Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/91

Rh attention to "the difference it exhibited between the spirit of our troops and that of those of the United States."

Assured that no considerable body of Federal troops was approaching from the west, Hill's detachment was called back to Winchester. Some rough gunstocks having been left at Harper's Ferry, Lieut.-Col. G. H. Steuart was sent, with his Maryland battalion, to bring these away, which he did, leaving nothing there worth removing. Jackson's brigade was left near Martinsburg, in supporting distance of the cavalry along the Potomac.

While Johnston was tarrying at Winchester, President Davis wrote him that, while governed by circumstances, he must bear in mind that the general purpose of his command was to resist invasion and repel the invaders whenever it could be done; that reinforcements had been steadily sent forward to Manassas Junction, and that others would be sent to that place and to him as the current of events might determine on which line to advance; that a large supply of ammunition had been sent him on the 19th, and more would be sent the next day; that the movements of the enemy indicated the importance attached to the valley of Virginia, and to the power he would acquire if he could advance as far as Staunton, cut off communication with the West and South, and operate on the flank and rear of Beauregard's army, at the same time provisioning his own army from the valley of the Shenandoah, and by so doing dispensing with a long line of transportation from Pennsylvania; therefore, everything should be destroyed that would facilitate such a movement through the valley.

In the meantime, the army of the Shenandoah was strengthened by the arrival of more regular army officers and of regiments from different States, and Johnston, early in July, proceeded to organize four brigades of infantry: The First, a Virginia brigade, under Col. T. J. Jackson, composed of the Second, Fourth, Fifth and Twenty-seventh Virginia regiments and Pendleton's Rockbridge artillery; the Second, under Col. F. S. Bartow, composed of the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Georgia regiments, Duncan's and Pope's Kentucky battalions, and Alburtis' Virginia battery; the Third, under Brig.-Gen. B. E. Bee, composed of the Fourth Alabama, Second and Eleventh Mississippi, First Tennessee, and