Those who saw him during this period, will recall many other charming reminiscences of him. He was very fond of children, and those of the neighborhood will long remember the kind voice and smile of the soldier-his caresses and affectionate ways. We have alluded to the new cap, which the General wore at the battle of Fredericksburg, resplendent with gold braid and all manner of decorations. He did not admire this fine substitute for that old, sun-scorched cap, which had so long served him; and when, one day, a little girl was standing at his knee, looking up from her clustering curls at the kindly General, whose hand was caressing her hair, he called for a pair of scissors, ripped off the rich gold band, and joining the ends, placed it like a coronet upon her head, with smiles and evident admiration of the pretty picture thus presented.

Another little girl, in one of the hospitable houses of that region, told the present writer that when she expressed to a gentleman her wish to kiss General Jackson, and the gentleman repeated her words, the General blushed very much, and turned away with a slight laugh, as if he was confused.

These are trifles, but it is surely a pleasant spectacle to see the great soldier amid these kindly, simple scenes; to watch the leader, whose soul has never shrunk in the hour of peril, passing happy moments in the society of laughing children.

The days passed thus quietly at Moss Neck, the enemy making numerous demonstrations, but never crossing. January, February, the greater part of March went by, and Jackson still remained upon his crest of hills above the meadows of the Rappahannock. But late in March he moved his headquarters to a point near Hamilton's crossing, just in rear of the battle field of Fredericksburg, on the southern side of the Massaponnax, and not far from General Lee.

He had some time before been made Lieutenant-General, but this promotion could add nothing to the stature of a man whose military renown was so firmly established.

*The late Colonel A. S. Pendleton, Jackson's A. A. G., is our authority for this incident.

Jackson looked forward to the coming campaign with the deepest interest. He was one day conversing with a member of his staff, and having stated the grounds upon which he believed a great battle would soon take place, he remained silent for some moments, and then added humbly and reverently:

"My trust is in God."

A brief silence again followed these words; but suddenly the face of the soldier flushed with martial enthusiasm, and rising to his feet, with flashing eyes and compressed lips, he exclaimed: "I wish they would come!"

The spring was now beginning to advance, and the season for hostilities had returned. Jackson hastened the preparation of his reports, and had the satisfaction of knowing that at last they were nearly complete.

It was whilst he was engaged in his revision of the report of the operations of his corps in the Maryland campaign, that the note of battle was again sounded; and from memories of past events and the battles already fought, he was recalled to the present and to the still more desperate conflict about to take place to the last, and what was to prove not the least splendid of his achievements.

CHAPTER XXXII.

FEDERAL PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN OF 1863.

It is impossible in a work like the present to present that comprehensive view of operations in every quarter of the field, which is necessary to an intelligent understanding of the late revolution. The crowding incidents of the struggle must be sought elsewhere. Scarce an allusion can be made to them here.

The aspect of affairs at the opening of the year 1863 was

FEDERAL PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN OF 1863. 395

far more encouraging to the South than in the spring of 1862. Then a heavy cloud seemed to have settled upon the Southern horizon, and ruin stared the Confederates in the face. Donald

son and Roanoke Island had been captured; the Confederates had been defeated at Elkhorn, Kernstown, and Newbern, which latter loss exposed all Eastern North Carolina. In April Fort Macon surrendered, and on the 1st of May New Orleans fell. Such had been the aspect of affairs in May, 1862.

As May, 1863, approached, the prospects of the South looked far more favorable, and the victories of Cold Harbor, Cedar Run, the second Manassas, and Fredericksburg had inspired the troops with enthusiasm. In Virginia two years of arduous struggle had not enabled the Federal authorities to penetrate beyond the Rappahannock; and on the southern banks of that river, in the opening of the spring of 1863, the long lines of Confederate pickets warned the enemy that any attempt to cross would be resisted by the army which had repulsed them in December at Fredericksburg.

We are compelled, in like manner, to pass over the political events of the period, including the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln, by which he declared the slaves free on and after January 1, 1863, and announced that the Federal Government would "do no act or acts to repress such persons or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom." The general survey, military and political, must be looked for elsewhere.

What had, however, a direct bearing upon the Virginia campaign, and the subject of this book, was the evident impression among many of the most prominent politicians at the North, that unless the approaching campaign was successful, the Federal Government must make peace upon the basis of separation and Southern independence. The New York "Tribune" announced the programme of operations which the times demanded, and gave its views as follows: "Having massed our forces and filled our depots and caissons, charge upon the rebels in every quarter-assailing their ports with iron-clads, their ar

mies with stronger armies, fighting resolutely but warily with intent to capture their strongholds and exhaust their resources— while expeditions of light-armed black Unionists, carrying only arms and ammunition, traverse those portions of Rebeldom most exposed and thickly peopled with slaves, carrying liberty to all who wish it, and arms wherewith to defend it; moving rapidly and evading all fortified points and overpowering forces, while breaking up railroads and telegraph lines, and making trouble generally." If this "making trouble generally" by black Unionists and others did not attain its object, then the war must be given up by the North. "If three months more of earnest fighting," said the "Tribune," "shall not serve to make a serious impression on the rebels-if the end of that term shall find us no further advanced than its beginning-if some malignant fate has decreed that the blood and treasure of the nation shall ever be squandered in fruitless efforts-let us bow to our destiny, and make the best attainable peace."

The Federal authorities seemed so far to concur in these views, as to determine upon a more resolute prosecution of hostilities than before. Every means was again used to gather recruits, and by the spring the authorities had upon the shores of the Rappahannock, a force which Major-General Peck, of the United States Army, stated, in the New York "Herald" to have numbered 159,300 men.

This large army was not to be commanded by General Burnside. The battle of Fredericksburg seems to have occasioned his disgrace with the military authorities, and he was to be succeeded by General Joseph Hooker, called, for his nerve and obstinacy upon the field, "Fighting Joe Hooker." This officer was a soldier of ability as division or corps commander, but does not seem to have possessed the faculties necessary in the head of an army. He had become embroiled both with General McClellan and General Burnside, whose operations he greatly censured before the Committees of Investigation; and the Federal authorities now seemed to have so far coincided in his views as to have decided that he should have an opportunity to

display his own abilities unhampered by any immediate superior. He was placed in command of the celebrated Army of the Potomac; all the resources of the Government were put at his orders; and in April he had ready for the field an army which he himself described as "the finest on this planet."

At the end of April the two armies confronted each other on the banks of the Rappahannock, from a point above its confluence with the Rapidan, as far down as Port Royal. The bulk of the Confederate forces remained, however, near Fredericksburg. The various fords in the county of Culpepper were guarded by General Stuart with his cavalry.

The first note of the coming conflict was sounded on the 17th of March from the upper Rappahannock. On that day General Averill with about three thousand cavalry crossed the river at Kelly's ford, with the obvious purpose of cutting General Lee's communications in the direction of Gordonsville, and ascertaining his strength and position.

Bad fortune, however, attended the expedition. The Federal general was met near Kelly's ford, by General Fitz Lee, with about eight hundred cavalry, and his advance so obstinately opposed, that, after a day of stubborn and bloody conflict, he was forced to fall back, with heavy loss, and recross the river. General Lee's loss was considerable; and among the officers killed was Major John Pelham-the "gallant Pelham" of General Lee's report at Fredericksburg-who was present with General Stuart during the battle. The fall of this great artillerist was an irreparable calamity, but the enemy were checked; and the Southern troops had the prestige of victory in the first action of the spring campaign.