Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/242

222 on the right of the Fifth. These regiments and some batteries resisted the enemy's advance, twice repulsing their attacks, and gave the retreating men opportunity to rally and other batteries time to withdraw. By extending their lines the Federals finally forced these regiments from the field.

The mass of the Confederate army retreated along Sandy ridge for some distance, then took a road leading to the Valley turnpike, and then, slowly but sullenly, retired five or six miles to their trains in the vicinity of Newtown, having lost 691 men, of whom 80 were killed, 340 wounded (some 70 of these left on the field) and 260 missing. The Federals held the field of battle, captured two disabled guns and 200 or 300 prisoners. They made no pursuit, and Jackson's rear spent the night where his command had massed in the afternoon. Six days after the battle Shields was uncertain as to his losses, but reported his killed as 103, the wounded as 441, and the missing as 24, a total of 568.

The day after the battle the citizens of Winchester, mainly men past middle age, obtained permission to bury the Confederate dead, and its noble women did all they were allowed to do in caring for the wounded. Jackson firmly believed that his failure was the result of the retreat ordered by General Garnett, and circumstances, months afterward, showed that he continued in that belief. To teach his subordinates a lesson, and to show them, and others what he expected should be done under similar circumstances, he placed Garnett under arrest and relieved him from his command. For this he has been censured by writers ignorant of the facts in the case. Those who knew Jackson can testify that in this case, as in others for which he has been blamed, he was not animated by animosity or personal feeling. After the Seven Days' battles, Garnett was released from arrest and subsequently fell at Gettysburg leading a brigade.

On the 24th Jackson retired to the south side of Cedar creek and then fell back to his former camps near Mt. Jackson, holding the line of Stony creek which his engineer, after a careful examination, had recommended as the best one for defense in all that region.

Shields, confident that Jackson would not have brought on such an engagement without expecting reinforcements, hastened, the night after the battle, to bring