CHAPTER XIX
THE FLOWERING WOOD
"Thank you, ma'am," said Allan. "I reckon just so long as there are suchwomen in the Valley there'll be worth-while men there, too! You've allsurely done your share."
"Now, you've got the pot of apple butter, and the bucket with thehoneycomb, and the piece of bacon and the light bread. If you'd come alittle earlier I could have let you have some eggs--"
"I've got a feast for a king.--All these fighting men going up and downthe Valley are going to eat you out of house and home.--I got some paytwo months ago, and I've enough left to make it fairer--"
He drew out a Confederate note. The woman on the doorstep looked at itadmiringly, and, taking it from him, examined either side. "They makethem pretty as a picture," she said. "Once't I was in Richmond and sawthe Capitol. That's a good picture of it. And that statue of GeneralWashington!--My! his horse's just dancing as they say Ashby's does tomusic. One of those bronze men around the base is a forbear of mine."She gave back the note. "I had a little mite of real coffee that I'dhave liked to give you--but it's all gone. Howsoever, you won't gohungry with what you've got. Have you a nice place to sleep in?"
"The nicest in the world. A bed of oak leaves and a roof all stars."
"You could stay here to-night. I've got a spare room."
"You're just as good as gold," said Allan. "But I want to be out where Ican hear the news. I'm a scout, you see."
"I thought that, watching you come up the path. We're learning fast.Used to be I just thought a soldier was a soldier! I never thought ofthere being different kinds. Do you think the army'll come this way?"
"I shouldn't be surprised," said Allan. "Indeed, I'm rather expectingit. But you never know. How many of your people are in it?"
"A lot of cousins. But my sons are with Johnston. Richmond's more'n ahundred miles away, I reckon, but all last night I thought I heard thecannon. Well, good-bye! I'm mighty glad to see you all again in theValley. Be sure to come back for your breakfast--and if the army passesI've got enough for one or two besides. Good-bye--God bless you."
Allan left behind the small brick farmhouse, stopped for a drink at thespring, then climbed a rail fence and made across a rolling field ofbright green clover to a width of blossoming woods, beyond which ran theMt. Solon and Bridgewater road. From the forest issued a curl of bluevapour and a smell of wood smoke. The scout, entering, found a cheerful,unnecessarily large fire. Stretched beside it, upon the carpet of lastyear's leaves, lay Billy Maydew, for whose company he had applied uponquitting, a week before, the army between McDowell and Franklin. Allansnuffed the air. "You build too big a fire, Billy! 'Tisn't a goodscout's way of doing."
Billy laid down horizontally upon the leaves the stick he had beenwhittling. "Thar ain't anybody but home folks to smell it. Didn't we seeAshby on the black stallion draw a line like that thar stick across theValley with a picket post for every knot?" He sat up. "Did you getanything to eat?"
"I certainly did. There surely are good women in the land!" Allandisburdened himself. "Rake the coals out and get the skillet."
Afterwards they lay prone upon the leaves and talked. They had much oflife in common; they were as at home with each other as two squirrelsfrequenting the same tree. Now, as they lay beneath two clouds from twobriar-roots, they dwelt for some time upon Thunder Run, then from thatdelectable region turned to the here and now. Allan had taught Billy,finding him a most unsatisfactory pupil. Billy had in those daysacquired little book learning, but a very real respect for the blondgiant now lying opposite to him. Since coming to the army he had beenled to deplore his deficiencies, and, a week ago, he had suggested toAllan that in the interim of active scouting the latter should continuehis education. "When thar air a chance I want to swap into theartillery. Three bands of red thar," he drew a long finger across hissleeve, "air my ambition. I reckon then Christianna and all the ThunderRun girls would stop saying 'Billy.' They'd say 'Sergeant Maydew.' Anartillery sergeant's got to be head in ciphering, and he's got to beable to read words of mor'n one--one--"
"Syllable."
"That's it. Now they aren't any printed books hereabouts, but you've gotit all in your head--"
"I can't teach you much," Allan had said soberly, "whispering underbushes and listening for Schenck's cavalry! We might do something,though. You were an awful poor speller. Spell 'sergeant'--now'ordnance'--now 'ammunition'--'battery'--'caisson'--'Howitzer'--'Napoleon'--'Tredegar'--'limber'--'trail'--'cannon-powder'--"
In the week Billy had made progress--more progress than in a session onThunder Run. Now, lying in the woods a little west of Mt. Solon, waitingfor the army moving back to the Valley, this time from the west, fromthe Allegheny fastnesses, he accomplished with eclat some oralarithmetic--"If two Yankee Parrotts are fired every eight minutes, andin our battery we serve the howitzer every nine minutes, the Napoleonevery ten, the two six-pounders every eleven, and if the Yankees limberup and leave at the end of an hour, how many shells will have beenthrown?"--"If it is a hundred and ten miles from Harrisonburg to thePotomac, and if Old Jack's foot cavalry advances twenty-two miles a day,and if we lay off a day for a battle, and if we have three skirmisheseach occupying two hours, and if Banks makes a stand of half a day atWinchester, and if Fremont executes a flank movement and delays us sixhours, just how long will it be before Old Jack pushes Banks into thePotomac?"--"If Company A had ninety men when it started ('thar war afull hundred') and five men died of measles and pneumonia (''t weresix'), and if we recruited three at Falling Springs, and six were killedat Manassas and sixteen wounded, half of whom never came back, and wegot twelve recruits at Centreville and seven more at Winchester, and iffive straggled on the Bath and Romney trip and were never heard of more,and if five were killed at Kernstown and a dozen are still in thehospital, and if ten more recruits came in at Rude's Hill and if we leftfour sick at Magaheysville, and if we lost none at McDowell, not beingengaged, but two in a skirmish since, and if Steve Dagg straggled threetimes but was brought back and tried to desert twice but never got anyfurther than the guardhouse--how many men are in Company A?"--"If"--thiswas Billy's--"if I have any luck in the next battle, and if I air foundto have a speaking acquaintance with every damned thousand-legged wordthe captain asks me about, and I get to be a sergeant, and I air swappedinto the artillery, and thar's a big fight, and my battery and Company Aare near, and Sergeant Mathew Coffin gets into trouble right next doorto me, and he cried out a hundred times (lying right thar in the zone offire), 'Boys, come take me out of hell!' and the company all was forcedback, and all the gunners, and I was left thar serving my gun, just aspretty and straight, and he cried out anoth'r hundred times, 'BillyMaydew, come pick me up and carry me out of hell'--and I just served ona hundred times, only looking at him every time the gun thundered and Istraightened up--"
"For shame!" cried Allan. "I've heard Steve Dagg say something like thatabout Richard Cleave." Billy sat up indignant. "It air not like that atall! The major air what he is, and Steve Dagg air what he is! SergeantMathew Coffin air what somebody or other called somebody else in thatthar old history book you used to make us learn! He air 'a pettytyrant.' He air that, and Thunder Run don't like that kind. He air notgoing to tyrannize much longer over Billy Maydew. And don't you becomparing me to Steve Dagg. I ain't like that, and I never was."
He lay prone again, insulted, and would not go on with the lesson. Allantook it calmly, made a placating remark or two, and lapsed into afriendly silence. It was pleasant in the woods, where the birds flittedto and fro, and the pink honeysuckle grew around, and from a safedistance a chipmunk daintily watched the intruders. The scout lay,drowsily happy, the sunshine making spun gold of his hair and beard, hiscarbine resting near. Back on Thunder Run, at the moment, Christianna inher pink sunbonnet, a pansy from the tollgate at her throat, rested uponher hoe in the garden she was making and looked out over the great seaof mountains visible from the Thunder Run eyrie. Shadows of clouds movedover them; then the sun shone out and they lay bene
ath in an amethystinedream; Christianna had had her dream the night before. In her sleep shehad come upon a dark pool beneath alders, and she had knelt upon theblack bank and plunged her arms to the shoulders into the water. Itseemed in her dream that there was something at the bottom that shewanted--a breastpin or a piece of money. And she had drawn up somethingthat weighed heavily and filled her arms. When she had lifted it halfwayout of the water the moon came out, and it was Allan Gold. She stood nowin her steep mountain garden bordered with phlox and larkspur and lookedfar out over the long and many ridges. She knew in which generaldirection to look, and with her mind's eye she tried to see the fightingmen, the fighting men; and then she shook her head and bent to herhoeing--far back and high up on Thunder Run.
Thirty leagues away, in the flowering wood by the Mt. Solon road Allansat up. "I was nearly asleep," he said, "back on the mountain-sideabove Thunder Run." He listened. "Horses' hoofs--a squad at a trot,coming east! some of Ashby's of course, but you stay here and put earthon the fire while I take a look." Rifle in hand, he threaded the thickundergrowth between the camp and the road.
It was late in the afternoon, but the road lay yet in sunshine betweenthe clover and the wheat, the bloomy orchards and the woods of May.Allan's precautions had been largely instinctive; there were noFederals, he had reason to be sure, south of Strasburg. He looked to seesome changing picket post of Ashby's. But the five horsemen who came insight, three riding abreast, two a little behind, had not a Valley air."Tidewater men," said Allan to himself. "How far is it to Swift Run Gap?Shouldn't wonder if General Ewell--"
A minute later the party came in line with the woods. Allan, afteranother deliberate look, stepped from behind a flowering thorn. Theparty drew up. "Good-afternoon, my man," said the stars and wreath inthe centre in a high, piping voice. "Alone, are you?--Ain't straggling,I hope? Far too many stragglers--curse of this service--civilians turnedsoldiers and all that. What's that? You know him, Stafford? One ofGeneral Jackson's scouts?--Then do you know, pray, where is GeneralJackson? for, by God, I don't!"
"I came across country myself to-day, sir--I and a boy that's with me.We've been ahead with Ashby, fending off Fremont. General Jackson ismarching very rapidly, and I expect him to-night."
"Where's he going, then?"
"I haven't the least idea, sir."
"Well," piped Ewell, "I'll be glad to see him. God knows, I don't knowwhat I'm to do! Am I to strengthen Johnston at Richmond? Am I to crossinto the Valley--by God, it's lovely!--and reinforce Jackson? Damn it,gentlemen, I'm a major-general on a seesaw! Richmond in danger--Valleyin danger. 'Better come to me!' says Johnston. Quite right! He needsevery man. 'Better stay with Jackson,' says Lee. Quite right again! OldJackson has three armies before him and only a handful. 'Better gallopacross and find out the crazy man's own mind,' says the major-generalin the middle." He turned with the suddenness of a bird to Allan. "ByGod, I'm hungry as a coyote! Have you got anything to eat?"
"I've some bread and bacon and a few eggs and half a pot of apple butterand a piece of honeycomb, sir--"
Ewell dismounted. "You're the foster brother I've been in search of forthirty-five years! Maury and John, it sounds as though there were enoughfor four. Deane and Edmondson, you ride on to that mill I see in frontof us, and ask if the folks won't give you supper. We'll pick you up inan hour or so. Now, my friend in need, we'll build a fire and if you'vegot a skillet I'll show you how an omelette ought to be made andgenerally isn't!"
Within the covert Billy made up the fire again, and General Ewell, beneaththe amused eyes of his aides, sliced bacon, broke eggs into the skillet andproduced an omelette which was a triumph. He was, in truth, a mastercook--and everything was good and savoury--and the trio was very hungry.Ewell had cigars, and smoked them like a Spaniard--generous, too--givingfreely to the others. As often as it burned low Billy threw dried sticksupon the fire. The evening was cool, the shadows advancing; the cracklinglight and warmth grateful enough. The newcomers asked questions. They wereeager to know--all the country was keen-set to know--eye-witnesses ofevents were duly appreciated. The scout had been at McDowell?
"Yes, but not in the battle, the Stonewall Brigade not being engaged.12th Georgia did best--and the 44th Virginia. 12th Georgia held thecrest. There was one man, just a boy like Billy there ('I'm eighteen!'from Billy)--couldn't anybody keep him back, behind the rise where ourtroops were lying down. 'We didn't come all this way to hide fromYankees,' he cried, and he rushed out and down upon them--poor fellow!"
"That's the spirit. In the morning you followed on?"
"Yes, but Milroy and Schenck did not do badly. That was a good fetch oftheirs--firing the forest! Everywhere a great murk with tongues offlame--smoke in nostril and eyes and the wind blowing fast. It lookedlike the end of the world. Old Jack--beg pardon, sir, GeneralJackson--General Jackson couldn't but smile, it was such excellenttactics. We drew off at last, near Franklin, and the army went into campfor a bit. Billy and I have been with a squadron of Ashby's."
"Keeping Fremont back?"
"Yes. General Jackson wanted the passes blocked. We did it prettythoroughly."
"How?"
"Burned all the bridges; cut down trees--in one place a mile ofthem--and made abatis, toppled boulders over the cliffs and choked theroads. If Fremont wants to get through he'll have to go round RobinHood's Barn to do it! He's out of the counting for awhile, I reckon. Atleast he won't interfere with our communications. Ashby has threecompanies toward the mountains, He's picketed the Valley straight acrossbelow Woodstock. Banks can't get even a spy through from Strasburg. I'veheard an officer say--you know him, Major Stafford--Major Cleave--I'veheard him say that General Jackson uses cavalry as Napoleon did and asno one has done since."
Ewell lit another cigar. "Well, I'm free to confess that old Jacksonisn't as crazy as an idiot called Dick Ewell thought him! As Miltonsays, 'There's method in his madness'--Shakespeare, was it, Morris?Don't read much out on the plains."
The younger aide had been gleeful throughout the recital. "Stonewall's agood name, by George! but, by George! they ought to call him the ArtfulDodger--"
Maury Stafford burst into laughter. "By Heaven. Morris, you'd bettertell him that! Have you ever seen him?"
"No. They say he's real pious and as simple as they make them--but Lord!there hasn't been anything simple about his late proceedings."
Stafford laughed again. "Religious as Cromwell, and artless asMacchiavelli! Begins his orders with an honourable mention of God,closes them with 'Put all deserters in irons,' and in between givespoints to Reynard the Fox--"
Ewell took his cigar from his lips. "Don't be so damned sarcastic,Maury! It's worse than drink--Well, Deane?"
One of his troopers had appeared. "A courier has arrived, general, witha letter from General Jackson. I left him at the mill and came back toreport. There's a nice little office there with a light and writingmaterials."
Dusk filled the forest, the night came, and the stars shone between thebranches. A large white moon uprose and made the neighbouring road amilky ribbon stretched east and west. A zephyr just stirred the myriadleaves. Somewhere, deeper in the woods, an owl hooted at intervals, verysolemnly. Billy heaped wood upon the fire, laid his gun carefully, justso, stretched himself beside it and in three minutes reached the deepestbasin of sleep. Allan sat with his back to the hickory, and thefirelight falling upon the leaves of a book he had borrowed from somestudent in the ranks. It was a volume of Shelley, and the young man readwith serious appreciation. He was a lover of poetry, and he was glad tomeet with this poet whose works he had not been able as yet to put uponhis book-shelf, back in the little room, under the eaves of thetollgate. He read on, bent forward, the firelight upon his ample frame,gold of hair and beard, and barrel of the musket lying on the leavesbeside him.
O Love! who bewailest The frailty of all things here, Why choose you the frailest For your cradle, your home, and your bier?
Allan made th
e fire yet brighter, listened a moment to the hooting ofthe owl, then read on:--
Its passions will rock thee As the storms rock the ravens on high; Bright reason will mock thee--
He ceased to read, turning his head, for he heard a horse upon the road,coming from the direction of the mill. It came slowly, with much ofweariness in the very hoof sounds, then left the road for the woodsideand stopped. Ensued a pause while the rider fastened it to some sapling,then, through the bushes, the former came toward the camp-fire. Heproved to be Maury Stafford. "The courier says General Jackson willreach Mt. Solon about midnight. General Ewell is getting an hour's sleepat the mill. I am not sleepy and your fire is attractive. May I keep youcompany for awhile?"
Allan was entirely hospitable. "Certainly, sir! Spread your cloak justthere--the wind will blow the smoke the other way. Well, we'll all beglad to see the army!"
"What are you reading?"
Allan showed him. "Humph!--
Its passions will rock thee As the storms rock the ravens on high; Bright reason will mock thee--
Well--we all know the man was a seer."
He laid the book down upon the grey cloak lined with red and sat withhis chin in his hand, staring at the fire. Some moments elapsed beforehe spoke; then, "You have known Richard Cleave for a long time?"
"Yes. Ever since we were both younger than we are now. I like him betterthan any one I know--and I think he's fond of me."
"He seems to have warm friends."
"He has. He's true as steel, and big-minded. He's strong-thewed--in andout."
"A little clumsily simple sometimes, do you not think? Lawyer andsoldier grafted on Piers Ploughman, and the seams not well hidden? Iwould say there's a lack of grace--"
"I have not noticed it," said Allan dryly. "He's a very good leader."
The other smiled, though only with the lips. "Oh, I am not decrying him!Why should I? I have heard excellent things of him. He is a favourite,is he not, with General Jackson?"
"I don't think that General Jackson has favourites."
"At least, he is no longer in disfavour. I remember toward the close ofthe Romney expedition--"
"Oh, that!" said Allan, "that was nothing." He put down his pipe. "Letme see if I can explain to you the ways of this army. You don't knowGeneral Jackson as we do, who have been with him ever since a year agoand Harper's Ferry! In any number of things he's as gentle as a woman;in a few others he--isn't. In some things he's like iron. He's rigid inhis discipline, and he'll tolerate no shade of insubordination, ordisobedience, or neglect of duty. He's got the defect of his quality,and sometimes he'll see those things where they are not. He doesn'tunderstand making allowances or forgiving. He'll rebuke a man in generalorders, hold him up--if he's an officer--before the troops, and all forsomething that another general would hardly notice! He'll make anofficer march without his sword for whole days in the rear of hisregiment, and all for something that just a reprimand would have donefor! As you say, he made the very man we're talking of do that fromBloomery Gap to Romney--and nobody ever knew why. Just the other daythere were some poor fools of twelve-month men in one of our regimentswho concluded they didn't want to reenlist. They said they'd go home andcried out for their discharge. And they had forgotten all about theconscription act that Congress had just passed. So, when the dischargewas refused they got dreadfully angry, and threw down their arms. Thecolonel went to the general, and the general almost put him underarrest. 'Why does Colonel Grigsby come to me to learn how to deal withmutineers? Shoot them where they stand.'--Kernstown, too. There's hardlya man of the Stonewall that doesn't think General Garnett justified inordering that retreat, and yet look at Garnett! Under arrest, and thecommanding general preferring charges against him! Says he did not waitfor orders, lost the battle and so on. With Garnett it is a deadlyserious matter--rank and fame and name for courage all in peril--"
"I see. But with Richard Cleave it was not serious?"
"Not in the least. These smaller arrests and censures--not even the bestcan avoid them. I shouldn't think they were pleasant, for sometimes theyare mentioned in reports, and sometimes they get home to the womenfolk.But his officers understand him by now, and they keep good discipline,and they had rather be led by Stonewall Jackson than by an easier man.As for Richard Cleave, I was with him on the march to McDowell and helooked a happy man."
"Ah!"
The conversation dropped. The scout, having said his say, easilyrelapsed into silence. His visitor, half reclining upon his cloakbeneath an old, gnarled tree, was still. The firelight played strangelyover his face, for now it seemed the face of one man, now that ofanother. In the one aspect he looked intent, as though in his mind hemapped a course. In the other he showed only weariness, dashed withsomething tragic--a handsome, brooding, melancholy face. They stayedlike this for some time, the fire burning before them, the moon floodingthe forest, the owl hooting from his hole in some decaying tree.
At last, however, another sound intruded, a very low, subdued sound likea distant ground swell or like thunder without resonance. It grew; dullyet, it became deep. Allan knocked the ashes from his pipe. "That is asound," he said, "that when you have once heard you don't forget. Thearmy's coming."
Stafford rose. "I must get back to General Ewell! Thank you, Gold, foryour hospitality."
"Not at all! Not at all!" said Allan heartily. "I am glad that I couldput that matter straight for you. It would blight like black frost tohave Stonewall Jackson's hand and mind set against you--and RichardCleave is not the least in that predicament!"
The Army of the Valley, advance and main column, and rearguard,artillery and wagon train, came down the moon-lighted road, havingmarched twenty miles since high noon. On either hand stretched pleasantpastures, a running stream, fair woods. Company by company the men leftthe road, were halted, stacked arms, broke ranks. Cessation from motionwas sweet, sweet the feel of turf beneath their feet. They had hadsupper three hours before; now they wanted sleep, and without muchprevious ado they lay down and took it--Stonewall Jackson's "footcavalry" sleeping under the round moon, by Mt. Solon.
At the mill there was a meeting and a conference. A figure in an oldcloak and a shabby forage cap dismounted, ungracefully enough, from atired nag, and crossed the uncovered porch to the wide mill door. Therehe was met by his future trusty and trusted lieutenant--"dear DickEwell." Jackson's greeting was simple to baldness. Ewell's had theprecision of a captain of dragoons. Together they entered the small milloffice, where the aides placed lights and writing materials, thenwithdrew. The generals sat down, one on this side of the deal table, oneon that. Jackson took from his pocket a lemon, very deliberately openeda knife, and, cutting the fruit in two, put one half of the sourtreasure to his lips. Ewell fidgeted, then, as the other sucked on,determined to set the ball rolling. "Damn me, general! if I am not gladto have the pleasure at last--"
Jackson sent across the table a grey-blue glance, then gently put downone half of the lemon and took up the other. "Why the deuce should helook at me in that damned reproachful fashion?" thought Ewell. He madeanother start. "There's a damned criss-cross of advices from Richmond.I hate uncertainty like the devil, and so I thought I'd ride across--"
"General Ewell," said Jackson gently, "you will oblige me by notswearing. Profanity, sir, is most distasteful to me. Now, you rodeacross?"
Ewell swallowed. "Rode across--rode across--I rode across, sir, fromSwift Run Gap, and I brought with me two late dispatches from GeneralJohnston and General Lee. I thought some expression, perhaps, to them ofyour opinion--following the late victory and all--"
The other took and read, laid down the dispatches and applied himself tohis lemon. Presently. "I will telegraph to-night to General Johnston andGeneral Lee. I shall advise that you enter the Valley as first intended.As for Richmond--we may best serve Richmond by threatening Washington."
"Threatening Washington?"
"At present you
are in my district and form part of my command. You willat once move your troops forward a day's march. Upon receipt of advicesfrom General Johnston and General Lee--and if they are of the tenour Iexpect--you will move with promptness to Luray."
"And then?"
"With promptness to Luray. I strongly value swiftness of movement."
"I understand that, sir. Double the distance in half the time."
"Good! When instructions are given, it is desirable that thoseinstructions be followed. I assume the responsibility of giving theproper instructions."
"I understand, general. Obey and ask no questions."
"Just so. Be careful of your ammunition wagons, but otherwise as littleimpedimenta as possible."
"I understand, sir. The road to glory cannot be followed with muchbaggage."
Jackson put out his long arm, and gently touched the other's hand."Good! I should be surprised if we didn't get on very well together. NowI will write a telegram to General Lee and then you shall get back toSwift Run Gap. The fewer hours a general is away from his troops thebetter." He rose and opened the door. "Lieutenant Meade!" The aideappeared. "Send me a courier--the one with the freshest horse. OrderGeneral Ewell's horses to be saddled."
This was the seventeenth. Two days later the Army of the Valley, movingdown the Valley pike in a beautiful confidence that it was hurlingitself against Banks at Strasburg, swerved to the east about New Market,with a suddenness that made it dizzy. Straight across its path now ranthe strange and bold wall of the Massanuttons, architectural freak ofNature's, planted midway of the smiling Valley. The army groaned."Always climbing mountains! This time to-morrow, I reckon, we'll climbit back again. Nothing over on the other side but the Luray Valley!"
Up and up went the army, through luxuriant forests where the laurel wasin bloom, by the cool dash of mountain waters, past one-time haunts ofstag and doe, through fern, over pine needles, under azure sky,--thendown it sank, long winding after winding, moss and fern and richestforest, here velvet shadow, there highest light, down and down to thelovely Luray Valley, to the crossing of the Shenandoah, to green meadowsand the bugles ringing "halt"!
How short the time between tattoo and reveille! The dawn was rosy,still, not cold, the river running near, the men with leave to ridthemselves of the dust of yesterday's long march. In they plunged, allalong the south fork of the Shenandoah, into the cool and wholesomeflood. There were laughters, shoutings, games of dolphins. Then out theycame, and while they cooked their breakfasts they heard the drums andfifes of Ewell's eight thousand, marching down from Conrad's Store.
The night before at Washington, where there was much security and muchtriumph over the certain-to-occur-soon-if-not-already-occurred Fall ofRichmond, the Secretary of War received a dispatch from General Banks atStrasburg in the Valley of Virginia, thirty miles from Winchester.
"My force at Strasburg is 4476 infantry, two brigades; 1600 cavalry, 10 Parrott guns and 6 smoothbore pieces. I have on the Manassas Gap Railroad, between Strasburg and Manassas, 2500 infantry, 6 companies cavalry, and 6 pieces artillery. There are 5 companies cavalry, First Maine, near Strasburg. Of the enemy I received information last night, direct from New Market, that Jackson has returned to within 8 miles of Harrisonburg, west. I have no doubt that Jackson's force is near Harrisonburg, and that Ewell still remains at Swift Run Gap. I shall communicate more at length the condition of affairs and the probable plans of the enemy."
In pursuance of his promise General Banks wrote at length fromStrasburg, the evening of the 22d:--
"Sir. The return of the rebel forces of General Jackson to the Valley after his forced march against Generals Milroy and Schenck increases my anxiety for the safety of the position I occupy.... That he has returned there can be no doubt.... From all the information I can gather--and I do not wish to excite alarm unnecessarily--I am compelled to believe that he meditates attack here. I regard it as certain that he will move north as far as New Market, a position which ... enables him also to cooperate with General Ewell, who is still at Swift Run Gap.... Once at New Market they are within twenty-five miles of Strasburg.... I have forborne until the last moment to make this representation, well knowing how injurious to the public service unfounded alarms become...."
The general signed and sent his letter. Standing for a moment, in thecool of the evening, at the door of headquarters, he looked toward theeast where the first stars were shining. Fourteen miles over there washis strongest outpost, the village of Front Royal occupied by ColonelKenly with a thousand men and two guns. The general could not see theplace; it lay between the Massanuttons and the Blue Ridge, but it was inhis mind. He spoke to an aide. "To-morrow I think I will recall Kenlyand send him down the pike to develop the force of the enemy."
The small town of Strasburg pulsed with flaring lights and with themanifold sounds of the encamped army. Sutlers showed their wares, guarddetails went by, cavalrymen clanked their spurs through the streets,laughter and talk rang through the place. A company of strollingplayers had come down from the North, making its way from Washington toHarper's Ferry, held by three thousand Federals; from Harper's Ferry toWinchester, held by fifteen hundred; and from Winchester to Strasburg.The actors had a canvas booth, where by guttering candles and to thesound of squeaking fiddles they gave their lurid play of the night, andthey played to a crowded house. Elsewhere there was gambling, elsewherepraying, elsewhere braggarts spoke of Ajax exploits, elsewhere there wasmoaning and tossing in the hospitals, elsewhere some private, raisedabove the heads of his fellows, read aloud the Northern papers._McClellan has one hundred and twelve thousand men. Yesterday hisadvance reached the White House on the Pamunkey. McDowell has fortythousand men, and at last advice was but a few marches from thetreasonable capital. Our gunboats are hurrying up the James. Presumablyat the very hour this goes to press Richmond is fallen._
Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen, Fallen from her high estate, And weltering in her blood.
Elsewhere brave, true, and simple men attended to their duties, wrotetheir letters home, and, going their rounds or walking their beats,looked upward to the silver stars. They looked at the stars in the west,over the Alleghenies where Fremont, where Milroy and Schenck should be;and at those in the south, over the long leagues of the great Valley,over Harrisonburg, somewhere the other side of which Stonewall Jacksonmust be; and at those in the east, over the Massanuttons, with the BlueRidge beyond, and Front Royal in between, where Colonel Kenly was; andat the bright stars in the North, over home, over Connecticut andPennsylvania and Massachusetts, over Wisconsin, Indiana, and Maine.
They who watched the stars from Strasburg dwelt least of all, perhaps,upon the stars in the east. Yet under those lay that night, ten milesfrom Front Royal, Stonewall Jackson and seventeen thousand men.