sought refuge among the woods. The Confederate cavalry pursued, and the defeat was complete.

Jackson had won the most doubtful day of his campaign, and was safe. He had obtained a crowning victory in the last conjuncture of danger; he had turned upon his pursuers, and defeated them right and left; and when Fremont, who had helplessly watched the battle across the river, commenced his languid retreat down the Valley, Jackson withdrew leisurely to the gaps of the Blue Ridge, whence he had easy access to the most practicable routes and direct line of rail to Richmond.

We

A summary of Gen. Jackson's campaign in the Valley is undoubtedly the most brilliant page in the history of the war. have seen how he checked the advance of Milroy from the west; how he then advanced upon Banks, and drove him precipitately across the Potomac; how he outmarched the columns of Fremont and Shields which pursued him, brought off all his captured stores and prisoners, and finally, by a strategy as successful as it was daring, turned upon two important forces of the enemy, defeated them in detail, and concluded the campaign in a blaze of victory. With a little army of 15,000 men, at one time a hundred miles from its base, and with about 40,000 enemies on his front and flanks, he had accomplished a chapter of wonders, and conducted a campaign of unbroken brilliancy. He had defeated four separate armies; he had overcome his old adversary Banks, in a way to cover him with ridicule, delighting the South with the caricature. of a commander who was especially odious to them; he had captured a total of 3,500 prisoners; he had marched four hundred miles within forty days, in constant combats and skirmishes; and defeating at last two armies, whose aggregate was double his own, he was left master of the situation, with his victorious hands full of trophies. Finally, and above all, he had succeeded in neutralizing a force of at least 60,000 men designed to operate against Richmond, and to this extent had contributed to the safety of the capital of the Confederacy.

*The Charleston Mercury printed the following epigram:

"Whilst Butler plays his silly pranks,

And closes up New-Orleans banks,
Our Stonewall Jackson, with more cunning,

Keeps Yankee Banks forever running."

*

CHAPTER XVII.

Gen. Jackson's share in the "seven days' battles " around Richmond.-Shifting of the scenes of war from the James River to the Rappahannock.—Battle of Cedar Run. -Gen. Jackson moves a column between the enemy's rear and Washington.Scenes of the march.-Battle of Groveton.-The two days' conflict on Manassas Plains.-Gen. Jackson strikes the enemy at Ox Hill.-Results of the campaign so far.-Extraordinary achievement of Jackson's command.-He moves against, and captures Harper's Ferry.-His part in the battle of Sharpsburg.

GENERAL JACKSON was yet to do more for the safety of Richmond, and to crown what he had done in strategy by a direct attack on the lines of the Chickahominy. Gen. Lee had taken pains to mask his withdrawal from the Valley by sending him the divisions of Whiting and Lawton, as if to reinforce him to prosecute the campaign to Winchester, where Fremont had withdrawn; but his orders in fact were to move towards Richmond, and fall upon McClellan's right, while Lee's other divisions moved directly upon Mechanicsville. On the 25th June, Jackson reached the vicinity of Ashland, about twelve miles from Richmond. At sunrise next morning his forces were in motion, advancing abreast of the enemy's right flank at Mechanicsville; and as he crossed the Tottopotomy Creek, his cannon announced to A. P. Hill, who awaited the signal at Mechanicsville, that the time for action had arrived.

At night Jackson bivouacked within sound of the furious cannonade, with which Hill and Longstreet sought to dislodge the enemy at Beaver Dam, turned the position in the morning, and now joined by D. H. Hill, took up his line of march to a point a few miles north of Cold Harbour. Passing Cold Harbour, he perceived the enemy a little to the southward, drawn up in battle array; Hill and Longstreet were already engaged; and Jackson, hoping that if the enemy retreated, he would expose his flank to him, halted his troops in a margin of woods. It soon became apparent, however, that the Confederates were hard pressed, and that upon Jackson's three divisions might depend the fortune of

desperate attack. Gen. Lee, ascertaining the approach of Jackson, hastened to give him the necessary orders. Exchanging a hurried greeting, the Commanding General paused a moment, and listened anxiously to the roar of artillery in the woods. "The fire is very heavy," he said: "do you think your men can stand it?" "Sir," said Jackson, "they can stand almost anything;" and then turning his head to one side to listen, "they can stand that." In a moment his columns were in motion, advancing with tumultuous cheers, which were caught up and ran along the shattered lines of Hill, proclaiming the long-expected relief. Whiting's division was hurried forward to assist Longstreet in his assault upon the Federal left, and formed on the left of his line, joining the right of Gen. A. P. Hill. On the left of Hill, and opposite the enemy's centre, was a part of Jackson's old division, the remainder being sent to the right; on the left of that, Ewell's; and on the extreme left, D. H. Hill's division.

The latter first came in contact with the enemy's line, rushing through the swamp, underwood, and felled trees. It was unable to rout the enemy, but obtained some ground and stubbornly held it. Ewell moved next, and engaged the enemy in the forest. Meanwhile Whiting attacked the enemy's left, having the most difficult part of the field, and achieved the critical triumph. He emerged into the field at the head of a deep ravine, which covered the Federal left; he advanced through a number of retreating and disordered regiments; for a quarter of a mile the enemy, protected by breastworks, poured into the advancing line a destructive and terrible fire; but yet the devoted column, led by "Hood's brave Texans," pressed on with unfaltering step. In this splendid charge upwards of a thousand men fell killed and wounded. Its way was strewn with carnage. Leaping ditch and stream, clambering up a difficult assent, through showers of cannon and musketry, amid smoke and smell of blood, these heroic troops pierced the Federal stronghold, took fourteen pieces of artillery, and placed the battleflag of the Confederates on the first, then on the second tier of the enemy's defences. "It was," wrote Jackson-who seldom used an animated phrase in an official report—"a rapid and almost matchless display of desperate and daring valour." "The shouts of triumph which rose from our brave men, as they, unaided by artillery, had stormed this citadel of the enemy's 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 Federals, routed at every point, and aided by the darkness of the night, escaped across the Chickahominy."

Beyond this glorious part in the decisive field called Gaines' Mills, Jackson had but little share in the "seven days' battles." He was obstructed in White Oak Swamp, in pursuit of the enemy, important bridges having been destroyed; and at Malvern Hill, D. H. Hill's division, which was temporarily with Jackson, began the action prematurely, and was compelled to fall back before Ewell's troops could reinforce him.

The campaign of the Peninsula ended here. In a few weeks it was perceived that the scene of action was rapidly changing from the James to the Rappahannock. It became necessary to maintain the Confederate position at Gordonsville, and to guard that point, Jackson was detached in the latter part of July, with a force consisting of his "old division," Ewell's, and afterwards that of A. P. Hill. Ascertaining to his satisfaction that Pope, who commanded the Federal forces in Northern Virginia, was waiting at Culpeper Court-House to be reinforced by Burnside, he resolved to attack before that event should occur. On the 8th August he crossed the Rapidan, and took up a position in the wooded and hilly country in the vicinity of the main road from Gordonsville to Culpeper. His force consisted of about 15,000 men, and on his front was the corps of his old Valley acquaintance, Banks, with a division of McDowell. This force had been thrown forward by Pope, to take a strong position near Cedar or Slaughter's Mountain, the wooded slopes of which Jackson had already occupied. In the afternoon of the 9th August, Banks advanced his divisions, and the battle of Cedar Run was fought. The result was that the Federal line was driven back about a mile, and Pope himself acknowledged a loss of 1,800 killed, wounded, and prisoners, and stated that fully 1,000 more straggled back to Culpeper CourtHouse and beyond, and never entirely returned to their commands.

In the battle of Cedar Run, Jackson had only intended to check the enemy's advanced divisions, and to save Gordonsville; and he now proposed to defer operations until the arrival of the main army

from Richmond, set free by the withdrawal of McClellan from Harrison's Landing. He did not have long to wait. Gen. Lee was soon up with him, made various demonstrations at the fords of the Rapidan to attract Pope's attention, and while thus amusing the enemy, designed an attack on his left flank and rear, so as to cut off his retreat to the Rappahannock by the line of the railroad. With this end in view, Longstreet moved by way of Raccoon Ford, and Jackson by way of Somerville Ford, on the Rapidan.

Pope declined the battle with Lee's forces massed on his flank, and fell back promptly to the north bank of the Rappahannock. It was now determined by the Confederate commander to send a column against the enemy's rear, to get between him and Washington, cut his communications, and in conjunction with the rest of the army which would follow, engage his whole force, and capture or destroy it before it could retreat to the Potomac. This desperate movement was intrusted to Jackson. On the 25th, he left the main army, and proceeded rapidly towards the head waters of the Rappahannock. It was a sore and painful march, up the steeps, along and across the valleys skirting the Blue Ridge Mountains; the artillery was dragged with difficulty up the narrow and rockribbed roads; many of the men were barefooted, many faint from want of food. But Jackson was on his favourite adventure-a flank movement-and inspiriting his men, pushed forward to Thoroughfare Gap, hoping to reach it before the enemy could be made aware of his intention. Passing Salem through "crowds all welcoming, cheering, staring with blank amazement," he pressed on through the plains to the well-known mountain gorge. It was undefended. He passed rapidly between the frowning ramparts with his little army, hungry, exhausted, but resolute as ever. The open country was now before him, and he descended, like a hawk, upon Manassas.

Here a small force of the enemy was routed, and a rich spoil obtained. Eight pieces of artillery, ten locomotives, and two trains of enormous size, loaded with many millions' worth of stores, fell into Jackson's hands. The rich and varied contents of the sutlers' stores were turned over to the men, who had been living mostly on roasted corn since they had crossed the Rappahannock. "To see," said an eye-witness, "a starving man eating lobster-salad, and drinking Rhine wine, barefooted and in tatters, was curious;