Jackson was already in motion. All this marching and countermarching had its object. It deceived the enemy, who believed that the Valley was alive with troops moving to and fro, and preparing for a great advance down the Valley in pursuit of Shields and Fremont. Attention was thus entirely diverted from Richmond, where the real blow was to be struck. Jackson omitted, on this occasion, none of those precautions which so greatly contributed to the success of his movements, and which justly entitle him to be characterized as the general who 66 never made a mistake." He commenced by blinding those around him. His engineers were directed to prepare immediately a series of maps of the Valley; and all who acquired a knowledge of this carefully divulged order, told their friends in confidence that Jackson was going at once in pursuit of Fremont. As those friends told their friends without loss of time, it was soon the well-settled conviction of everybody that nothing was further from Jackson's intentions than an evacuation of the Valley. Having deceived his friends, the Confederate general proceeded to blind his enemies.

On the 16th of June he sent a note to Colonel Munford, who had succeeded Ashby in command of the cavalry, and held the front toward Harrisonburg, to "meet him at eleven that night at the head of the street at Mount Crawford, and not to ask for him or anybody."* Mount Crawford is a small village on the

* Colonel Munford had already received the following instructions:

NEAR MOUNT MERIDIAN, June 13th, 1862. COLONEL: It is important to cut off all communications between us and the enemy. Please require the ambulances to go beyond our lines at once, and press our lines forward as far as practicable. It is desirable that we should have New Market, and that no information should pass to the enemy. I expect soon to let you have two more companies of cavalry for the Army of the Northwest. I will not be able to leave here to-day, and possibly not for some time, so you must look out for the safety of your train. Please impress the bearers of the flag of truce as much as possible with an idea of a heavy advance on our part, and let them return under such impression. Whilst it is desirable for us to have New Market, yet you must judge of the practicability. The only true rule for cavalry, is to follow as long as the enemy retreats; be

Valley turnpike, about eight or ten miles from Port Republic, and the same distance from Harrisonburg. Colonel Munford received the note, set out alone, and, at the appointed hour, entered Mount Crawford, which, at that late hour of the night, looked dark and deserted. The moon was shining, however; and at the head of the street, in the middle of the highway, a solitary figure on horseback awaited him, motionless, and in silence. The hand of the figure went to his cap, and in the curt and familiar tones of Jackson came the words:

66 Ah, colonel, here you are. What news from the front?" "All quiet, general," replied Colonel Munford.

"Good! Now I wish you to produce upon the enemy the impression that I am going to advance."

And Jackson then gave his orders in detail, after which the figures parted and went different ways-Jackson back to Port Republic, Colonel Munford to Harrisonburg. The following is the manner in which Colonel Munford carried out his orders:

At Harrisonburg were a number of Federal surgeons, who had come with twenty-five or thirty ambulances to carry away the wounded officers and men who had been abandoned at that point by General Fremont in his retreat. These were informed by Colonel Munford, that before he could give them permission to do so, he must ascertain the wishes of General Jackson; and with this reply he left them, to carry out the rest of the scheme. There was attached to his command, as an independent, a well-known gentleman of that region named William Gilmer; and to this gentleman, ever ready for a good practical joke, was intrusted

yond that, of course, you can, under present circumstances, do little or nothing; but every mile you advance will probably give you additional prisoners, and especially as far as New Market, where you will get command of the road from Kernstown and Columbia bridge. I congratulate you upon your continued Respectfully, your obedient servant,

success.

T. J. JACKSON, Maj.-Gen.

P. S. Press our lines as far as you otherwise would have done, before the flag of truce is permitted to pass them. T. J. J.

the execution of the plot. The Federal surgeons occupied an apartment next to the room used by Colonel Munford for his headquarters, and only a thin partition divided them. Every word uttered in one room could be heard in the other; and this fact was well known to Colonel Munford, who gave Mr. Gilmer his instructions in a loud tone, despatched him apparently to General Jackson, and then awaited the issue of his scheme.

Some hours having elapsed since they had been assured that General Jackson's wishes would be ascertained, the surgeons all at once heard a courier mounting the stairs, his spurs and sabre clanking as he ascended. They moved quickly to the partition, and placed their ears close to the cracks—as it was expected they would. The courier entered; the surgeons bent lower, and determined not to lose a word.

"Well," said Colonel Munford, in a voice which he knew could be heard, "what does General Jackson say?"

"He told me to tell you," replied Mr. Gilmer, in his loud and sonorous voice, "that the wounded Yankees are not to be taken away; and the surgeons are to be sent back, with the message that he can take care of their wounded men in his own hospitals. He is coming right on, himself, with heavy reënforcements. Whiting's division is up; Hood's is coming. The whole road from here to Staunton is perfectly lined with troops, and so crowded that I could hardly ride along!"

Such was the highly important dialogue which the Federal surgeons, listening with breathless attention, overheard. When Colonel Munford sent for them, every man was on the other side of the room from the partition. They were ushered in, and briefly informed that they could return with their ambulances; General Jackson had instructed him to say that their wounded would be cared for in the Confederate hospitals.

The surgeons returned without delay, communicated the important intelligence which they had overheard to General Fremont, and that night the whole Federal army fell back to Strasburg, where they began to intrench against the anticipated attack.

Jackson was meanwhile on his way to the Chickahominy. Such were the results of the nocturnal interview at Mount Crawford. Extraordinary precautions were used to conceal the intended route of the troops. The men were forbidden even to ask the names of the villages through which they passed; and orders were issued, that to all questions they should make but one response: "I do not know." "This was just as much license as the men wanted," says an eye-witness, "and they forthwith knew nothing of the past, present, or future." An amusing incident grew out of this order. One of Hood's men left the ranks on the march, and was climbing a fence to go to a cherry-tree in a field near at hand, when Jackson rode by and saw him. "Where are you going?" asked the General. "I don't know," replied the soldier.

"To what command do you belong?" "I don't know."

"Well, what State are you from?"

"I don't know."

"What is the meaning of all this?" asked Jackson of another. "Well," was the reply, "Old Stonewall and General Hood issued orders yesterday, that we were not to know any thing until after the next fight." Jackson laughed, and rode on. The troops had been moved for the greater part of the way by railroad; but at Frederick Hall, above Hanover Junction, they were disembarked, and "moved in as many columns as there were roads; and for the want of roads, we sometimes marched through fields and woods."

On the morning of the 25th of June, the corps was rapidly "closing up," and approaching Ashland. Jackson had gone on in advance, and, riding through Richmond, visited the headquarters of General Lee, on the Nine-Mile road. Some one recognized him as he passed, incognito, through the city, and spoke of his presence; but so thoroughly had the entire movement been concealed, that the inquisitive personage was told that his statement was all nonsense, as General Jackson was then beyond the Blue Ridge.

Having ascertained the views of the commanding general in detail, Jackson disappeared as quietly as he came, and again took the head of his advancing column.

"Somewhere," was the neighborhood of Ashland, upon the Fredericksburg Railroad, about sixteen miles from Richmond.

CHAPTER II.

ON THE CHICKAHOMINY.

BURIED in the tangled undergrowth on the shore of the Chickahominy, the Federal army had no suspicion of the heavy blow about to be struck at them.

General McClellan was now within a few miles of Richmond, at the head of the most numerous and best equipped army that had ever assembled on American soil. Every resource of the Federal Government had been taxed to the utmost, to render it overwhelming in numbers, and invincible in all the appliances of war. More than 150,000 troops were encamped on the banks of the Chickahominy, and the arsenals and machine-shops of the North had left nothing to be desired in their armament and equipment for the great struggle before them. They were armed with excellent rifle-muskets, and the cavalry with revolvers, repeating rifles, and carbines of the best pattern. To this admirable armament were added about 400 pieces of artillery, ranging from the 30-pound Parrott to the Navy howitzer. Such were the military equipments of the force; the appliances for personal comfort were as excellent. No trouble had been spared to make the troops contented; and that profusion of delicacies which had attracted the attention of the hungry Confederates at Manassas, was to greet their eyes again in the abandoned camps on the plains of New Kent and Henrico.

The Federal troops seem to have regarded their position as unassailable and not without show of reason. In front of their