Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 38.djvu/290

276 of time the 33d rushed upon the hostile guns, and in a moment this most offensive arm of the advancing line was shattered. It is pleasing to the writer to note that Colonel Henderson in his researches has found confirmation of Colonel Cummings' recollection of the "thirty paces order." The slight variance given by Colonel Henderson, who says that "fifty yards" was the expression used, like the difference in the narratives of the Apostles, merely tends to a more substantial support of what the Colonel of the 33d remembers. We think, however, that the order was given before the 33d made its first charge, and not after, as Colonel Henderson locates it. Indeed, the charge of the 33d opened the battle for the Stonewall Brigade, and after that General Jackson had only to rush his men forward, and this he did with a spirit, perhaps equaled but never excelled in the history of martial affairs.

The writer has examined with the utmost closeness all the incidents of that battle. With brothers and relatives in the 2d Virginia, and an uncle and brother-in-law serving on General Jackson's staff, and being his own first battle, it is not unnatural that the impressions were deeper than, perhaps, those made by any other event of his life. And so from a never-tiring search after all the facts of the battle, it is not surprising that he has occasionally wandered into speculations upon some matters which have been veiled in mystery. It is certain that the 33d on that day covered itself with glory. It is certain that after the battle the regiment took a high place in the estimation of the brigade, and that its two field officers, one of whom was killed, had behaved with the utmost courage, and yet something was wanting to elicit from General Jackson the praise which it was thought ought to have followed. To the writer, when he recalls the treatment Garnett received after Kernstown for giving an order to retreat upon his own responsibility, no cause can be assigned for the moderation with which General Jackson mentioned the action of the 33d, than his disapproval of its disobedience of orders in charging before the exact time indicated by him. His intense accuracy in obeying orders had somewhat narrowed his capacity to make allowance for changing circumstances. His intense self-reliance made him feel that in battle, as far as he governed its movements, his plans, and his alone, must