Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/352

326 should, on the morning of the 28th, march rapidly on Manassas Junction. Jackson spoiled this third plan of concentration for his capture, by not waiting for Pope at Manassas Junction; for on the night of the 27th he set fire to the stores at Manassas that his men had not appropriated and his wagons could not carry away, and hastened to the appointed place for meeting Lee, but by ways that completely baffled his over-confident adversary. Taliaferro's division, with the trains, was sent northward, by the direct road to Sudley church, with orders to occupy the forest covered position behind the unfinished Gainesville & Alexandria railroad, with which Jackson was thoroughly familiar from having encamped in that region after the First Bull Run battle. A. P. Hill was sent northeastward, by the highway across Bull run, to Centreville on the great road leading to Washington, and Ewell was left to follow after him in the same direction.

Porter could not find his way, even with the aid of lighted candles, through the darkness of this night, from Warrenton Junction to Manassas; but Jackson's men, somehow, found the way to their ordered destinations. Hill, on the morning of the 28th, took the big road from Centreville westward, marched across Bull run and took position, on Taliaferro's left, near Sudley church. Ewell, who had encamped the night before on the south side of Bull run, at Blackburn's ford, crossed over, and marching up that stream to the stone bridge, followed after Hill and took position on his right, Taliaferro moving still farther to the right in the direction of Gainesville; so that by the middle of the day Jackson was concentrated in a strong position, the one the Federals had first occupied at the first battle of Bull Run, looking down upon the stream valley of Young's branch along which ran the Warrenton and Alexandria turnpike, his guns in place and his troops ready for action. That same noonday. Pope, having reached Manassas Junction, was still seeking for Jackson. The movement of Hill and Ewell toward Centreville, the threatening of Washington by Fitz Lee and his horsemen at Fairfax Court House and Burke's station, meant, Pope knew not what, but he proceeded to issue a third order for concentration. Gainesville and Manassas Junction had failed him, and now, thinking he was after a defeated and retreating foe,