Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/266

244 all kinds; had sent to the rear some 2,300 prisoners, besides leaving enough in hospitals to make a total Federal loss of 3,050; while his own loss was less than 400 in killed, wounded and missing, the killed being but 68. But this is a narrow view of the results accomplished with a force only about one-fourth that of his enemy in the strategic field. The wider and more important result was that affecting the movements of the entire Federal army in and near Virginia. On May 23d, the day Jackson struck Banks' left at Front Royal, President Lincoln visited McDowell at Fredericksburg, and wired McClellan on the 24th that Shields, with his 10,000 men, had joined McDowell, and that on the following Monday, the 26th, the 40,000 men of his command would march from Fredericksburg to reinforce McClellan's right in front of Richmond. Returning to Washington the night of the 23d, he heard of the attack on Front Royal. The next day more alarming intelligence came, and Fremont was ordered, by telegraph, to move from Franklin to Harrisonburg, to intercept Jackson and capture or destroy his forces, and so relieve Banks; McDowell was ordered to lay aside his movement on Richmond and put 20,000 men in motion for the Shenandoah valley, to capture Jackson, either with or without the co-operation of Fremont, informing McClellan of these orders at 4 p. m. of the 24th, adding, "the enemy are making a desperate push on Harper's Ferry." On the 25th the alarm at Washington increased as Jackson drove Banks from Winchester, and Lincoln again telegraphed McClellan: "I think the time is near when you must either attack Richmond or give up the job and come to the defense of Washington. Let me hear from you instantly." Later, on the same day, he again telegraphed: "Banks ran a race with the rebels, beating them into Winchester yesterday morning. This morning a battle ensued between the two forces, in which Banks was beaten back into full retreat toward Martinsburg, and probably is broken up into a total rout."

The news of Banks' defeat caused the Federal government to call upon all the loyal States for all their militia and other troops, to be forwarded immediately to Washington, and an order was issued taking military possession of all the railways in the United States for the transportation of these troops. The alarm