Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 2.djvu/77

Rh mond was to be the objective, and which was to be carried but by the army of the Potomac under his personal direction, in conjunction with an army in West Virginia under General Milroy, and another in the valley of Virginia under General Banks. While McClellan transported his great army of the Potomac by water to York river, whence he could move on the flank of Richmond, Milroy was to march down west of the Alleghanies, and Banks was to move directly up the valley, the latter two uniting at Staunton to march on Lynchburg, where they would cut the communication between Richmond and the southwestern States of the Confederacy. Maj.-Gen. Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall) was in the valley with 8,000 men to observe and check this concentration. Ewell was on the Rappahannock with 7,000 to watch McClellan's move by that route, while Johnston had taken the main part of his army to the peninsula between the York and James rivers, to confront McClellan, whose move in that direction had become fully developed.

Jackson required more men. Banks in front had more than four times his number, and his force could not cover the ground. The story at the time was that he applied to Richmond for " more men and fewer orders." Ewell was ordered to report to him and reached Conrad's Store on the first days of May. To his astonishment and perplexity he found the embers of Jackson's camp fires and no orders. Jackson had vanished in a night, without a word, without a trace. So Ewell impatiently waited a week for directions and at length came the telegram from "Stonewall"—"McDowell, May 9th: God has given us a victory at McDowell to-day." That was all, but it was sufficient.

Without stopping to take breath, Jackson sped back to Staunton, moved swiftly on Banks, who had got to Strasburg, and ordered Ewell to meet him at New Market. Thence they recrossed the Massanutten range and raced swiftly down the Luray valley. This march was like the