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.Ewell's division led Stonewall's column out in the gray light of August twenty-fifth.Stuart remained behind for the day.He sent Captain Hardeman Stuart of his staff to a curious adventure.The captain was to seize a Federal signal post known as View Tree and supplant it with a Confederate flagman.Hardeman Stuart found the hilltop held by a strong picket which drove off his handful of men; he was left afoot by an orderly who fled with his horse.Jeb's young cousin retreated until he met Jackson's passing column and fell in with an infantry regiment, to fight with Stonewall for a time.Jeb was called to headquarters at midnight and ordered to take the cavalry in Jackson's path.Buglers called reveille at one a.m.and the squadrons were soon moving: Amissville, a sleeping village, then across the Rappahannock just above Waterloo Bridge and into the small town of Salem.Here the way was blocked by Jackson's wagons and artillery and Stuart took them out of the road.His report of it had a casual sound: "I got no sleep, but remained in the saddle all night.Directing the artillery and ambulances to follow the road, I left with the cavalry and proceeded by farm roads and by paths parallel to General Jackson's route to reach the head of his column.The country was exceedingly rough, but I succeeded, by the aid of skillful guides, in passing Bull Run Mountain without incident worthy of record."2A few Federal pickets were snapped up, but no alarms were given, and when Jackson's men poured across the Bull Run range by Thoroughfare Gap, they broke into the plain in rear of the enemy.The Confederates were in great strength, ready to stand between Pope and Washington.Until they turned back east through the pass and caught sight of the railroad, Jackson's veterans were ignorant of their objective.Allen Redwood, who marched with the 55th Virginia Infantry, sketched the men as they neared the point of decision:"Such specters of men they were—gaunt-cheeked and hollow-eyed, hair, beard, clothing, and accouterments covered with dust— only their faces and hands, where mingled soil and sweat streaked and crusted the skin, showing any departure from the whitey-gray uniformity.The ranks were sadly thinned.Our regiment, which had begun the campaign 1015 strong and had carried into action at Richmond 620, counted off just 82 muskets!"3The sweep around Pope had been no secret to the watchful Federals.The dust cloud raised by Jackson's men hung within sight of a dozen signal stations on the morning of August twenty-fifth, and signal flags waved accurate estimates of Stonewall's strength.But Pope's army lay along the Rappahannock as if unconcerned.Jackson might be headed for the Shenandoah Valley, or in any of three or four directions on a raid.By some miracle it did not occur to Federal headquarters that the maneuver placed Pope and his army in peril.The dash of Jackson, as it developed, might as well have been secret, after all.Pope's order on the twenty-fifth instructed General Irwin McDowell to move his corps on Waterloo Bridge to see what was going on there, but there was little movement.At the close of August twenty-sixth, when Jackson was striking the railroad far to the north, Pope's headquarters were at Warrenton Junction, and the units of his army were still scattered along the Rappahannock.Federal cavalry under General Buford was ordered westward at dawn to find Jackson's route.In the night, scouts reported Jackson was marching for Thoroughfare Gap.The news did not seem to signal danger to Pope, who began to issue orders for a sort of castles-in-Spain battle, planning to line his forces on an east-west front between Warrenton and Gainesville.He was writing orders for this move when he was interrupted: Confederate cavalry had cut the railroad at Manassas Junction in his rear.Pope ordered a regiment "to ascertain what had occurred, repair the telegraph wires and protect the railroad there until further orders."At midnight Pope sent a message to McDowell: The question of whether the entire Confederate army "has gone round is a question which we must settle instantly, so that we may determine our plans." It was eight thirty a.m.August twenty-seventh, before Pope ordered a concentration at Gainesville, near Manassas.The Federal commander learned the truth—that Jackson's whole wing was behind him—only when he arrived at Bristoe Station on the railroad, where in the afternoon of the twenty-seventh General Hooker had driven back Ewell's vanguard after a sharp skirmish.Pope belatedly began his fight for life.Stuart emerged from the cross-country ride with his troopers in the afternoon of August twenty-sixth at Gainesville, where he reported to Stonewall.Just before dusk troopers pounded into Bristoe Station and scattered the enemy picket.Confederate infantry was flowing into the place when a wailing engine and a train of empty cars fled past to the north.It was too late to derail it, but soldiers hurried it with musket fire [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]