CHAPTER V. THE NORTHERN ADVANCE
Harry flattened himself against the wall and all his training andinherited instincts came promptly to his service. He knew that he, too,would be in the shadow there, where it was not likely that the sentinelscould see him owing to the darkness of the night. Then he movedcautiously toward the window where he had seen the outline.
The cold rain beat on his face and he saw the figures of the sentinelsmoving back and forth, but, black against the black wall, he wasconfident that he could not be seen by them. Half way to the window, hiseyes now having gotten used to the darkness, he knelt down and examinedthe earth, made soft by the rains. He distinctly saw footprints,undoubtedly those of a man, leading by the edge of the wall, and now heknew that he had not been mistaken.
Harry came to the window himself, and, glancing in, he saw that themerriment was going on unabated. He continued his search, following therevealing foot prints. He went nearly all the way around the house andthen lost them among heavy shrubbery. He surmised that at this pointthe spy--he was sure that it was a spy and sure, too, that it wasShepard--had left the place, passing between the sentinels in the rainydark.
He spoke to the sentinels, who knew him well, and they were quiteconfident that nobody had come within their lines. But Harry, whilekeeping his own counsel, held another opinion and he was equallypositive about it. He was returning to the house, when he heard thetread of hoofs, and then a horseman spoke with the sentinels. He lookedback and recognized Sherburne.
The young captain was holding himself erect in the saddle, but his horseand his uniform were covered with red mud. There were heavy black linesunder his eyes and his face, despite his will, showed strong signs ofweariness. Sure that his mission was important, Harry went to him atonce.
"Is General Jackson inside?" asked Sherburne.
"Yes, and he has not yet gone to bed," replied Harry, looking at thelighted windows.
"Then ask him if I can see him at once. He sent my troop and me on ascout toward Romney this morning. I have news, news that cannot wait."
"Of course, he'll see you. Come inside."
Sherburne slipped from his horse. Harry noticed that it was not hisusual elastic spring. He seemed almost to fall to the ground, and thehorse, no hand on the reins, still stood motionless, his head drooping.It was evident that Sherburne was in the last stages of exhaustion,and now that he came nearer his face showed great anxiety as well asweariness.
Harry opened the door promptly and pushed him inside. Then he helped himoff with his wet and muddy overcoat, pushed him into a chair, and said:
"I'll announce you to General Jackson, and he'll see you at once."
Harry knew that Jackson would not linger a second, when a messenger ofimportance came, and he went into the library where the minister andthe general stood talking. General Jackson held in one hand a largeleather-covered volume, and with the forefinger of the other hand he waspointing to a paragraph in it. The minister was saying somethingthat Harry did not catch, but he believed that they were arguing somedisputed point of Presbyterian doctrine.
When Jackson saw Harry he closed the book instantly, and put it on theshelf. He had seen in the eyes of his aide that he was coming with nocommon message.
"Captain Sherburne is in the hall, sir," said the boy. "He has come backfrom the scout toward Romney."
"Bring him in."
The minister quietly slipped out, as Sherburne entered, but Jackson badeHarry remain, saying that he might have orders for him to carry.
"What have you to tell me, Captain Sherburne?" asked Jackson.
"We saw the patrols of the enemy, and we took two prisoners. We learnedthat McClellan's army is showing signs of moving, and we saw withour own eyes that Banks and Shields are preparing for the same. Theythreaten us here in Winchester."
"What force do you think Banks has?"
"He must have forty thousand men."
"A good guess. The figures of my spies say thirty-eight thousand, and wecan muster scarcely five thousand here. We must move."
Jackson spoke without emotion. His words were cold and dry, even formal.Harry's heart sank. If eight times their numbers were advancing uponthem, then they must abandon Winchester. They must leave to the enemythis pleasant little city, so warmly devoted to the Southern cause andconfess weakness and defeat to these friends who had done so much forthem during their stay.
He felt the full bitterness of the blow. The people of the South--littleimmigration had gone there--were knit together more closely by ties ofkinship than those of the North. Harry through the maternal line was,like most Kentuckians, of Virginia descent, and even here in Winchesterhe had found cousins, more or less removed it was true, but it waskinship, nevertheless, and they had made the most of it. It would havebeen easier for him were strangers instead of friends to see theirretreat.
"Captain Sherburne, you will go to your quarters and sleep. It isobvious that you need rest," said Jackson. "Mr. Kenton, you will waitand take the orders that I am going to write."
Sherburne saluted and withdrew promptly. Jackson turned to a shelf ofthe library on which lay pen, ink and paper, and standing before itrapidly wrote several notes. It was his favorite attitude--habit of hisWest Point days--to write or read standing.
It took him less than five minutes to write the notes, and he handedthem to Harry to deliver without delay to the brigade commanders. Histones were incisive and charged with energy. Harry felt the electricthrill pass to himself, and with a quick salute he was once more out inthe rain.
Some of the brigadiers were asleep, and grumbled when Harry awoke them,but the orders soon sent the last remnants of sleep flying. The boy didnot linger, but returned quickly to the manse, where General Jackson methim at the door. Other aides were coming or going, but all save one ortwo windows of the house were dark now, and the merrymaking was over.
"You have delivered the orders?" asked Jackson.
"Yes, sir, all of them."
Harry also told then of the face that he had seen at the window and hisbelief concerning its identity.
"Very likely," said Jackson, "but we cannot pursue him now. Now go toheadquarters and sleep, but I shall want you at dawn."
Harry was ready before the first sunlight, and that day consternationspread through Winchester. The enemy was about to advance inoverwhelming force, and Jackson was going to leave them. Johnston wasretreating before McClellan, and Jackson in the valley must retreatbefore Banks.
There could be no doubt about the withdrawal of Jackson. Thepreparations were hurried forward with the utmost vigor. A train tookthe sick to Staunton, and in one of the coaches went Mrs. Jackson to herfather's home. Town and camp were filled with talk of march and battle,and the younger rejoiced. They felt that a month of waiting had madethem rusty.
Amid all the bustle Jackson found time to attend religious services,and also ordered every wagon that reached the camp with supplies to besearched. If liquor were found it was thrown at once upon the ground.The soldiers, even the recruits, knew that they were to follow aGod-fearing man. Oliver Cromwell had come back to earth. But most of thesoldiers were now disciplined thoroughly. The month they had spent atWinchester after the great raid had been devoted mostly to drill.
The day of departure came and the army, amid the good wishes of manyfriends in Winchester, filed out of the town. The great rains, which, ithad seemed, would never cease, had ceased at last. There was a touch ofspring in the air, and in sheltered places the grass was taking on deeptints of green.
During all the days of preparation Jackson had said nothing about hisplan of retreat. The Virginians, lining the streets and watching soanxiously, did not know where he would seek refuge. And suddenly as theywatched, a cheer, tremendous and involuntary, burst from them.
The heads of Jackson's columns were turned north. He was not marchingaway from the enemy. He was marching toward him. But the burst ofelation was short. Even the civilians in Winchester knew that Jacksonwas hugely outnumbered.
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Harry himself was astonished, and he gazed at his leader. Whatfathomless purpose lay beneath that stern, bearded face? Jackson's eyesexpressed nothing. He and he alone knew what was in his mind.
But the troops asked no word from their leaders. The fact that theirfaces were turned toward the north was enough for them. They knew, too,of the heavy odds that were against them, but they were not afraid.
As Harry watched the young soldiers, many of whom sang as they marched,his own enthusiasm rose. He had seen companies in brilliant uniforms atRichmond, but no parade soldiers were here. There were few glimpses ofcolor in the columns, but the men marched with a strong, elastic step.They had all been born upon the farms or in the little villages, andthey were familiar with the hills and forests. They had been hunters,too, as soon as their arms were strong enough to hold rifle or shot gun.Most of them had killed deer or bear in the mountains, and all of themhad known how to ride from earliest childhood. They had endured everyhardship and they knew how to take care of themselves in any kind ofcountry and in any kind of weather.
Harry smiled as he looked at their uniforms. How different they werefrom some of the gay young companies of Charleston! These uniforms hadbeen spun for them and made for them by their own mothers and wives andsisters or sweethearts. They were all supposed to be gray, but therewere many shades of gray, sometimes verging to a light blue, withbutternut as the predominant color. They wore gray jackets, short ofwaist and single-breasted. Caps were giving way to soft felt hats,and boots had already been supplanted by broad, strong shoes, calledbrogans.
Many of the soldiers carried frying pans and skillets hung on thebarrels of their rifles, simple kitchen utensils which constitutedalmost the whole of their cooking equipment. Their blankets and rubbersheets for sleeping were carried in light rolls on their backs. Atoothbrush was stuck in a buttonhole. On their flanks or in front rodethe cavalry, led by the redoubtable Turner Ashby, and there was inall their number scarcely a single horseman who did not ride like theComanche Indian, as if he were born in the saddle. Ashby was a host inhimself. He had often ridden as much as eighty miles a day to inspecthis own pickets and those of the enemy, and it was told of him that hehad once gone inside the Union lines in the disguise of a horse doctor.
The Northern cavalry, unused to the saddle, compared very badly withthose of the South in the early years of the war. Ashby's men, moreover,rode over country that they had known all their lives. There was noforest footpath, no train among the hills hidden from them. But thecannon of Jackson's army was inferior. Here the mechanical genius of theNorth showed supreme.
Such was the little army of Jackson, somber to see, which marched forthupon a campaign unrivalled in the history of war. The men whom theywere to meet were of staunch stock and spirit themselves. Banks, theircommander, had worked in his youth as a common laborer in a cotton mill,and had forced himself up by vigor and energy, but Shields was a veteranof the Mexican War. Most of the troops had come from the west, and they,too, were used to every kind of privation and hardship.
Harry's duties carried him back and forth with the marching columns,but he lingered longest beside the Invincibles, only a regiment now, andthat regiment composed almost wholly of Virginians. St. Clair was stillin the smartest of uniforms, a contrast to the others, and as he noddedto Harry he told him that the troops expected to meet the enemy beforenight.
"I don't know how they got that belief," he said, "but I know it extendsto all our men. What about it, Harry?"
"Stonewall Jackson alone knows, and he's not telling."
"They say that Banks is coming with ten to one!" said Langdon, "but itmight be worse than that. It might be a hundred to one."
"It's hardly as bad as ten to one, Tom," said Harry with a laugh."Ashby's men say it's only eight to one, and they know."
"It's all right, then," said Langdon, squaring his shoulders, andlooking ferocious. "Ten to one would be a little rough on us, but Idon't mind eight to one at all! at all! They say that the army of Banksis not many miles away. Is it so, Harry?"
"I suppose so. That's the news the cavalry bring in."
Harry rode on, saluting Colonel Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel St.Hilaire as he passed. They returned the salutes, but said nothing, andin a few minutes he was with General Jackson again.
It was now March, and the spring was making headway in the great valley.The first flush of green was over everything. The snows were gone, therains that followed were gone, too, and the earth was drying rapidlyunder the mild winds that blew from the mountains. It was evident to allthat the forces of war were unloosed with the departure of winter.
The day was filled with excitement for Harry. The great Federal army wasnow so near that the rival pickets were almost constantly in touch. Onlystern orders from Jackson kept his fiery cavalry from making attackswhich might have done damage, but not damage enough. Banks, the Unionleader, eminent through politics rather than war, having been Governorof Massachusetts, showed the utmost caution. Feeling secure inhis numbers he resolved to risk nothing until he gained his mainobject--Winchester--and the efforts of Turner Ashby and his brilliantyoung lieutenants like Sherburne, could not lead him into any trap.
Night came and the Southern army stopped for supper and rest. TheNorthern army was then only four miles from Winchester, and within ahalf hour hostile pickets had been firing at one another. Yet the menate calmly and lay down under the trees. Jackson called a council in alittle grove. General Garnett, the commander of the Stonewall Brigade,all the colonels of the regiments, and the most trusted young officersof his staff were present. A little fire of fallen wood lighted up theanxious and earnest faces.
Jackson spoke rapidly. Harry had never before seen him show so muchemotion and outward fire. He wanted to bring up all his men and attackthe Union army at once. He believed that the surprise and the immensedash of the Southern troops would overcome the great odds. But the otherofficers shook their heads sadly. There had been a confusion of orders.Their own troops had been scattered and their supply trains were faraway. If they attacked they would surely fall.
Jackson reluctantly gave up his plan and walked gloomily away. But heturned presently and beckoned to Harry and others of his staff. His eyeswere shining. Some strange mood seemed to possess him.
"Mount at once, gentlemen," he said, "and ride with me. I'm going toWinchester."
One or two of the officers opened their mouths to protest, but checkedthe words when they saw Jackson's stern face. They sprang into thesaddle, and scorning possible attack or capture by roving Union cavalry,galloped to the town.
Jackson drew rein before the manse, where Dr. Graham was alreadystanding at the open door to meet him, runners from the town carryingahead the news that Jackson was returning with his staff. It seemed thatsomething the general had said to the minister the day before troubledhim. Harry inferred from the words he heard that Jackson had promisedthe minister too much and now he was stung by conscience. Doubtlesshe had told Dr. Graham that he would never let the Federals takeWinchester, and he had come to apologize for his mistake. Harry was notat all surprised. In fact, as he came to know him thoroughly, he wasnever surprised at anything this strange man and genius did.
Harry's surmise was right. Jackson was torn with emotion at beingcompelled to abandon Winchester, and he wanted to explain how it was tothe friend whom he liked so well. He had thoughts even yet of strikingthe enemy that night and driving him away. Looking the minister steadilyin the face, but not seeing him, seeing instead a field of battle, hesaid slowly, biting each word:
"I--will--yet--carry--out--this plan. I--will--think. It--must be done."
The minister said nothing, standing and staring at the general likeone fascinated. He had never seen Jackson that way before. His facewas lined with thought and his eyes burned like coals of fire. Hishand fiercely clinched the hilt of his sword. He, who showed emotion sorarely, was overcome by it now.
But the fire in his eyes died, his head sank, and his hand fell fro
m hissword.
"No, no," he said sadly. "I must not try it. Too many of my brave menwould fall. I must withdraw, and await a better time."
Saying good-by to his friend he mounted and rode in silence fromWinchester again, and silently the people saw him go. His staff followedwithout a word. When they reached a high hill overlooking the townJackson paused and the others paused with him. All turned as if by oneaccord and looked at Winchester.
The skies were clear and a silver light shone over the town. It was abeautiful, luminous light and it heightened the beauty of spire, roof,and wall. Jackson looked at it a long time, the place where he had spentsuch a happy month, and then, his eye blazing again, he lifted his handand exclaimed with fierce energy:
"That is the last council of war I will ever hold!"
Harry understood him. He knew that Jackson now felt that the council hadbeen too slow and too timid. Henceforth he would be the sole judge ofattack and retreat. But the general's emotion was quickly suppressed.Taking a last look at the little city that he loved so well, he roderapidly away, and his staff followed closely at his heels.
That was a busy and melancholy night. The young troops, after all, werenot to fight the enemy, but were falling back. Youth takes less accountthan age of odds, and they did not wish to retreat. Harry who had seenthat look upon Jackson's face, when he gazed back at Winchester, feltthat he would strike some mighty counter-blow, but he did not know howor when.
The army withdrew slowly toward Strasburg, twenty-five miles away,and the next morning the Union forces in overwhelming numbers occupiedWinchester. Meantime the North was urging McClellan with his mighty armyto advance on Richmond, and Stonewall Jackson and his few thousands whohad been driven out of Winchester were forgotten. The right flank ofMcClellan, defended by Banks and forty thousand men, would be secure.
There was full warrant for the belief of McClellan. It seemed to Harryas they retreated up the valley that they were in a hopeless checkmate.What could a few thousand men, no matter how brave and hardy, do againstan army as large as that of Banks? But he was cheered somewhat by theboldness and activity of the cavalry under Ashby. These daring horsemenskirmished continually with the enemy, and Harry, as he passed back andforth with orders, saw much of it.
Once he drew up with the Invincibles, now a Virginia instead of aSouth Carolina regiment, and sitting on horseback with his old friends,watched the puffs of smoke to the rear, where Ashby's men kept back thepersistent skirmishers of the North.
"Colonel," said Harry to Colonel Talbot, "what do you think of it? Shallwe ever make headway against such a force? Or shall we be compelledto retreat until we make a junction with the main army under GeneralJohnston?"
Colonel Talbot glanced back at the puffs of white smoke, and suddenlyhis eyes seemed to flash with the fire that Harry had seen in Jackson'swhen he looked upon the Winchester that he must leave.
"No, Harry, I don't believe we'll keep on retreating," he replied. "Iwas with General Taylor when he fell back before the Mexican forcesunder Santa Anna which outnumbered him five to one. But at Buena Vistahe stopped falling back, and everybody knows the glorious victory we wonthere over overwhelming odds. The Yankees are not Mexicans. Far fromit. They are as brave as anybody. But Stonewall Jackson is a far greatergeneral than Zachary Taylor."
"I'm hoping for the best," said Harry.
"We'll all wait and see," said the colonel.
They stopped falling back at Mount Jackson, twenty-five miles fromWinchester, and the army occupied a strong position. Harry feltinstinctively that they would fall back no more, and his spirits beganto rise again. But the facts upon which his hopes were based were small.Jackson had less than five thousand men, and in the North he was wipedoff the map. It was no longer necessary for cabinet members and generalsto take him into consideration.
Jackson now out of the way, the main portion of the army under Banks wasdirected to march eastward to Manassas, while a heavy detachment stillmore than double Jackson's in numbers remained in the valley. MeanwhileMcClellan, with his right flank clear, was going by sea to Richmond,goaded to action at last by the incessant demands of a people which hada right to expect much of his great and splendidly equipped army.
Harry was with Stonewall Jackson when the news of these movementsreached them, brought by Philip Sherburne, who, emulating his commander,Turner Ashby, seemed never to rest or grow weary.
"General Banks is moving eastward to cover the eastern approaches toWashington," said the young captain, "while General Shields with 12,000men is between us and Winchester."
"So," said Jackson. Sherburne looked at him earnestly, but he gave nosign.
"Ride back to your chief and tell him I thank him for his vigilance andto report to me promptly everything that he may discover," said Jackson."You may ride with him also, Mr. Kenton, and return to me in an hourwith such news as you may have."
Harry went gladly. Sometimes he longed to be at the front with TurnerAshby, there where the rifles were often crackling.
"What will he do? Will he turn now?" said Sherburne anxiously to Harry.
"I heard General Jackson say that he would never hold another councilof war, and he's keeping his word. Nobody knows his plans, but I thinkhe'll attack. I feel quite sure of it, captain."
They came soon to a field in which Turner Ashby was sitting on ahorse, examining points further down the valley with a pair of powerfulglasses. Sherburne reported briefly and Ashby nodded, but did not takethe glasses from his eyes. Harry also looked down the valley and hisstrong sight enabled him to detect tiny, moving figures which he knewwere those of Union scouts and skirmishers.
Despite his youth and the ardor of battle in his nostrils, Harry feltthe tragedy of war in this pleasant country. It was a noble landscape,that of the valley between the blue mountains. Before him stretched lowhills, covered here and there with fine groups of oak or pine withoutundergrowth. Houses of red brick, with porticoes and green shutters,stood in wide grounds. Most of them were inhabited yet, and their ownersalways brought information to the soldiers of the South, never to thoseof the North.
The earth had not yet dried fully from the great rains, and horses andcannon wheels sank deep in the mud, whenever they left the turnpikerunning down the center of the valley and across which a Northern armyunder Shields lay. The men in blue occupied a wide stretch of grassyfields on the east, and on the west a low hill, with a small grovegrowing on the crest. Dominating the whole were the lofty cliffs ofNorth Mountain on the west. The main force of the North, strengthenedwith cannon, lay to the east of the turnpike. But on the hill to thewest were two strong batteries and near it were lines of skirmishers.Shields, a veteran of the Mexican war himself, was not present at thismoment, but Kimball, commanding in his absence, was alert and did notshare the general belief that Stonewall Jackson might be considerednon-existent.
Harry, things coming into better view, the longer he looked, saw much ofthe Union position, and Turner Ashby presently handed him the glasses.Then he plainly discerned the guns and a great mass of infantry, withthe colors waving above them in the gentle breeze.
"They're there," said Turner Ashby, dryly. "If we want to attack they'rewaiting."
Harry rode back to Jackson, and told him that the whole Union force wasin position in front, and then the boy knew at once that a battle wascoming. The bearded, silent man showed no excitement, but sent ordersthick and fast to the different parts of his army. The cavalry led byAshby began to press the enemy hard in front of a little village calledKernstown. A regiment with two guns led the advance on the west of theturnpike, and the heavier mass of infantry marched across the fields onthe left.
Harry, as his duty bade him, kept beside his general, who was ridingnear the head of the infantry. The feet of men and horses alike sankdeep in the soft earth of the fields, but they went forward at a goodpace, nevertheless. Their blood was hot and leaping. There was an end toretreats. They saw the enemy and they were eager to rush upon him.
The p
ulses in Harry's temples were beating hard. He already consideredhimself a veteran of battle, but he could not see it near withoutfeeling excitement. A long line of fire had extended across the valley.White puffs of smoke arose like innumerable jets of steam. The crackleof the rifles was incessant and at the distance sounded like the rippingof heavy cloth.
Then came a deep heavy crash that made the earth tremble. The twobatteries on the hill had opened at a range of a mile on Jackson'sinfantry. Those men of the North were good gunners and Harry heard theshells and solid shot screaming and hissing around. Despite his willhe could not keep from trembling for a while, but presently it ceased,although the fire was growing heavier.
But the Southern infantry were so far away that the artillery fire didnot harm. Ever urged on by Jackson, they pressed through fields andmarshy ground, their destination a low ridge from which, as a place ofadvantage, they could reply to the Union batteries. From the east andfrom a point near a church called the Opequon came the thunder of theirown guns advancing up the other side of the turnpike.
Now the great marching qualities of Jackson's men were shown. Not invain had they learned to be foot cavalry. They pressed forward throughthe deep mud and always the roar of the increasing fire called them on.Before them stretched the ridge and Harry was in fear lest the enemyspring forward and seize it first.
But no foe appeared in front of them in the fields, and then with a rushthey were at the foot of the ridge. Another rush and they had climbedit. Harry from its crest saw the wide field of combat and he knew thatthe greater battle had just begun.