The part taken by his brigade in the battle has been described. They undoubtedly decided the fortunes of the day, by first checking the rapid advance of the Federal forces until the Confederate line was formed, and then, by piercing their centre, separating their wings, and compelling them to fall back from heir strong position upon the plateau near the Henry house. The importance of these services was recognized by the country, and Jackson began to be spoken of as a commander of nerve and ability. Beyond this, however, his fame did not extend. No one seems to have suspected the existence of those great resources of strategy and daring which lay under the calm exterior of the Virginian; and his celebrity as a soldier was still to be won upon more arduous fields.

For three days Jackson waited impatiently for the order to advance upon Washington. We have heard his exclamation on the field of battle, that with ten thousand men he could enter the Federal capital that night; and to the future, when all the facts shall be published, we must leave the decision of the question whether he erred. What seems plain is, that Washington at that moment was almost undefended, the Federal army routed, and the way open. Jackson thought the movement perfectly practicable, and said more than once, with some impatience, "I have three days' rations cooked, ready to advance. Why don't the order come!"

It did not come-for what reason it is difficult at this time to understand. The army was not well, but sufficiently provisioned; the means of transportation were limited, but many wagons were not needed; and General Patterson had not moved from his position on the upper Potomac. This was not certainly known, however, and the apprehension was felt that a new army would await the Confederates at Arlington Heights. The men were not then inured to forced marches and fasting, and the idea of promptly advancing was abandoned. To the eye of him who to-day embraces the whole field, "looking before and after," the movement seems to have been practicable; but the future was then hidden, the ground unknown, and the project of a forward

movement was given up. General Johnston collected his army, much scattered in the hot conflict, and sending forward advance forces to Fairfax Court House and Vienna, went into camp near Centreville.

The intelligence of the victory at Manassas was greeted in the South in a manner which seemed disproportioned to its importance. No bells were rung, or crowds harangued by street orators; and it was difficult to believe, from the demeanor of the people, that they realized the good fortune of the Southern arms. Such at least was the fact in Virginia, and the explanation may probably be discovered in the natural character of the population. The Virginians are not easily elated by good fortune, or depressed by bad; and they exhibited this temper of mind on the present occasion. The Congress imitated them. Resolutions of thanks to the Southern troops were passed, couched in terms of gravity and decorum, and the subject then seemed to be forgotten. The effect of the battle at the North was different. Such ardent expectations of a decisive victory over the South had been indulged, that the result fell upon the people with the startling effect of a thunderbolt. The press teemed with angry denunciations of the generals who had thus suffered themselves to be defeated; a policy of extermination against the South was hotly advocated; and the entire body of Northern society seemed to be convulsed, as it had never been before, in the recollections of the living.

Prompt steps were taken by the Federal authorities to retrieve the disaster, and every energy was brought into play. New levies were made; a heavy loan negotiated with the banks of New York, on terms which indicated no change in the public conviction that the South would soon be forced back into the Union; and Lieutenant-General Scott, now past seventy, yielded the command of the Federal armies to a younger and more active officer. General George B. McClellan, the officer in question, will probably rank, in the ultimate judgment of military critics, as the ablest Federal commander of the war. This estimate, which is formed by the present writer after a careful study

of his official reports, and a full consideration of all the circumstances under which he acted, will only go for what it is worth; but his great abilities as a soldier were unquestioned even by his opponents. He was at this time about thirty-five years of age, was a graduate of West Point, and had been chiefly known before the war as the author of a work upon European tactics, the result of a visit as military commissioner to the Crimea. When the war broke out he was assigned to the command of the Federal forces in Western Virginia, where he achieved a complete success over the Confederate arms at Rich Mountain and Carrick's ford. These affairs had appeared on the Federal bulletins as "two victories in one day;" General McClellan received the flattering name of "the Young Napoleon," and his sudden promotion to the command of all the United States forces indicated the high opinion which had been formed of his abilities. Precise and military in his bearing when on duty, but at other times easy, approachable, and ever ready to smile and utter a kind word, he became immediately and greatly popular with the troops. His sentiments toward the South were those of a soldier for an open and powerful opponent, and he entered upon the duties of his great position with a zeal and energy which soon accomplished the most important results. Under his directing hand the disorganized Federal army again took shape, reformed its broken ranks, and once more presented a determined and dangerous front to the South.

The military operations which took place during the remainder of the year 1861, over the whole field of struggle from Virginia to Missouri, form no part of the present narrative. The South had not profited by the result of the battle of Manassas. It is doubtful whether that victory did not prove a misfortune to the Confederacy. Instead of concentrating all their energies, and preparing for a hard and protracted struggle, the Southern people seemed to consider the conflict over, and the revolution victoriously terminated at a blow. The ignis fatuus of European intervention danced before every eye, leading the people of the Confederate States still deeper and deeper into the treacherous

slough and during all this time the North, with greater energy and resolution than before, was gathering, by land and by sea, an overpowering force for their destruction. Immense iron-clad men-of-war; great armies at every point on the frontier; enormous levies of additional troops, and fresh loans; a resolute determination to crush the South at any cost-these were the elements which the North now brought, with persistent activity, to the further struggle. Active operations followed at nearly every point. Armies took the field in Missouri, Kentucky, and Virginia; and extensive expeditions by water were undertaken against the fortified places along the Southern coast. In Western Virginia an active campaign took place, resulting in the indecisive affairs at Scary Creek, Cross Lanes, Carnifax Ferry, and Cheat Mountain, where Generals Floyd and Wise carried on the contest with varying but unimportant results. The only affairs of importance which redeemed the campaign in Virginia, after July, from its general aspect of nonsuccess, were the actions at Leesburg and Alleghany Mountain, in October and December. In the former Colonel Evans met and repulsed with heavy slaughter a Federal force which crossed the Potomac at Ball's Bluff; and in the latter, Colonel Edward Johnson, with a small body of Confederates, sustained the attack of a much larger force of Federal troops for about six hours, when they retired and left him in possession of the field.

But these successes did not greatly change the face of affairs, and the prospect for the spring looked threatening. Two Federal armies were held ready to advance at the opening of fine weather that at Washington, under personal command of General McClellan, and a second opposite Leesburg, under General Banks of Massachusetts. In addition to these, considerable bodies of Federal troops occupied the counties of Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan, on the head-waters of the Potomac, where they lived on the country, harassed the inhabitants, and treated as public enemies all who refused to subscribe to the Federal oath of allegiance.

To protect this portion of the State, and guard the lower

valley against General Banks, the Confederate Government determined to send a force to Winchester. This could not be wholly drawn from the army at Centreville, which faced General McClellan, and other sources were looked to. Detached bodies from various quarters were ordered to concentrate at Winchester, and especially the commands of Generals Loring and Henry R. Jackson, who had hitherto operated in Western Virginia. The force thus organized was officially styled the "Army of the Monongahela," and was placed under the command of General Stonewall Jackson, who had been advanced to the rank of major-general.

This gratifying promotion seemed to produce little effect upon Jackson, or he was too modest to let his feelings be seen. On the night when he received his commission, his friend Colonel Pendleton slept with him, and they talked confidentially for hours, but Jackson did not allude to it. It was only on the next day, when they rode together to Fairfax Court House, that Colonel Pendleton heard of it. Jackson was looking for a magistrate to administer the official oath, and was thus led to mention his promotion.

CHAPTER II.

JACKSON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS TO HIS BRIGADE.

AFTER the battle of Manassas, Jackson had remained with his brigade in the woods near Centreville, only moving once, when the Confederate generals advanced to Fairfax Court House, and then abruptly retired, with the hope of drawing General McClellan from his earthworks at Arlington. He had looked in vain for the signal to march upon Washington. Day followed day and then weeks and months went by-the signal did not His brigade awaited the order to advance with an im

come.