Southerners, but suffered no damage. At midnight the march was resumed, and on the morning of the 14th the column reached the Chickahominy at Forge Bridge, where Stuart hoped to find a ford. But Colonel Fitzhugh Lee, having tried to cross, found the river there very deep and the current very rapid. The situation

became critical. The Federal sentries were so near that one could almost hear them, and numerous columns of Federal cavalry scoured the country in all, directions to cut off the retreat of Stuart's troopers, whose audacious exploits had awakened all the energy of General MacClellan. Before them flowed an impassable river; on all sides they were beset by a swarm of enemies bent on their destruction. It seemed impossible that, on the return of day, they would not be made prisoners. Over and over again men threw themselves into the water, seeking a ford, but in vain. The only resource was to construct a bridge. Happily, at this moment, the ruins of an old bridge were discovered, destroyed by the Confederates some weeks previously. These they could make use of. With the aid of some boards found in a house, and some trees felled on the banks of the river, they succeeded in repairing the bridge, and before day all the column had crossed the Chickahominy and re-entered the Southern lines.

Without speaking of the intelligence, precious and precise, which had been gained relative to the position and strength of the Federal army, General Stuart led back 165 prisoners, 260 horses and mules with their accoutrements, and a considerable quantity of arms. He had likewise destroyed provisions and war-materials valued at several million dollars. This magnificent result had cost the life of only a single man, the brave Captain Latané. The soldiers' conduct was worthy of all praise. Except a very short halt on Thursday evening, they had not left their saddles from Thursday morning till Saturday night, stopping neither to rest nor eat, and amid a thousand dangers accomplishing with success one of the most brilliant feats of arms that have ever rendered the cavalry of a country illustrious.

Thanks to the intelligence which Stuart brought back, General Lee saw that the Federal right could be easily turned, for, so to speak, it was unguarded. He resolved to profit by this circumstance. His first care, on assuming the command, had been to construct along his lines works of defence sufficiently strong for a part of his army to hold them against all the Federal army, leaving the rest of the Confederate troops free to take the offensive. The time was favourable. Jackson, the conqueror of Shields and Fremont, was in a situation to join his soldiers with the Confederate army under Richmond. He was, therefore, recalled, with the recommendation to operate this movement as secretly as possible, so that the enemy might not know he had left the Valley.

To this end recourse was had to a stratagem. On the 11th of June, Whiting's division of Lee's army were loaded in several trains at the terminus of the Danville railroad at Richmond. They were made to cross the river at a point near Belleisle, where there were, at that moment, a considerable number of Federal prisoners, about to be released and sent down the James River. The trains loitered a long time,, and the prisoners were able to convince themselves that all these Confederate soldiers were sent by Lee to reinforce Jackson, who was only waiting for them to march on Washington. MacClellan, in effect, believed this report of the liberated prisoners. The trains set out in the direction indicated, but returned the same night. Jackson, on his part, by a clever combination of marches and countermarches, made believe that he was descending the Valley towards the upper Potomac, and disappeared suddenly. Even his soldiers were ignorant whither he was leading them. They had received orders not to ask the names of the villages they passed through, and to reply to all questions: "I don't know." So well, that Jackson, having surprised a soldier stealing cherries, and asking him his name and regiment, could get him to say nothing else but "I don't know."

On the 15th of June, Jackson's division arrived at Ashland, fifteen miles north of Richmond. Here he left his tired soldiers, and rapidly betook himself to the city. Crossing the streets at night, he arrived, without being recognised, at the house which served Lee for head-quarters, near Fair Oaks Station. There took place the first interview, since the commencement of the war, between these two remarkable men.

Lee's plan was to take the Federal's right wing in front and rear, throw it back on the centre, and thus force MacClellan to issue from his intrenchments and deliver battle in order to maintain his communications with the Pamunkey. Consequently Jackson was to direct his march on Pole Green Church, nearly in the direction of Stuart's reconnoitring expedition. This latter, with a large part of the cavalry, was stationed at Jackson's extreme left, to surround the Federals more surely. General Branch was to defile by Meadow Bridge on Mechanicsville, while General A. P. Hill would bear directly on Mechanicsville, supported by the concentrated fire of all the Confederate batteries raised along the Chickahominy. The position of Mechanicsville once carried, General D. H. Hill would support Jackson's operations, who was charged to attack on the rear, and squeeze everything that came in his way as in a vice, all the while pressing on the Federal centre. Longstreet was to support General A. P. Hill, and the two corps united had for their mission to occupy the enemy's lines at New Bridge. Generals Huger and Magruder were meanwhile to defend the works before Richmond, making demonstrations against the centre, and to advance if the enemy retreated, pursuing him vigorously. On the roads abutting on the capital were posted sentries and detachments of cavalry, to watch the movements of the enemy. Reserves of infantry were ready to support them in case of an unforeseen attack. The soldiers were ordered to carry provisions for three days. As the Confederates occupied the inner, that is, the shorter line, it was easy for them, if needed, to concentrate themselves rapidly, either for attack or defence.

MacClellan, on his side, since the battle of Seven Pines, had been content to fortify his position, seeking to divine the schemes of his adversary. He had quietly given up the offensive part to Lee, and during the rest of this campaign the Federal forces offered the strange spectacle of an army invading a country, and, although very superior in number and resources, awaiting the attack, instead of pressing forward and engaging itself in conflict. MacClellan had also committed the remarkable blunder of so disposing his army that the Chickahominy flowed between its two wings, thus cutting its centre at right angles. The wings could only communicate with each other by means of bridges and roads, always very bad, because of the marshy nature of the ground bordering the river. Sudden overflows might at any moment carry away the bridges, in which case the two halves of his army could not possibly succour each other. Having established his base of operations on the Pamunkey, which was unnecessary, he was compelled to keep his right wing between that river and Richmond, to protect his communications. Had he chosen the James, all need of remaining north of the Chickahominy would have disappeared, and this dangerous position, the holding of both banks of a stream which could play him a bad turn, would have no further shade of excuse or reason for its continuance.

For the rest, he felt the peril of his position so much, that he was thinking of changing his base of operations, when a deserter from Jackson's division arrived on the 24th of June, and informed him that that general was preparing to march on his right flank.

CHAPTER VI.

THE BATTLE OF THE CHICKAHOMINY OR COLD HARBOUR, JUNE

27TH, 1862.

Now commences that series of combats from June 26th to July 1st, known by the name of "The seven days under Richmond," terminating in the defeat and final retreat of MacClellan. The Chickahominy, whose borders were about to be the scene of an eager and decisive struggle between the two hostile armies, is a river with small current, winding much, which takes its rise above Richmond, running north and east of the city, and falling into the James to the south, far below Richmond. Its borders are marshy, and covered with trees and brushwood. The banks are low, and at the least overflow of the water, the stream, generally narrow and insignificant, becomes a lake, covering all the plain to the woody hills which rise at a certain distance on both sides. Several bridges cross it; that of Mechanicsville, four miles from Richmond, and that of New Bridge, eight miles, are very important points. MacClellan's position has been already described. One part of his army had crossed the southern bank and was about five miles from the city. The rest of his troops remained on the north bank of the Chickahominy, and extended in the form of a crescent to the neighbourhood of Mechanicsville, where it had been agreed that General MacDowell should post himself, thus covering the Federal right flank, and protecting its communications with the Federal base at the White House. In the presence of such foes as Johnston and Lee this disposition of the troops was a grave