and its timbers floating — a tangled mass — in the waters. But just above was a deep and narrow ford, by which they passed over, followed immediately by the General. They scoured, with drawn sabres, over the ground lately occupied by the Federal right wing, noted the deserted cannon, and picked up a few prisoners. But the enemy's left, behind the long screen of forest, was found standing fast, while they were bringing both artillery and infantry into position to command the crossing. Colonel Munford therefore passed down the stream to his left, and, finding a spot where it was practicable, returned to his friends without loss. Jackson, upon observing this, advanced the divisions of D. H. Hill and Whiting into [466] the pine wood on his left, detailed a working party to act with their support, and attempted to repair the bridge, with the purpose of forcing his way by a simultaneous advance of his infantry and artillery. But the men could not be induced to labor steadily, exposed to the skirmishers of the enemy; and the attempt was abandoned. The remainder of the afternoon was spent in endeavors to discover some way, on the right or the left, by which the vexatious stream could be crossed, and the enemy's position turned; but the roads were so effectually obstructed with fallen trees, that no hope appeared of removing them in time to fight a battle that evening. The troops were then withdrawn out of reach of the enemy's shells, and bivouacked, to await a more propitious morning. On thief occasion it would appear, if the vast interests dependent onGeneral Jackson's co-operation with the proposed attack upon the centre were considered, that he came short of that efficiency in action for which he was everywhere else noted. Surely the prowess of the Confederate infantry might have been trusted, for such a stake as Lee played for that day, to do again what it had so gloriously done, for a stake no greater, on the 27th; it might have routed the Federal infantry and artillery at once, without the assistance of its own cannon. Two columns, pushed with determination across the two fords at which the cavalry of Munford passed over and returned, -the one in the centre, and the other at the left,--and protected in their onset by the oblique fire of a powerful artillery so well posted on the right, would not have failed to dislodge Franklin from a position already half lost. The list of casualties would indeed have been larger than that presented on the 30th, of one cannoneer mortally wounded. But how much shorter would have been the bloody list filled up the next day at Malvern Hill? This temporary eclipse of Jackson's genius was probably to be explained by physical causes. The labor of the [467] previous days, the sleeplessness, the wear of gigantic cares, with the drenching of the comfortless night, had sunk the elasticity of his will and the quickness of his invention, for the once, below their wonted tension. And which of the sons of men is there so great as never to experience this? The words which fell from Jackson's lips, as he lay down that night among his Staff, showed that he was conscious of depression. After dropping asleep from excessive fatigue, with his supper between his teeth, he said: “Now, gentlemen, let us at once to bed, and rise with the dawn, and see if to-morrow we cannot do something!” Yet he found time, amidst the fatigues of this day, to write to Mrs. Jackson, with a heart full of piety and of yearning for domestic happiness:--

Near White Oak Swamp Bridge, June 30th.

An ever kind Providence has greatly blessed our efforts, and given us great reason for thankfulness in having defended Richmond as he has.

I hope that our God will soon bless us with an honorable peace, and permit us to be together at home, in the enjoyment of domestic happiness.

Meantime, Generals Longstreet and A. P. Hill, after confronting the enemy's powerful centre until 4 o'clock P. M., heard firing upon the Charles City road, which they supposed indicated the near approach of Huger. The former placed a battery in position and discharged it against the enemy to give notice of his presence. The Federalists replied, and the old war-horse, whose mettle forbade his ever declining the gage of battle, rushed to the contest. None of his expected supports came up; and the advantage of position and numbers was wholly with his adversaries. But after a sanguinary conflict, he drove them from [468] their whole line save at one point, and captured many prisoners, including a general of division, several batteries, and some thousands of small arms; when night arrested the furious struggle. This action has been known as the battle of Frazier's farm. So near did its issue bring the enemy's left wing to destruction, even without the expected assistance of Jackson, Huger, andMagruder, that when it closed, at dark, the victorious troops of Longstreet were, unconsciously, within sight of the cross road by which Franklin was required to march his corps, in the rear of the Federalcentre, in order to reach the appointed place of concentration at Malvern Hill. Nay, the cornfields beyond that road were ploughed up with Longstreet's cannonshot. What then might not the triumph have been, if the intended co-operation had been given? As soon as the night grew quiet, Franklin, informed of his critical position, moved off from White Oak Swamp, glided silently behind the shattered ranks which still confronted Longstreet, and retired, with them, to the protection of McClellan's lines atMalvern Hill. When the morning dawned, there was nothing in front of Jackson save the forsaken cannon of the enemy, and they had deserted to Longstreet a field ghastly with multitudes of their slain and wounded. His wearied troops, with those of A. P. Hill, were drawn off to seek the needed repose, and Magruder took his place.

General Jackson putting his corps in motion at an early hour, July 1st, with Whiting's division in front, crossed the White Oak Swamp; and, a little after, turning south, marched upon the traces of the enemy toward Malvern Hill. As he approached Frazier's farm, a Confederate line of battle was seen a little distance from the right of the road, with their skirmishers upon the opposite side, looking eastward. These were the forces of Magruder, which had relieved those of Longstreet during the [469] night.Jackson passed between the line and the skirmishers, lustily cheered by them, and pursued the enemy swiftly. The road now plunged into an extensive woodland, with the Willis' Church upon the right hand, filled with the wounded of both armies. After advancing for a mile and a half through this forest, theGeneral's suite was suddenly greeted with a volley of rifle-balls from the Federal outposts, and a moment after, by a shower of shells. Retiring to a safer spot, he now ordered up his troops, and prepared to attack. His reconnoissance showed him the enemy most advantageously posted upon an elevated ridge in front of Malvern Hill, which was occupied by several lines of infantry partially fortified, and by a powerful artillery. In short, the whole army of McClellan, with three hundred pieces of field artillery, was now, for the first time, assembled on one field, determined to stand at bay, and contend for its existence; while the whole Confederate army was also converging around it, under the immediate eye of the Commander-in-Chief and the President. The war of the giants was now about to begin, indeed! before which the days of Gaines's Mill and Frazier's Farm were to pale. The position of the Federalists had been selected by McClellan himself, with consummate skill. His line fronted north, covering the river road behind it, and presenting a convex curve toward the Confederates. His right was covered by a tributary of Turkey creek, and his left by the fire of his gunboats, which threw their monstrous projectiles beyond his whole front. The ground occupied by him dominated by its height over the whole landscape; and nowhere in his front was there a spot, where artillery could be massed to cope with his on equal terms. For, the country before him was not only of inferior altitude, but covered with woods and thickets, save within a few hundred yards of his own lines. And here, the open fields sloped gently away, offering full sweep to his [470] murderous fire; while this approach was only reached, before his right and centre, by struggling across the treacherous rivulet in front.

General Lee now assigned the left to Jackson, and the right to Magruder, supported by Huger andHolmes. Longstreet and A. P. Hill, with their wearied divisions, were held in reserve. The only spot where open ground appeared in opposition to the enemy's, was upon Jackson's extreme left. Here an extensive farm, belonging to a gentleman named Poindexter, indented the forests, and its luxuriant wheat fields, partially reaped, descended to the stream from which the Federal position rose on the opposite side. This field offered the only ground for the manoeuvring of artillery. After an examination of it,General Jackson ordered a few batteries to enter it from the covert of the woods, and engage the enemy. But the number of guns directed against them by him was too great; and after a short contest, they retired crippled. The batteries of Poague and Carpenter from the Stonewall Brigade, and of Balthisfrom the division of Whiting, were then ordered forward, and by approaching the enemy more nearly, found a position which, though of inferior altitude, offered some shelter. Here they maintained a stubborn and gallant contest with the numerous batteries opposed to them during the remainder of the day, and barred the way to the advance of the enemy's infantry. The infantry of Whiting was now disposed upon the left, the brigade of Colonel Law concealed in the tall wheat of the field, and that ofGeneral Hood in the adjoining forest, while the 3rd Virginia brigade, of Jackson's division, commanded by General Hampton, supported the guns. The centre was occupied by the Louisiana brigade of Taylor, and the right by D. H. Hill. The reserve was composed of the remainder of the division of Ewell, and the brigades of Lawton, Winder and Cunningham. These dispositions [471] were completed by 2 o'clock, P. M., and the General anxiously awaited the signal to begin. But the corps of Magruder, moving afterJackson's and delayed by a misconception of the route, was later in reaching its position. Instructions were sent by General Lee, that the onset should begin upon the right, with the brigades of Magruder, and that when D. H. Hill heard the cheer with which they charged the enemy, he should attack with the bayonet, to be followed immediately by the leaders upon his left. To approach the Federal centre, he was compelled to emerge from the forest, and cross an open field, where he suffered a preliminary loss of no small amount, from their artillery. His own batteries had been left in the rear, their ammunition exhausted; and the Confederate artillery sent to his support was advanced, piece-meal, only to be crippled in detail and driven from the field. Fording the rivulet, however, in despite of his losses, he found a partial shelter for his division under a body of woodland within four hundred yards of the enemy's front. Accompanied by General Jackson, he then made a more particular examination of the ground, and found himself confronted by two or three lines of infantry and batteries, whose murderous fire commanded every approach. Five o'clock had now arrived, when suddenly Hill heard a mighty shout upon his right, followed by an outburst of firing. Regarding this as doubtless the appointed signal, and the beginning of Magruder's onset, he gave the word, and his men advanced devotedly to the charge under a storm of artillery and musketry. The first line of the enemy was forced, and their guns were compelled to withdraw to avoid capture; but the other points of their line, unoccupied by a simultaneous attack, advanced reinforcements to them; and Hill was beaten off, after inflicting and suffering a severe loss. Jackson reinforced him, by sending the brigades of Trimble, Lawton, Winderand Cunningham; but the difficulties [472] of the position, the approaching darkness, and the terrific fire of the enemy, prevented their doing more than holding their ground, and maintaining an uncertain conflict.

As sunset approached, and after the attack of Jackson was checked, Magruder at length got his troops into position, and advanced, with similar results. Much heroism was exhibited by his men, some ground was won from the enemy, a bloody loss was inflicted upon them, and received in his own command. At these attacks, the fire of the Federal artillery, which had been heavy, became inexpressibly furious. Along their whole line, whether assailed or not, their countless field-pieces belched forth their charges of flame with an incessant din, which was answered back by the hoarser bellowings of the gunboats in the rear.. Wherever the eye turned, it was met by a ceaseless stream of missiles shrieking and crashing through the forest. A moonless night descended on the turmoil, and the darkness was lighted up for miles with the glare flashing across the heavens, as when two thunder clouds illuminate the adverse quarters of the horizon with sheet lightning. Beneath, the fitful lines of light danced amidst the dark foliage, showing where the stubborn ranks of infantry plied their deadly work; and the roar of the musketry filled the intervals of the mightier din with its angry monotone; while a fierce yell from time to time told of some hardly won vantage ground gained by the Confederates. At ten o'clock, the battle died away; for the Federalists were silently withdrawing from the field, under the friendly veil of the darkness. Indeed, much of the cannonade was doubtless intended to cover this retreat; and no sooner had it sunk into silence, than the rumbling of the multitude of wheels began to tell that the artillery was withdrawing from a field which was already abandoned by their infantry. The Confederates lay down upon their arms where the battle had ceased, in many places within a few paces [473] of the opposing pickets, and during the night they saw the lanterns flitting over the field, where they were busy removing the wounded.

When the battle had ceased thus, General Jackson retired slowly and wearily to the rear, to seek some refreshment and rest. In the midst of a confused multitude of wagons and straggldrs, his faithful servant had prepared a pallet for him upon the ground; and here, after taking a morsel of food, he lay down and slept. At one o'clock his division commanders awoke him, to report the condition of their forces, and receive instructions for the morrow. None of them knew, as yet, those signs of retreat and discomfiture, which the advanced pickets were observing; they only knew what they had suffered in their own commands. Their imaginations were awe-struck by the sights and sounds of the fearful struggle, and every representation which they gave was gloomy. At length, after many details of losses and disasters, they all concurred in declaring that McClellan would probably take the aggressive in the morning, and that the Confederate army was in no condition to resist him. Jackson had listened silently, save as he interposed a few brief questions, to all their statements; but now he replied, with an inexpressible dryness and nonchalance: “No; I think he will clear out in the morning.” These words reveal one element of his power and greatness. Such was the clearness of his military intuitions, and the soundness of his judgment, such the steadfastness of his spirit, that he viewed every fact soberly, without distortion or exaggeratiofl. His excited fancy played no tricks with his understanding. Dangers never loomed into undue proportions before his steady eye. Hence, in the most agitating or even appalling circumstances, his conclusions were still correct. Such they proved to be now; for when morning dawned upon the battle-field, [474] McClellan was gone indeed, leaving every evidence of precipitate retreat.

The morning dawned with a dreary and pitiless rain, in contrast with the splendor of the harvest sun of the previous day, as though the heavens had clad themselves in mourning, and were weeping a flood of tears for the miseries of the innocent, and the crimes of the guilty aggressor. The woods, which, the evening before, were thick with sulphureous smoke, were now wreathed in vapor; and the deep dust of the roads trampled into ashes by the myriad feet of men and horses, was now as speedily converted into semi-fluid mire. All were of course without tents; and fatigued and hungry, they wore an aspect of squalid discomfort. The only activity visible was the humane labor of the surgeons and their assistants, who were still bringing in the wounded, exhausted by their sufferings and drenched with rain. GeneralJackson, however, arose, and without breakfast, hurried to the front to watch over his men. The air was too thick with mist to distinguish anything upon the opposite hill; but soon the reports from his outposts, and from the cavalry of Munford, convinced him that the enemy was gone. He now issued orders that the troops should form in the woods which they had occupied the day before, kindle liberal fires, cook their food, and refresh themselves after their fatigues; while he repaired to the house of Poindexter to meet the Commander-in-Chief. General Stuart, whom the latter had recalled from the north side of theChickahominy, had reached Turkey Creek on the left of the lines of Jackson, just as the battle closed. He was now witness of the precipitate retreat of the enemy, and following him down the river road, found numerous carriages fast stuck in the mire, or wrecked, with ammunition, clothing, equipments and muskets strewn broadcast over the country. He was informed by the country people, that the Federalarmy reached the open fields of [475] Haxall's at morning, without the semblance of organization, observing no ranks nor obedience, spreading over the fields and woods at will, and lying down to sleep under the pelting rain. Instead of meditating the aggressive, the whole host would have surrendered to the summons of ten thousand fresh men. But, alas! the Confederates had not those men to pursue them. Every division of the army had been worn by marching and fighting, and a certain disarray prevailed throughout. It must also be declared that this inability to reap the fruits of their heroic exertions arose partly from that lack of persistence which is the infirmity of the Southern character. The army of Leewas as able to pursue, as that of McClellan was to flee; and to the true soldier, the zeal to complete a hardly-won victory, and to save his country by one successful blow, should be as pungent a motive for intense exertion, as the instinct of self-preservation itself. Another cause of delay in the pursuit was the hesitation of the Commander-in-Chief, who, uninformed as yet of all the signs of defeat given by his enemy, and prudently sceptical of the extent of his own success, was uncertain whether this was a flight, or a ruse of McClellan to draw him from his bridges and from Fort Drewry, in order that he might suddenly pass to the south side, now denuded of defenders, and occupy Petersburg and Richmondwithout resistance. The remainder of July 2nd was therefore consumed in replenishing the ammunition of the batteries, and in refreshing the men. Orders were given that on Thursday morning, the 3rd, all the army should pursue the enemy by way of Turkey Creek and the river road, with Longstreet in front. But after that General had put his troops in motion, General Lee determined to march toward Harrison's landing, where the Federalists were now assembled, by returning to the Charles City.road, and making his way thence down to the river. His purpose was to avoid the obstructions which they were reported [476] to have left behind them to cover their rear. The brigades of Longstreet were therefore countermarched by Willis' Church; and Jackson was directed to give him the road. The guides of the former proved incompetent to their duties, and he was compelled to halt his division before half the day's march was completed. Hence General Jackson only moved three miles on Thursday. Chafing like a lion at the delay, he moved his troops at early dawn of Friday, and pressing close upon the heels ofLongstreet, reached the enemy's front by the middle of the day.

The opportunity was already almost gone. McClellan had now been allowed two unmolested days to select and fortify his position, and to reduce again the huge mob which followed him to the form of an army. The return of genial suns, with rest and rations, and the immediate proximity of their gunboats, were fast restoring their spirits. The ground occupied by them was a beautiful peninsula, between the river James and a tributary called Herring Creek, composing the two estates of Westover and Berkeley. The creek, which enters the river at the eastern extremity of this peninsula, is, first, a tide stream; then, an impracticable marsh; and, then, a mill-pond, enlarged by an artificial embankment. West of Berkeley, another stream of the like character descends to the river; so that the only access was through a space between the two creeks, of no great extent, and rapidly closing with earthworks. The fire of the gunboats, it was supposed, might also assist to cover this approach, over the heads of their friends.

“The Commander-in-Chief was disappointed to learn, on his arrival in front of the Federalists, that no opportunity had been found for striking a blow, either on their retreat, or in their present position. He immediately rode forward with General Jackson; and the two, dismounting, proceeded, without attendants to make a careful reconnoissance on foot, of the enemy's [477] whole line and position.Jackson concurred fully in the reluctant opinion to which General Lee was brought by this examination,--that an attack would now be improper; so that, after mature discussion, it was determined that the enemy should be left, unassailed, to the effects of the summer heats and the malaria, which were now at hand.”

To this the condition of his troops powerfully inclined him. On Saturday, General Jackson obtained returns of all his corps in front of the enemy, and ready for duty; and found them just ten thousand men, exclusive of the division of D. H. Hill, which had been left to bury the dead at Malvern Hill. Half his men appeared, therefore, to be out of their ranks, from death or wounds, from the necessary labors of the care of the wounded, from straggling, and from the inefficiency of their inferior officers. The army was therefore allowed to lie quiet in front of the enemy, and refresh themselves after their fatigues. The wagons of the General also arrived; and, for the first time in a fortnight, the Staff enjoyed the luxury of their tents. These were now pitched beside a beautiful fountain, under the shade of a group of venerable oaks and chestnuts; and here the quiet Sabbath was spent in religious worship, and in much-needed repose.

The battle of Malvern Hill was technically a victory for the Confederates, for they held the field, the enemy's killed and wounded, and the spoils; while the Federalists retreated precipitately at its close. But, practically, it was rather a drawn battle; because the loss inflicted on them was probably no greater than that of the assailants; and, especially, because the enemy would have retired to the same spot, and at the same time, if no assault had been made. The loss of Jackson's corps was three hundred and seventy-seven men killed, and one thousand seven hundred and forty-six wounded, with thirty-nine missing. The larger part of this bloodshed was in the division [478] of D. H. Hill. The divisions under command of. General Magruder lost about two thousand nine hundred men, killed and wounded.

The struggle for the possession of the Confederate Capital was now closed. The results of Lee's victories were, indeed, far less than the overweening hopes and expectations of the people; forRichmond was agitated with daily rumors that the Federal army was wholly dissipated; and, then, that it was about to surrender in a body. But, in the language of the Commander-in-Chief, “Regret that more was not accomplished, gives way to gratitude to the Sovereign Ruler of the universe for the results achieved. The siege of Richmond was raised; and the object of a campaign, which had been prosecuted, after months of preparation, at an enormous expenditure of men and money, completely frustrated. More than ten thousand prisoners, --including officers of rank,--fifty-two pieces of artillery, and upwards of thirty-five thousand stand of small arms were captured. The stores, and supplies of every description, which fell into our hands, were great in amount and value; but small in comparison with those destroyed by the enemy. His losses in battle exceeded our own, as attested by the thousands of dead and wounded left on every field; while his subsequent inaction shows in what condition the survivors reached the protection to which they fled.”

But yet, the same exalted authority has declared, that, “under ordinary circumstances, the Federal army should have been destroyed.” While that which was effected is creditable to the Confederates, yet the ruin of the enemy was within the scope of probability; and might have been effected by them, by a higher degree of skill and effort. It is therefore of interest to the student of the military art, to learn what were the obstacles and blunders which prevented the fullest success. Of these, some were [479] unavoidable; and among these latter must be reckoned a large part of the ignorance concerning the movements of McClellan, and the proper directions to be taken by the Confederates, by which GeneralLee found himself so much embarrassed. There were no topographical surveys of the country, and all the general officers were strangers to it. It was a country of numerous intricate roads, of marshy streams, and of forests. Hence every march and every position of the enemy was enveloped in mystery, until it was disclosed in some way at the cost of the Confederates; and every movement made by them in pursuit was in some degree tentative.

Among the unavoidable difficulties may, perhaps, be also ranked that which was, directly or indirectly, the fruitful parent of every miscarriage. The army was not sufficiently instructed, either in its officers or its men, for its great work. The capacity to command, the practical skill and tact, the professional knowledge, the devotion to duty, which make the efficient officer, do not come in a day; and few are the natures which are capable of learning them to a high degree. When the Confederate Government attempted to produce extempore officers of all grades for armies so great, out of a people who had been reared in the pursuits of peace, it could only be partially successful. The company and field officers competent to instruct and govern their men thoroughly, and to keep them to their colors amidst the confusion of battle and the fatigues of forced marches, were far too few for the regiments to be commanded. There were not enough Brigadiers, who knew how to manoeuvre a brigade quickly or vigorously; nor enough Major-Generals able to handle a great mass of troops. Hence that deficiency in the functions of the Staff which has been already explained, by reason of which the commander was ever in imperfect communication with his forces, and was never certain that his wishes [480] were properly conveyed to all of them, or that he was possessed of their whole situation when out of his sight. Through so imperfect a medium perfect unison in action could never be gained, upon a theatre like that of Malvern Hill, extended over miles of wooded country, and including the convergent movements of several separate armies. It was from these causes the bungling combinations proceeded, upon every important field of this brief campaign. Enough officers always manoeuvred their commands so slowly as to compel the Commander-in-Chief to let slip critical hours, and to wear away the day which should have been employed in attacking and pursuing. Thus it was ever: at Mechanicsville, at Cold Harbor, at Savage's Station, at Frazier's Farm, and especially at Malvern Hill; the prime of the day was spent in waiting for somebody, or in getting into position; the battle, which should have been the business of that prime, was thrust into the late afternoon; and when the bloody victory was won, no time remained to gather in its fruits fully by a vigorous pursuit.

The event also taught, what no forecast, perhaps, would have foreseen, that a more efficient employment of the cavalry upon the enemy's flanks would have put the Commander-in-Chief in earlier possession of essential information. It has been seen that General Stuart, after his return from the White House, was directed to remain upon the north side of the Chickahominy, guarding the Long Bridge, and the other crossings below; and that he only rejoined the army the night of July 1st. He should rather have been required to cross the Chickahominy immediately, and press as closely upon the line of the enemy's actual operations, let it be where it might, as was possible. He would thus have equally fulfilled the purpose of his stay upon the north side, to ascertain that they did not retire toward Yorktown by the lower roads; and he would probably have discovered at once, their [481] real movement. It afterward appeared, that the whole baggage train of McClellan, with numerous stragglers, passed nearly to Charles City Court House, by a road parallel to the Chickahominy and only a few miles distant from it, on the 29th of June. Had this fact been reported to General Lee by the first of July, it might have thrown a flood of new light upon the momentous question, which he was required that day to decide: mustMcClellan be attacked in his almost impregnable position or not? It was known that he was assembling all the corps of his army at Malvern Hill; that his gunboats had ascended thither; that he was beginning to entrench himself there. Was it his purpose to convert this spot into a permanent entrenched camp, to defend it from all such assaults as he had just experienced on the Chickahominy, by his engineering skill; to provision it from his ships, and thus to establish himself again within fifteen miles of Richmond, upon a base which General Lee's wisdom taught him to be a better one than that which he had lost? If this was his design, then it was imperative that he should be dislodged; and the more speedily it was attempted, the less patriot blood would it cost. For if he were permitted to fix himself here, all the toil and loss of the glorious week would be vain. But now, add the fact that McClellan had sent all his trains to another spot, and that he stood upon Malvern Hill with nothing but his ammunition, and the supplies of a day; and it became probable that he would retreat from this place, whether he were attacked or not; that he would retreat whither his trains had preceded him, and that he was only standing at bay for a short time, to secure the privilege of that retreat. The question thus assumed a new aspect, whether it were better to assail him on his chosen ground, at such a cost of blood, or to wait for a fairer opportunity as he withdrew.

If it were granted that McClellan ought to have been attacked [482] at once, on his own ground, much yet remains in the management of the battle on the Confederate side, which, though excused, cannot be justified. The attack was made in detail, first at one point, and then at another, instead of being simultaneous. Had the corps of Jackson and Magruder charged simultaneously, with the devoted gallantry which a part of each exhibited, the Federal lines would doubtless have given way, and a glorious success would have rewarded the Confederates, without any greater expenditure of blood than they actually incurred. But it is worthy of question whether McClellan's advantage of position could not have been neutralized. Malvern Hill is upon the convexity of a sharp curve in the river James, which just below that neighborhood, flows away toward the south, while the river road pursues still an easterly course. If McClellan moved eastward, he must either forsake the coveted help of his gunboats, or, to continue near the water, he must leave the highlands, and descend to a level region commanded from the interior. These facts seemed to point to the policy of extending the Confederate left, until his egress by the river road was so violently threatened as to compel him to weaken his impregnable front. The great body of forest, which confronted his centre, might have been safely left to the guardianship of a skirmish line; for their weakness would have been concealed by the woods, and the enemy was, on that day, in no aggressive mood. A powerful mass of artillery and infantry displayed beyond their extreme right, would probably have produced the happiest effects. Last, the tardy and indirect pursuit which followed the battle, was the least excusable blunder of all. The two days which were allowed toMcClellan proved the salvation of his army. But what are all these criticisms more than an assertion in different form, of the truths that all man's works are imperfect, and that every art must be learned before it is practised? [483] When it is remembered that the South had very few professional soldiers, that the men who formed the victorious army of Lee were, the year before, a peaceful multitude occupied, since their childhood, in the pursuits of husbandry, and that half the brigades into which they were organized had never been under fire before the beginning of the bloody week, the only wonder will be that the confusion was not worse, and that the failures were not greater. That so much was accomplished is proof of the eminent courage of the people, and their native aptitude for war.

It is a fact worthy of note in this narrative, that the fire of the gunboats, so much valued by the Federalsand at first so dreaded by the Confederates, had no actual influence whatever in the battle. Their noise and fury doubtless produced a certain effect upon the emotions of the assailants; but this was dependent on their novelty. The loss inflicted by them was trivial when compared with the ravages of the field artillery, and it was found chiefly among their own friends. For more of their ponderous missiles fell in their own lines, than in those of the Confederates. Indeed, a fire directed at an invisible foe, across two or three miles of intervening hills and woods, can never reach its aim, save by accident. Nor is the havoc wrought by the larger projectiles proportioned to their magnitude. Where one of them explodes against a human body, it does indeed crush it into a frightful mass, scarcely cognizable as human remains. But it is not likely to strike more men, in the open order of field operations, than a shot of ten pounds; and the wretch, blown to atoms by it, is not put hors du combat more effectually, than he whose brain is penetrated by half an ounce of lead or iron. The broadside of a modern gunboat may consist of three hundred pounds of iron, projected by thirty or forty pounds of powder. But it is fired from only two guns. The effect upon a line of men is therefore but one fifteenth of that [484] which the same metal might have had, fired from thirty tenpounder rifled guns.

In conclusion, a statement of the numbers composing the two armies in this great struggle, is necessary to estimate its merits. Under the orders of General Lee there were, at its beginning, about seventy-five thousand effective men, including the corps brought to his aid by General Jackson. McClellanconfidently represented the numbers opposed to him as much larger than his own; but the habitual exaggerations of his apprehensive temper were patent, even to his own Government. He states that his own force was reduced to eighty thousand effective men. It must be remembered that during the campaign before Richmond, the motives of McClellan's policy dictated a studied depreciation of his own numbers. In the returns given by himself in another place, his effective force present for duty is set down at one hundred and six thousand men, inclusive of the garrison of Fortress Monroe under GeneralDix. Halleck declared, in his letter of Aug. 6th, that McClellan still had ninety thousand men at Berkeley, after all his losses I These McClellan had estimated at fifteen thousand, how truthfully may be known from this: that he places the men lost by desertion and capture under six thousand, whereas theConfederates had in their hands more than ten thousand prisoners; and the woods of the peninsula were swarming with stragglers. Whatever may have beer his numerical superiority, it is indisputable that every advantage of equipments, arms, and artillery was on his side.

But the arrival of General Jackson brought a strength to the Confederates beyond that of his numbers. His fame as a warrior had just risen to the zenith; while all the other armies of the Confederacy had been retreating before the enemy, or at best holding the defensive with difficulty, his alone had marched, and attacked, and conquered. A disaster had never alighted on [485] his banners. His assault was regarded by friends and foes as the stroke of doom, and his presence gave assurance of victory. Hence, when the army before Richmond learned that he was with them, they were filled with unbounded joy and confidence, while their enemies were struck with a corresponding panic. [486]

Chapter 15: Cedar Run.

While the army lay near Westover, resting from its toils, General Jackson called his friend, theHonorable Mr. Boteler, to his tent, to communicate his views of the future conduct of the war, and to beg that on his next visit to Richmond, he would impress them upon the Government. He said that it was manifest by every sign, that McClellan's was a thoroughly beaten army, and was no longer capable of anything, until it was reorganized and reinforced. There was danger, he foresaw, of repeating the error of Manassa's Junction; when the season of victory was let slip by an ill-timed inaction, and the enemy was allowed full leisure to repair his strength. Now, since it was determined not to attempt the destruction of McClellan where he lay, the Confederate army should at once leave the malarious district, move northward, and carry the horrors of invasion from their own borders, to those of the guilty assailants. This, he said, was the way to bring them to their senses, and to end the war. And it was within the power of the Confederate Government to make a successful invasion, if their resources were rightly concentrated. Sixty thousand men could march into Maryland, and threaten Washington City, producing most valuable results. But, he added; while he wished these views to be laid before thePresident, he would disclaim earnestly the charge of self-seeking, in advocating them. He wished to follow, and [487] not to lead, in this glorious enterprise: he was willing to follow anybody; General-Lee, or the gallant Ewell. “Why do you not at once urge these things,” asked Mr. Boteler, “upon General Leehimself?” “I have done so;” replied Jackson. “And what,” asked Mr. Boteler, “does he say to them?”General Jackson answered: “He says nothing.” But he added; “Do not understand that I complain of this silence; it is proper that General Lee should observe it: He is a sagacious and prudent man; he feels that he bears a fearful responsibility: He is right in declining a hasty expression of his purposes, to a subordinate like me.” The advice of Jackson was laid before the President. What weight was attached to it, is unknown; but the campaign soon after took the direction which he had indicated.

He was extremely anxious to leave the unhealthy region of the lower James, where his own health, with that of his command, was suffering, and to return to the upper country. He longed for its pure breezes, its sparkling waters, and a sight of its familiar mountains. Events had already occurred, which procured the speedy gratification of his wish. After the defeat of Fremont and Shields, the Washington Government united the corps of these Generals, of Banks, and of McDowell into one body, under the name of the “Army of Virginia.” These parts made an aggregate of fifty or sixty thousand men, who were now sent, under Major-General John Pope, upon the mission of making a demonstration againstRichmond by the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, and thus effecting a diversion which would deliverMcClellan from his duress. The former was directed to seize Gordonsville, the point at which theOrange and Central Railroads cross each other, and thus to separate Richmond from the interior.General Pope, who was supposed to have distinguished himself at New Madrid, on the Mississippi, was chiefly [488] noted for his claim of ten thousand prisoners captured from General Beauregard in his retreat from Corinth, where the former commanded the advance of the Federalists (a boast which was reduced, by the truthful statement of the Confederate General, to one hundred). He was the most boastful, the most brutal, and the most unlucky of the Federal leaders who had yet appeared in Virginia. In a general order issued to his troops, he ostentatiously announced his purpose, to conduct the war upon new principles. “He had heard much,” he said, “of lines of communication, and lines of retreat. The only line a general should know anything of, in his opinion, was the line of his enemy's retreat.” He declared also, that hitherto he had never been able to see anything of his enemies but their backs; and announced, that during his campaign, the Headquarters should be in the saddle. So coarse a braggart was sure to be in sympathy with the race for. which he promised to fight, and they did not need to wait for any deeds actually accomplished to proclaim him “the coming man” of his day. The reader may easily imagine the quiet smile with which Jackson would hear these shallow threats of his antagonist, and the silence with which he accepted them as auguries of a certain victory. General Pope's method of dealing with the people of Virginia was to be as novel as his strategy. He deliberately announced his purpose to subsist his troops on the country, and authorized an indiscriminate plunder of the inhabitants. His army was let loose upon them, and proceeded like a horde of brigands, through the rich counties ofFauquier and Culpepper, stripping the people of food, live stock, horses, and poultry, and wantonly destroying what they could not use. Their General also ordained, that all the citizens within his lines must perjure themselves by taking an oath of allegiance to Lincoln, or be banished South; to return no more, under the penalty of being executed as spies. [489]

Jackson was now moved toward Gordonsville, to meet this doughty warrior, who, as he left Alexandriato assume command of his army at Manassa's Junction, celebrated the triumphs to be achieved, before they were won, with banners and laurels. The corps returned from Westover to the neigborhood ofRichmond, the 10th of July. There they remained until the 17th, preparing for their march; and it was during this respite that General Jackson first made his appearance openly, in the city which he had done so much to deliver. He gives the following account of it in a letter to his wife.

Richmond, July 14th.

Yesterday I heard Doctor M. D. Hoge preach in his church, and also in the camp of the Stonewall Brigade. It is a great comfort to have the privilege of spending a quiet Sabbath, within the walls of a house dedicated to the service of God. . . . .People are very kind to me. How God, our God, does shower blessings upon me, an unworthy sinner!

The manner of his entrance was this. He came tothe church without attendants; and just after the congregation was assembled, they saw an officer who was manifestly a stranger, in a faded and sunburned uniform, enter quietly, and take his seat near the door. The immediate commencement of the worship forbade any notice or inquiry; they could only observe that he gave a devout and fixed attention to the services. When they were concluded, it began to be whispered that he was General Jackson; but he scarcely gave them time to turn their eyes upon him, before he was gone, after modestly greeting one or two acquaintances. After visiting a mother, whose son had fallen in his command, he returned to his tent.

On the 19th of July, he reached Gordonsville with his corps, and took quarters in the hospitable house of Reverend D. B. [490] Ewing, where he had before found a pleasant resting place, when passing through the village. He appeared jaded by his excessive labors, and positively unwell; and said that he had not suffered so much, since his return from Mexico. But the rest, the mountain breezes, and the fresh fruits in which he so much delighted, speedily restored the vigor of his frame. He loved to refresh himself here, after the labors of the day were finished, with the social converse of the amiable family which surrounded Mr. Ewing's board, and with the prattle of his children. One of these, while sitting upon his knee, was captivated with the bright military buttons upon his coat, and petitioned that when the garment was worn out, he should give her one as a keepsake. This he promised; and months afterward, amidst all his weighty cares, he remembered to send her the gift; which she ever after hoarded among her treasures. It was his greatest pleasure to share the family prayers of this Christian household, and he did not refuse to take his turn in conducting them. His host remarks of these services: “There was something very striking inhis prayers-he did not pray to men, but to God. His tones were deep, solemn, tremulous. He seemed to realize that he was speaking to Heaven's King. I never heard any one pray, who seemed to be pervaded more fully by a spirit of utter self-abnegation. He seemed to feel more than any man I ever knew, the danger of robbing God of the glory due for our success.” Although he was incapable of making an ostentatious display of himself, and would never permit the interruption of business by society, yet when time sufficed for social enjoyments, he was easily approached by all who sought to know him, and was careful to contribute to their entertainment by bearing a modest part in conversation.

After a few days spent near Gordonsville, he retired southward a few miles into the county of Louisa, whose fertile fields [491] offered abundant pasturage for his jaded animals. Here he devoted himself to reorganizing his command, and recruiting his artillery horses, for the approaching service. It was at this time that he complained, in his letters to his wife, of being overbur, thened with cares and labors: blut he chided himself by referring to the Apostle of the Gentiles, who “gloried in tribulation,” and declared that it was not like a Christian to murmur at any toil for his Redeemer.

Learning that Pope was advancing toward the Rapid Ann River in great force, he called upon GeneralLee for reinforcements; and the division of General A. P. Hill was sent to join him. This fine body of troops continued henceforth to be a part of his-corps. On the 2nd of August, the Federal cavalry occupied the village at Orange Court House, when Colonel William E. Jones, the comrade of Jacksonat West Point, commanding the 7th Virginia cavalry, attacked them in front and flank while crowded into the narrow street, and repulsed them with loss. They, however, speedily perceiving the scanty numbers of their assailants, returned to the charge; and threatening to envelop Jones, forced him back in turn. But he retired skirmishing with so much stubbornness, that they pursued him a very short distance, when they withdrew across the river. This affair occurred ten miles north of Gordonsville. Pope's infantry paused in the county of Culpepper, which lies over against Orange, across the Rapid Ann. He indiscreetly extended his army a few miles in rear of that stream, upon a very wide front, while some of the troops designed to serve under his orders were still at Fredericksburg, two marches below. This was an opportunity which the enterprise and sagacity of Jackson were certain to seize. He knew that the army of Lee, still detained to watch McClellan upon the lower James, could not come to his support before that of Pope would be assembled. The mass of [492] the latter would then be irresistible by his little army; and there Was reason to fear that Gordonsville would be lost, the railroad occupied, and a disastrous progress made by Pope before he could be arrested. He therefore determined to strike his centre immediately at Culpepper Court House, and to cripple him so that he would be unable to advance, before other dispositions could be made for resisting him. Another powerful reason dictated an attack. Jackson's soldierly eye had shown him that the line of the Rapid Ann was the proper one to be held by a defensive army guarding the communications at Gordonsville, and the centre of Virginia; for the commanding heights of the southern bank everywhere dominated over the level plains of the Culpepper border. This judgment was afterward confirmed by the high authority of General Lee, who selected that line for defence against Generals Meade and Grant; and, by its strength, baffled every attempt to force it in front. Pope, then, must not be permitted to occupy it; but it suited the temper ofGeneral Jackson to prevent it by an aggressive blow, rather than by a dangerous extension of his inadequate force upon it. Hence, on the 7th of August, he gave orders to his three divisions to move toward Culpepper, and to encamp on that night near Orange Court House.

It was on this occasion that the striking witness was borne by his African servant, Jim, to his devout habits, which was so currently (and correctly) related. Some gentlemen were inquiring whether he knew when a battle was about to occur. “Oh, yes, Sir,” he replied: “The General is a great man for praying; night and morning-all times. But when I see him get up several times in the night besides, to go off and pray, then I know there is going to be something to pay; and I go straight and pack his haversack, because I know he will call for it in the morning.” [493]

August 8th, the division of Ewell, which led the way, bearing off to the northwest, crossed the Rapid Ann at the Liberty Mills, as though to attack the extreme right of Pope. Tho other divisions crossed at Barnett's Ford, below; and Ewell, turning to the east, returned to their line of march, and bore towardSlaughter's Mountain. The division of A. P. Hill, delayed by the trains which followed the preceding troops, and by a misconception of orders, did not cross the river until the morning of the 91;h. This derangement of the march arrested General Jackson many miles from Culpepper Court House, and he reluctantly postponed his attack to the next day. On the morning of August 9th, having ascertained thatA. P. Hill was now within supporting distance, he moved early; and, with his cavalry in front, pressed toward the Court House. About eight miles from that place, the advance reported the enemy's cavalry before them, guarding the roads, and manoeuvring in a manner which indicated a force behind them; and, a little after, the line of horse was discovered upon a distant ridge, drawn up as if for battle. A few cannon shot from a rifled gun dislodged them; but speedily the fire was returned by the Federal artillery from a distant position, and the line of cavalry re-appeared. General Jackson, convinced that he had a strong body of the enemy in his front, now made his dispositions for battle, a little after the middle of the day.

His army had by this time fallen into the main road, leading northeastward to Culpepper Court House; and to this quarter his front was directed during the remainder of the day. The neighborhood around him was a region of pleasant farms, of hills and dales, and of forests interspersed. But parallel with the road which he was pursuing distant about a mile on his right, was an insulated ridge, rising to the dignity of a mountain, running perfectly straight from southwest to northeast, and [494] dropping into the plain as suddenly as it arose. This is called by the country-people, Slaughter's Mountain. The fields next its base are smoother and more akin to meadows than those along the highway at the distance of a mile. Across the northeastern end of the ridge, flow the rivulets which form, by their union, Cedar Run, and make their way thence to the Rapid Ann. General Early's brigade of Ewell's division, which held the front, was ordered to advance along the great road and develop the position of the enemy, supported by the division of Jackson, commanded by Brigadier-General Winder. The remainder of Ewell's division, consisting of the brigades of Trimble and Hays, (lately Taylor's) diverged to the right, and skirting the base of Slaughter's Mountain, by an obscure pathway, at length reached the northeast end, whence, from an open field elevated several hundred feet above the plain, they saw the whole scene of action unfolded beneath them. The battery of Lattimer, with half that of Johnson, was drawn up to this promontory, and skilfully posted, so as to cover with its fire the whole front of the Confederate right and centre. It was to the promptitude with which General Jackson seized this point, and the adroitness with which he employed its advantages, that he was chiefly indebted, in. connection with the bravery of his troops, for his victory. The guns of Lattimer and Johnson, in consequence of the elevation of their position, commanded a wide range of the country below, and were themselves secure from the fire of the enemy. Every shot aimed at them fell short, and buried itself, without ricochet, in the hill-side beneath them; while their gunners, in perfect security, and in a clear atmosphere above the smoke of the battle-field, played upon the enemy with all the deliberation and skill of target practice. Thus the level and open fields next the mountain, which otherwise were most favorable to the display of the Federalists' superior numbers, were effectually barred [495] [496] from their approach; or, if they braved the fire of the mountainbattery, the two brigades of Ewell lay hid in the dense pine thickets which clothed the side of the ridge, ready to pour upon their flank a crushing fire from superior ground. These dispositions at once decided the security of Jackson's right wing for the whole day. He placed no troops in the meadows next the mountain-base; for on this ground the artillery of the enemy could play with best effect. But though this marked hiatus in his line seemed to invite attack, none was seriously attempted; the disadvantage imposed upon the assailants revealed itself to them so powerfully, at their first approach, that they observed the deadly trap afterward with respectful avoidance.

Before these dispositions upon the right were completed, General Early had become engaged with the enemy. Throwing his brigade into line of battle across the road, he advanced obliquely to the right, scouring the woods before him with his skirmishers and driving back the observing force of cavalry. A march of a half-mile brought him to the top of a gentle hill where the road emerged from the forest, and ran forward for a third of a mile farther, between the wood and a large pasture field of undulating ground. In other words, the open ground here cut into the forest by an angle, so that the traveller advancing thenceforward had the field upon his right, and the wood upon his left, for that distance. There the wood terminated, upon the brow of a hillock overlooking the rivulet; and there were open fields upon both sides of the highway. That on the right was covered, for a great extent, with a tall growth of Indian corn in all its summer glory. That on the left was a stubble field of narrow extent, with wheat in the shock; and still farther to the left of this, was another piece of ground of about. equal size, which had been denuded of its timber. but was now densely overgrown with brushwood of the height of a man's shoulders. The stubble [497] feld and the clearing, together, constituted in fact but a species of bay, penetrating the surrounding forests to the left of the main road; for on their farther side the woods commenced again. The cornfield, the stubble field, the brushwood, and the angle of forest on theConfederate side, were destined to be the Aceldama. By the time General Early had reached the rear angle of the great pasture field just described, his whole line was, in consequence of his oblique advance, on the left of the road, and was soon, by his farther advance, separated from it by a considerable space. Sweeping the Federal skirmishers before him, he pushed his line, in perfect order, to the front of the declivity which descended to the rivulet and the Indian corn. Several batteries on his right and in front were now opened on him, and the wheatfield on the left of the highway was observed full of squadrons of cavalry. Withdrawing his men into a slight depression behind the foremost crest of the hill, he obtained partial shelter from the enemy's artillery, and brought up four guns from the batteries of Captains Brown and Dement, to a favorable position upon his right, whence they engaged the opposing batteries with great credit. But no line of infantry was yet visible before him, for it was masked in the thick corn.

The division of Winder had now arrived, and its commander was posting several of its best batteries inechelon along the road in the rear of Early's left, whence they delivered a most effective oblique fire toward the right and front. The second brigade of the division was advanced on the left of the road, to the further edge of the wood, presenting a convex line toward the cornfield and the stubble field; the third brigade was left in column parallel to the road and in rear of their artillery: and the first, or Stonewall Brigade, was disposed as a reserve to support the left. A rapid and continuous thunder of artillery now began on both sides, which was prolonged for two hours. Distant [498] spectators perceived that the aim of the Confederates was much more accurate than that of the enemy. While the shells of the latter mostly exploded high in the air and above the treetops, those of the former were seen ploughing the ground among the guns of their adversaries, and throwing the dust, with their iron hail, in their midst. But one fated shot from the Federal batteries robbed the patriots of one of the chief ornaments of their army. While General Winder was standing beside the guns of Poague and Carpenter, directing their working with his customary coolness and skill, a shell struck him upon the side, dashed his field-glass from his hand, and inflicted a ghastly wound, of which he died three hours after. No more just or graceful tribute can be paid to his memory, than that of General Jackson's report. “It is difficult within the proper reserve of an official report, to do justice to the merits of this accomplished officer. Urged by the medical director to take no part in the movements of the day, because of the enfeebled state of his health, his ardent patriotism and military pride could bear no such restraint. Richly endowed with those qualities of mind and person, which fit an officer for command, and which attract the admiration and excite the enthusiasm of troops, he was rapidly rising to the front rank of his profession. His loss has been severely felt,” Succeeding General Richard Garnett in the command of the Stonewall Brigade, after the battle of Kernstown, and coming to it wholly a stranger, he had unavoidably inherited some of the odium of that popular officer's removal. During the first two months of his connexion with it, he was respected and obeyed; for his dignity, bearing, and soldierly qualities were such as to ensure this everywhere; but he inspired no enthusiasm. It was at Winchester, when General Jackson assigned him the command of his left wing, that his prowess broke forth to the apprehension of his men, like the sun bursting through clouds. The [499] heroism with which he shared their dangers, and the mastery with which he directed their strength, placed him thenceforth in their hearts.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the struggle began in earnest, by the advance of the Federal infantry against Early, through the Indian corn. This General, handling his regiments with admirable coolness and daring, held the heavy masses in his front at bay, with slight loss to himself. Soon after, the enemy advanced a strong force of infantry to turn his right; but just as the movement was endangering the guns of Brown and Demenit, a brigade was seen advancing rapidly to their support. It was the command ofThomas (from the division of A. P. Hill, who had now arrived upon the scene); which, with two additional batteries, took post upon Early's right. The Confederate line of battle was thus extended within a half-mile of the mountain, and all the efforts made against it on this side were hurled back with loss. But, upon the other extremity of the field, grave events were occurring. It has been related, how the second brigade of the division of Winder, under Colonel Garnett, had been stationed on the left of the great road, with its line conformed to the convexity of the wood. The Stonewall Brigade, which was its reserve, was, unhappily, too far to the rear to give it immediate support. One moment it was declared that there was no hostile infantry visible in its front; but the next, the men at the extreme left beheld a formidable line, whose length overlapped them on either hand, advancing swiftly from the opposite woods, and across the stubble field, to assail them. The battalion at that end of the line, seeing themselves thus overmatched, fired a few ineffectual volleys, and gave way; the Federal right speedily swept around, entered and filled the woods, and even threatened the rear of the batteries of the division, from which the third brigade of Taliaferro had a little. [500] before been removed to the front, to fil the interval between the second, and that of Early. The whole angle of forest was now filled with clamor and horrid rout. The left regiments of the second brigade were taken in reverse, intermingled with the enemy, broken, and massacred from front and rear. The regiments of the right, and especially the 21st Virginia, commanded by the brave Christian soldier, Colonel Cunningham, stood firm, and fought the enemy before them like lions, until the invading line had penetrated within twenty yards of their rear. For the terrific din of the musketry, the smoke, and the dense foliage, concealed friend from foe, until they were only separated from each other by this narrow interval. Their heroic Colonel was slain, the orders of officers were unheard amidst the shouts of the assailants, and all the vast uproar; yet the remnants of the second brigade fought on, man to man, without rank or method, with bayonet thrusts and muskets dubbed, but borne. back like the angry foam on a mighty wave, toward the high road. The third brigade, also, upon the right of the second, was broken; and on both sides of the way the enemy made a vast irruption, in which half of Early's brigade was involved. On his extreme left, next to Taliaferrostood the famous 13th Virginia, which, under the gallant leading of its sturdy Colonel, J. A. Walker, still showed an unbroken front, and fell back, fighting the flood of enemies. The right regiments of Early, under the immediate eye of their veteran General, held their ground like a rampart. But the Federalists were fast gaining their rear in the open field.

It was at this fearful moment that the genius of the storm reared his head amidst the tumultuous billows; and in an instant the threatening tide was turned. Jackson appeared in the mid torrent of the highway, his figure instinct with majesty, and his face flaming with the inspiration of battle; he ordered the [501] batteries which Winder had placed to be instantly withdrawn, to: preserve them from capture: he issued his summons for his reserves; he drew his-own sword (the first time in this war), and shouted to the broken troops with a voice which pealed higher than the roar of battle: “Rally, brave men, and press forward! Your general will lead you. Jackson will lead you. Follow me!¹” The fugitives, with a general shame; gathered around their adored general: and rushing with a few score of them to the front, he posted them behind the fence which bordered the roadside, and received the pursuers with a deadly volley. They recoiled in surprise; while officers of every grade, catching the generous fervor of their commander, flew among the men, and in a moment reinstated the failing battle. The fragments of Earlyand Taliaferro returned to their places, forming around that heroic nucleus, the 13th Virginia, and swept the open field clear of the enemy. The Stonewall Brigade had already come up and changed the tide of battle in the bloody woodland, for some of the regiments sweeping far around to the left through the field of brushwood, had taken the Federalists, in turn, upon their flank, and were driving them back with a fearful slaughter into the stubble field. Scarcely was this Titanic blow delivered, when the fine brigade of Branch, from the division of A. P. Hill, hardly allowing itself time to form, rushed forward to second them, and completed the repulse.

The Federal commander, loth to lose his advantage so quickly, now brought forward a magnificent column of cavalry, and hurled it along the highway, full against the Confederate centre. No cannon was in position to ravage their ranks; but, as they forced back the line for a little space by their momentum, the infantry of Branch closed in upon their right, and that of Taliaferro and Early upon their left. Especially did the 13th Virginia [502] now exact a bloody recompense of them for all their disasters.Wheeling instantly toward the left, they rushed to the fence beside the road; and, just as the recoil of the shock began, poured a withering volley into the huddled mass from the distance of a few yards. On both sides of the devoted column, the lines of Branch and of Taliaferro blazed, until it fled to the rear, utterly scattered and dissipated. And now Jackson's blood was up; and he delivered blow after blow from his insulted left wing, with stunning rapidity and regulated fury. Scarcely was the charge of this cavalry repelled, when he again reinforced the ranks of Branch in front of the bloody stubble field, with the brigades of Archer and of Pender, from the division of Hill, extending them far to the left. These fresh troops, with the remainder of the first and second brigades of Jackson's division were ordered by him to advance across the feld, throwing their left continually forward, and attack the enemy's line in the opposite wood. They advanced under a heavy fire, when the foe yielded the bloody field, and broke into full retreat. The brigade of Taliaferro also charged, bearing toward the right, and pierced the field of Indian corn in front of General Early, where they captured four hundred of the enemy, with Brigadier-General Prince.

The two brigades which had hitherto remained with General Ewell upon the mountain now advanced also upon the right, turned the left flank of the Federalists, and captured one piece of artillery. Thus, at every point, the foe was repulsed, and hurled into full retreat. When night settled upon the field they had been driven two miles, Jackson urging on the pursuit with the fresh brigades of Stafford and Field. It was his cherished desire to penetrate to Culpepper Court House, for he would then have struck the centre of Pope's position, and his chief depot of supplies; whence he hoped to be able to crush the fragments [503] of his army before the corps of McDowell could reach him. With this object, he purposed at first to continue the pursuit all night. Ascertaining by his scouts that the enemy had paused in their flight just in his front, he now placed the battery of Pegram in position, and opened a hot fire upon them at short range. This new cannonade threw them for a time into great confusion; and had the darkness of the night permitted the victor to see distinctly where his blows should be aimed, he would probably have converted the retreat of the Federals into a disastrous rout; But, after a time, three batteries began to reply to Pegram with such vigor as plainly indicated that Pope had received some fresh supports since the night fell. The indefatigable Colonel William E. Jones also, returning with his regiment of cavalry from a fatiguing expedition, had passed to the front, and ascertained the arrival of the remainder of the corps of Fremont, now commanded by Sigel. The General therefore determined not to hazard more in the darkness of the night, and commanded the troops to halt and bivouac upon the ground which they had won.

The long day, sultry with an August sun, and with the heats of battle, had now given place to a night, moonless but placid. Jackson at length gathered his wearied Staff about him, and rode languidly back through the field of strife, lately so stormy, but now silent, save where the groans of the wounded broke the stillness, seeking a place of repose. Applying at two or three farm-houses for shelter, he was informed that they were full of wounded men, when he persistently refused to enter, lest he should be the occasion of robbing some sufferer of his restingplace. Resuming his way, he observed a little grass-plot, and declared that he could go no farther, but must sleep then and there. A cloak was spread for him upon the ground, when he prostrated himself on it upon his breast, and in a moment forgot his toils and fatigues in deep slumber. [504]

The morning of the 10th of August, General Jackson withdrew his lines a short distance, and proceeded to bury his dead, and collect from the field the spoils of his victory. These consisted of one piece of artillery and three caissons, three colors, and five thousand three hundred small arms. The loss of theConfederates in this battle was two hundred and twenty-three killed, one thousand and sixty wounded, and thirty-one missing, --making a total of one thousand three hundred and fourteen. General Jacksonmodestly estimated the loss of his enemy as double his own. How moderate that estimate was will appear in the sequel. The Federalists, according to their own returns, had thirty-two thousand men engaged in this battle. The numbers of General Jackson were between eighteen and twenty thousand. The prisoners captured from the enemy were chiefly from the corps of General Banks; but a few from those of Sigel and McDowell showed that parts of their commands were also engaged. On the 11th of August, Pope requested, by flag of truce, access to the field to bury his dead. This privilege was granted to him; and General Early was appointed commandant of the field, to enforce the terms of the temporary truce. Soon the ground was covered with those who had lately been arrayed against each other in mortal strife, mingling unarmed. While the burying parties collected their bloody charge, and excavated great pits in which to cover them, the rest were busy trading their horses with each other, arguing upon the politics of the great controversy, and discussing the merits of their respective Generals, The Federals, with one consent, were loud in their praises of Jackson; and declared that if they had suchGenerals to lead them, they also could win victories and display prowess. Not a few of them were prompt to draw parallels between the simplicity, self-reliance, and courage of the Confederate Generals, and the ostentation and timidity of their own, little complimentary to [505] them. “See old Early,” they said, “riding everywhere, without a single guard, among his enemies of yesterday. If it were one of our mutton-headed Generals, he must needs have half a regiment of cavalry at his heels, to gratify his pride, and defend him from unarmed men” General Early saw them bury seven hundred corpses. How many were borne from the field by them during the progress of the battle, cannot be known. If they, like theConfederates, had five wounded for every one slain (the usual ratio), then their total loss was, at the least, four thousand six hundred. While the field of Indian. corn was sprinkled over with dead, the most ghastly accumulation was in the stubble field and the brushwood in front of the Confederate left; which one of their own Generals (taking his metaphor from his own former trade) denominated “the slaughter-pens.” The battle of Cedar Run, like all those where Jackson was the assailant, was remarkable for the narrowness of the front upon which the true contest was enacted.. A space of a mile in width here embraced the whole of the ground upon which his centre and left wing had wrestled, for half a day, against thirty thousand men. When it is remembered that these were enough to man a line of battle, six miles long, this fact will appear a singular evidence of the incompetency of the Federal tactics,--that their boastful commander should have accepted defeat with all the advantage of his superior numbers, in an open country, without effecting any more extended development of his lines, or resort to the resources of manoeuvre. General Jackson, on his part, pronounced this the .most successful of his exploits. But he announced it to his superior, General Lee, in these devout and modest terms:--

August 11th, 6. A. M.

On the evening of the 9th instant, God blessed our arms with another victory. The battle was nearCedar Run, about [506] six miles from Culpepper Court House. The enemy, according to statements of prisoners, consisted of Banis's, McDowell's and Sigel's commands. We have over fear hundred prisoners, including Brigadier-General Price. Whilst our list of killed is less than that of the enemy, we have to mourn the loss of some of our best officers and men. Brigadier-General Charles S. Winderwas mortally wounded whilst ably discharging his duty atthe head of his command, which was the advance of the left wing of the army. We have collected about 1500 small arms, and other ordnance stores.

Whilst General Jackson was engaged on the 10th, caring for his killed and wounded, he caused carefulreconnoissances to be made under the care of General J. E. B. Stuart, who providentially visited his army on that day, on a tour of inspection. He was convinced by this inquiry, that the army of Pope was receiving constant accessions, and that before he could resume the offensive, it would be swelled to sixty thousand men. The bulk of the forces of McDowell, was upon the march to join the enemy, by a route which seemed to threaten his rear. He therefore determined that it was imprudent to hazard farther offensive movements. Having sent back all his spoils and his wounded, he retired from the front of the enemy the night of August 11th, and returned unmolested to the neighborhood of Gordonsville, hoping that Pope's evil star might tempt him to attack his army there, where the proximity of the railroad would enable him to receive adequate re-inforcements.

A part of the leisure of his day of truce was employed in writing to Mrs. Jackson a letter, from which the following extract is taken.

On last Saturday our God again crowned our arms with [507] victory, about six miles from Culpepper Court House. All glory be to God for his unnumbered blessings.

I can hardly think of the fall of Brigadier-General C. S. Winder, without tearful eyes. Let us all unite more earnestly in imploring God's aid in fighting our battles for us. The thought that there are so many of God's people praying for His blessing upon the army, which, in His providence, is with me, greatly strengthens me. If God be for us, who can be against us? That He will still be with us, and give us victory after victory, until our independence shall be established, and that He will make our nation that people whose God is the Lord, is my earnest and oft-repeated prayer. Whilst we attach so much importance to being free from temporal bondage, we must attach far more to being free from the bondage of sin.

His report of the battle is closed with these words:

In order to render thanks to God for the victory at Cedar Run, and other past victories, and to implore His continued favor in the future, divine service was held in the army on the 14th of August.

This battle was claimed by the Federalists, with their usual effrontery, as a victory; under the pretext thatGeneral Jackson had after two days retreated and recrossed the Rapid Ann. Had these measures on his part been caused by anything that was done upon the battle-field by the forces engaged against him August 9th, that pretext would have worn the color of a reason. But since his withdrawal was caused by the arrival of fresh troops in great numbers, after the battle was concluded, it might with as much truth be said that any other victory in history was a defeat, because the material resources of the two parties were afterwards modified or reversed.

The opinion has been expressed that although Jackson fought well at Cedar Run, it would have been better not to have fought [508] at all; because his victory, while glorious, was without other result; and thus the brave men lost were made a useless sacrifice. This criticism should be met by two answers. The battle was not without solid result, for it arrested the career of Pope until the army of Northern Virginia arrived, and prevented his gaining positions decisive of future operations. It must be remembered that on the 2nd of August, the vanguard of the invading army had crossed the Rapid Ann, and penetrated with it twelve miles of Gordonsville. The troops which came to gspport Jackson did not move against the enemy from that place, until August 16th. What disastrous progress might not the invaders have made within that time, if Jackson had not arrested them by his timely blow? But second: designs, which must necessarily be made in advance, are entitled to be tried, when the question is of the wisdom of him who formed them, not by the strict rule of the actual event, but by the milder one of the probable result.General Jackson proposed to strike the enemy, not at Cedar Run, but at Culpepper Court House; and not upon the 9th, but the 8th of August. The space to be traversed to effect this, was not unreasonable, (but one day's rapid marching) and the blunder by which it was prevented was unforeseen. Had his wishes been attained, it is not unreason able to say, that his victory would have been so much more complete as to silence every charge of fruitlessness. For we have seen that the supports which savedPope from destruction only arrived at nightfall upon the 9th. [509]

1 His own words, as repeated by a member of his staff, who was present.