Confederate Government was conscripting men to fill up the ranks of the army. Something must be done.

On July 24th General Halleck went to Harrison's Landing to see McClellan, who asked for fifty thousand more troops. "I am not authorized to promise you more than twenty thousand," said Halleck. "I will make the attempt to take Richmond with that number," was the reply. General Halleck returned to Washington. Upon his arrival, there came a despatch from McClellan that he must have thirty-five thousand. It was not possible to send that number.

There was only one thing to be done: to withdraw the army from the James to some position where it could co-operate with the army under Pope, and it was decided to bring it to Acquia Creek, on the Potomac, below Washington. "Send away your sick as fast as you can," was the despatch to McClellan July 30th. On August 3d Halleck ordered the withdrawal of the whole army, but McClellan, instead of at once obeying, sent a protest. "I fear it will be a fatal blow," he said. "Here, directly in front of this army, is the heart of the rebellion; it is here we should strike the blow which will determine the fate of this nation. A decided victory here, and the military strength of the rebellion is crushed,” he said to Halleck. He thought that the Union army would be demoralized if withdrawn. Not till August 14th did the troops take up the line of march to Yorktown. Two weeks had been lost.

It is not strange that he did not like to retrace his steps. Few men like to take the back track. It was hard to recognize in any way the humiliating fact that the movement to Richmond was a failure.

About half-way between Orange Court-house and Culpeper Courthouse, north of the Rapidan River, is Cedar Mountain, which stands by itself, one of the outlying hills of the Blue Ridge.

It is the first week in August. The telegraph informs General Lee that Pope is marching south from Culpeper Court-house. The Confederate pickets down by Malvern Hill report that the Union troops are getting ready to leave Harrison's Landing; that there is a great bustle and stir steamers and schooners departing with supplies, that camps are breaking up. General Lee has sent General Jackson north-west with twenty-five thousand men to confront Pope. On the 9th of August Jackson is marching up the road leading north across Cedar Mountain.

General Banks, with about seven thousand five hundred Union troops, is marching south from Culpeper. Pope sends Colonel Marshall with this order: "General Banks is to move to the front immediately, assume command of all the force, deploy his skirmishers if the enemy advances,

and attack him immediately as he approaches, and be reinforced from here."

.

It was not a written order, but General Banks required it to be written out by Colonel Marshall, for a military commander wants to know just what he is to do. Was he to advance and attack? No; but if Jackson advanced he was to attack him. General Pope sent General Roberts, an engineer officer, to select the ground Banks was to hold. General Pope ought to have written out exactly and explicitly just what General Banks was to do; but he did not, and it was the beginning of a series of mistakes.

It is past noon when General Banks forms his line, the troops facing south. They see the mountain before them, and General Augur, commanding a division, files out west of the road, and General Williams east of it. Crawford's brigade has the right of the line; General Geary's brigade stands next in line; then Prince's brigade. General Greene has only two small regiments. General Gordon's brigade is held in reserve half a mile in rear of Crawford.

There are

The ground is a gentle slope rising towards the mountain. corn and wheat fields, clumps of trees, and out on the right, where Crawford forms his line, there are woods. The wheat has been cut, and is standing in shocks. Out in the woods, and far out on both flanks, General Bayard has his cavalry skirmishers keeping watch, for it is well known that Jackson is advancing.

It is eleven o'clock when General Jubal Early, commanding the First Confederate Brigade, comes out upon the north slope of the mountain and beholds Bayard's cavalry. He brings up four guns. He is on much higher ground than Bayard. The cavalrymen see white puffs of smoke amid the cedars, and hear the shells scream through the air. Bayard places Knapp's battery in position. Other batteries come up, and from one till half-past three o'clock the artillery firing echoes along the mountain sides.

It is a bold front which Banks presents-so audacious that Jackson thinks the whole of Pope's army is before him, and hesitates about making an attack. He has twenty-five thousand men, but supposes that Pope has double the number, not for a moment imagining that there is only one small division of less than eight thousand. He places Ewell on the east side of the road and Winder on the west, with A. P. Hill in the rear of Winder. The last-named officer is struck by a shell and killed, and General Taliaferro takes command of the division.

What shall General Banks do? Jackson has deployed his line. If the enemy advances he is to attack. Has Jackson advanced? Certainly he

has advanced from where he was in the morning. General Roberts has selected the ground which Banks is to hold, but to attack he must necessarily advance. His nearest support is Ricketts's division, which is nearly four miles in his rear. He does not know that with less than eight thousand he is confronted by twenty-five thousand.

RONALD

Cedar

GORDON

Run

To Culpeper

PRINCE

忡忡

HAYS

TRIMBLE

CEDAR MOUNTAIN

MAP OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN.

GREENE

It is half-past five, a sultry summer afternoon, when Geary and Prince, east of the road, and Crawford out in the woods, west of it, march forward with quick steps, firing rapidly. It is like the sudden outbreak of a storm. Jackson has not expected to be attacked, but has been getting ready to sweep down upon Banks like a hound upon its prey. Crawford's men rush through the woods and fall suddenly upon the left flank

of Campbell's brigade. The First Virginia battalion is the first to feel the stroke and gives way in confusion.

"Change front!" is the order to the Forty-second Virginia; but the officer who gives it, Major Logan, falls mortally wounded, and the regi ment breaks. General Garnett is wounded and Lieutenant-colonel Cunningham killed. Crawford's men, with a cheer, next rush upon Taliaferro's brigade, striking it in flank, while Geary and Prince are attacking in front, driving it in disorder.

"All the troops," says Early, "had fallen back, and the enemy was advancing up the slope of the hill." There is consternation in the Confederate lines. A great stream of fugitives is pouring down the road. The artillerymen of Winder's battalion are lashing their horses to a run to the rear to take new positions. Officers are riding with orders to Branch, Pender, and Archer, commanding the brigades of Hill's division. Ronald's brigade comes up to confront Crawford and Geary.

The fresh Confederate troops bear down upon Crawford and Geary, and drive them back. The Tenth Maine makes a charge to roll back the advancing Confederates. In a few minutes one hundred and seventy-three out of four hundred and sixty-one officers and men are killed and wounded. A half-hour too late, Banks orders Gordon to attack. His troops go upon

the run across the little creek and through the wheat-fields. It is a brave assault, but a useless sacrifice of men. They are compelled to retreat.

It is a hard-fought, bloody, useless conflict. In an hour and a half 1661 Union troops were killed and wounded, and 1314 Confederates. was so audacious a stand on the part of the Union troops that Jackson, who had expected to march on to Culpeper, turned back and retreated across the Rapidan. At Kearnstown, near Winchester, in the Shenandoah, in 1861, he had been defeated by General Shields and General Kimball, and here at Cedar Mountain he had come very near being defeated by an army not a third the size of his own. He saw that he could not go on to Culpeper, for Pope's entire army would confront him, so he retreated to wait for the arrival of reinforcements.

In June the theatre of war was before Richmond; in September it was to be in front of Washington, around and on the field where the first great battle of the rebellion had been fought.

Lee consolidated his army into two corps, making Jackson and Longstreet commanders. D. H. Hill, with a small force, was left to guard Richmond. Jackson had fourteen brigades and fourteen batteries-thirtyfive thousand men; Longstreet had the divisions of Hood, Anderson, Walker, and McLaws-thirty-five thousand; Stuart commanded the cavalry-five thousand-giving Lee seventy-five thousand in all.

On the morning of the 15th the brigades of Longstreet were at Gordonsville. On the same day the retreating brigades of McClellan were marching east over the battle-ground of Williamsburg towards Yorktown to take steamers for Acquia Creek and Alexandria.

It was a very important letter which the Union cavalrymen, under General Bayard, captured from a Confederate officer on August 16tha letter from Lee to Jackson, informing him of what he intended to do, and how many men he had. General Pope read it, and saw that he was to be attacked by an army numbering seventy-five thousand. General Reno, with two small divisions, had joined him; but, all told, he had only forty-nine thousand men. There was but one thing for him to dofall back north of the Rappahannock and take a position to cover Washington, and await the arrival of McClellan's troops.

General Lee has conceived a brilliant movement. He will hold Longstreet on the south bank of the Rappahannock, make Pope believe that he intends to cross and attack him, while Jackson makes a swift and roundabout march to get in the rear of Pope, capture his supplies, and cut off his connection with Washington.

Jackson is on the west bank of the Rappahannock, at Sulphur Springs.

At daybreak, August 25th, his brigades march north-west away from the river. The Union cavalrymen guarding the other side see columns of dust rising in the west. What is Jackson up to? Whither is he going? He is heading towards the Blue Ridge. Is he intending to go through some of the gaps into the Shenandoah Valley? General Pope, who is at Warrenton, has his army well concentrated, but he does not know what to make of those clouds of dust far away in the west towards the Blue Ridge. A Union officer, Colonel Clark, is out on picket. He creeps through the woods close up to the road over which Jackson is marching, lies there all the morning and counts the regiments-thirty-six of them, with cavalry and batteries. When they have gone by, he hastens to General Pope at Warrenton with the news.

The Bull Run Mountains lie north-west of the old battle-field of Bull Run. General Pope does not mistrust that Jackson, although marching west, is aiming for Thoroughfare Gap; but before night Jackson has crossed the river at Harrison's Ford, and is at the little village of Orleans. His men have marched twenty-five miles in the broiling sun. They throw themselves down for a few hours' rest, but at daybreak are once more marching north towards the little town of Salem. Now they turn east, and in the evening, after another twenty-five-mile march, are in possession of the Gap.

How easy it would have been for Pope to have sent a division of troops up there by rail and taken possession of it in advance! But he did not suspect that Lee would divide his army and send Jackson to make such a roundabout movement.

In war it is very necessary for military commanders to keep a sharp lookout on the back door as well as on the front. Usually it is much easier to get in at the rear than at the front. The movement which Jackson was making was very hazardous, and if General Pope had divined what he was intending to do, and fallen back towards Manassas, he could have crushed him. If his cavalry picket had been out beyond the Bull Run Mountains keeping watch, he might have saved the army from the disasters that resulted from his want of care and foresight. But while Jackson is stealing round to his rear, Pope, joined by Heintzelman and Fitz-John Porter's corps, is planning to make a sudden dash across the Rappahannock and attack Longstreet. He knows nothing of what is going on in his rear.

It is eight o'clock in the evening of the 26th. Suddenly the telegraph between Pope's headquarters and Washington ceases ticking. Gen-eral Stuart has pushed south-east from Thoroughfare Gap with his cav