Page:Boissonnas, Un Vaincu, English, 1875.djvu/78

 that the unyielding spirit of both sides was to prolong during seven horrible days.

General Jackson, whom we have just mentioned for the first time, was the hero of Bull Run -- the first important victory of the South. Former pupil at West Point, then artillery officer during the Mexican campaign, finally professer of mathematics, Jackson had made himself known, much more by his strange manifestations of an ardent and sincere piety than by any remarkable military gift. His real value had been revealed at Bull Run. He had deserved there, by his unshakable firmness, the nickname of ‘Stonewall,’ by which we will often call him. When General Lee called on him, he was successfully withholding, with 20 thousand men, two Federal armies camped in front of Washington.

The 26th of June, as we have said, Lee decided to take the offensive, and did it with vigor. The Federals were compelled to retreat ; but if they gave up the battlefield, they kept the positions they had fortified beforehand as a shield in case of retreat.

The following day -- the 27th -- action resumed with daylight. It was a Brigade of young recruits who had the perilous honor of attacking the entrenchments of the Federals.