Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War
Pope’s headquarters, right across the communications he had told his
troops to disregard, the long column swung swiftly forward in the
noonday heat. Not a sound, save the muffled roll of many wheels, broke
the stillness of the tranquil valley; only the great dust cloud,
rolling always eastward up the slopes of the Manassas plateau, betrayed
the presence of war.
Beyond Gainesville Jackson took the road which led to Bristoe Station,
some seven miles south of Manassas Junction. Neither the success which
had hitherto accompanied his movement, nor the excitement incident on
his situation, had overbalanced his judgment. From Gainesville the
Junction might have been reached in little more than an hour’s march;
and prudence would have recommended a swift dash at the supply depôt,
swift destruction, and swift escape. But it was always possible that
Pope might have been alarmed, and the railroad from Warrenton Junction
supplied him with the means of throwing a strong force of infantry
rapidly to his rear. In order to obstruct such a movement Jackson had
determined to seize Bristoe Station. Here, breaking down the railway
bridge over Broad Run, and establishing his main body in an almost
impregnable position behind the stream, he could proceed at his leisure
with the destruction of the stores at Manassas Junction. The advantages
promised by this manœuvre more than compensated for the increased
length of the march.
The sun had not yet set when the advanced guard arrived within striking
distance of Bristoe Station. Munford’s squadrons, still leading the
way, dashed upon the village. Ewell followed in hot haste, and a large
portion of the guard, consisting of two companies, one of cavalry and
one of infantry, was immediately captured.
A train returning empty from Warrenton Junction to Alexandria darted
through the station under a heavy fire.[11] The line was then torn up,
and two trains which followed in the same direction as the first were
thrown down a high embankment. A fourth, scenting danger ahead, moved
back before it reached the break in the road. The column had now closed
up, and it was already dark. The escape of the two trains was most
unfortunate. It would soon be known, both at Alexandria and Warrenton,
that Manassas Junction was in danger. The troops had marched nearly
five-and-twenty miles, but if the object of the expedition was to be
accomplished, further exertions were absolutely necessary. Trimble,
energetic as ever, volunteered with two regiments, the 21st Georgia and
21st North Carolina, to move on Manassas Junction. Stuart was placed in
command, and without a moment’s delay the detachment moved northward
through the woods. The night was hot and moonless. The infantry moved
in order of battle, the skirmishers in advance; and pushing slowly
forward over a broken country, it was nearly midnight before they
reached the Junction. Half a mile from the depôt their advance was
greeted by a salvo of shells. The Federal garrison, warned by the
fugitives from Bristoe Station, were on the alert; but so harmless was
their fire that Trimble’s men swept on without a check. The two
regiments, one on either side of the railroad, halted within a hundred
yards of the Federal guns. The countersign was passed down the ranks,
and the bugles sounded the charge. The Northern gunners, without
waiting for the onset, fled through the darkness, and two batteries,
each with its full complement of guns and waggons, became the prize of
the Confederate infantry. Stuart, coming up on the flank, rode down the
fugitives. Over 300 prisoners were taken, and the remainder of the
garrison streamed northward through the deserted camps. The results of
this attack more than compensated for the exertions the troops had
undergone. Only 15 Confederates had been wounded, and the supplies on
which Pope’s army, whether it was intended to move against Longstreet
or merely to hold the line of the Rappahannock, depended both for food
and ammunition were in Jackson’s hands.
August 27 The next morning Hill’s and Taliaferro’s divisions joined
Trimble. Ewell remained at Bristoe; cavalry patrols were sent out in
every direction, and Jackson, riding to Manassas, saw before him the
reward of his splendid march. Streets of warehouses, stored to
overflowing, had sprung up round the Junction. A line of freight cars,
two miles in length, stood upon the railway. Thousands of barrels,
containing flour, pork, and biscuit, covered the neighbouring fields.
Brand-new ambulances were packed in regular rows. Field-ovens, with the
fires still smouldering, and all the paraphernalia of a large bakery,
attracted the wondering gaze of the Confederate soldiery; while great
pyramids of shot and shell, piled with the symmetry of an arsenal,
testified to the profusion with which the enemy’s artillery was
supplied.
It was a strange commentary on war. Washington was but a long day’s
march to the north; Warrenton, Pope’s headquarters, but twelve miles
distant to the south-west; and along the Rappahannock, between Jackson
and Lee, stood the tents of a host which outnumbered the whole
Confederate army. No thought of danger had entered the minds of those
who selected Manassas Junction as the depôt of the Federal forces. Pope
had been content to leave a small guard as a protection against raiding
cavalry. Halleck, concerned only with massing the whole army on the
Rappahannock, had used every effort to fill the storehouses. If, he
thought, there was one place in Virginia where the Stars and Stripes
might be displayed in full security, that place was Manassas Junction;
and here, as nowhere else, the wealth of the North had been poured out
with a prodigality such as had never been seen in war. To feed, clothe,
and equip the Union armies no expenditure was
deemed extravagant. For the comfort and well-being of the individual
soldier the purse-strings of the nation were freely loosed. No demand,
however preposterous, was disregarded. The markets of Europe were
called upon to supply the deficiencies of the States; and if money
could have effected the re-establishment of the Union, the war would
have already reached a triumphant issue. But the Northern Government
had yet to learn that the accumulation of men, materiel, and supplies
is not in itself sufficient for success. Money alone cannot provide
good generals, a trained staff, or an efficient cavalry; and so on this
August morning 20,000 ragged Confederates, the soldiers of a country
which ranked as the poorest of nations, had marched right round the
rear of the Federal army, and were now halted in undisturbed possession
of all that made that army an effective force.
Few generals have occupied a position so commanding as did Jackson on
the morning of August 27. His enemies would henceforward have to dance
while he piped. It was Jackson, and not Pope, who was to dictate the
movements of the Federal army. It was impossible that the latter could
now maintain its position on the Rappahannock, and Lee’s strategy had
achieved its end. The capture of Manassas Junction, however, was only
the first step in the campaign. Pope, to restore his communications
with Alexandria, would be compelled to fall back; but before he could
be defeated the two Confederate wings must be united, and the harder
part of the work would devolve on Jackson. The Federals, at Warrenton,
were nearer by five miles to Thoroughfare Gap, his shortest line of
communication with Lee and Longstreet, than he was himself. Washington
held a large garrison, and the railway was available for the transit of
the troops. The fugitives from Manassas must already have given the
alarm, and at any moment the enemy might appear.
If there were those in the Confederate ranks who considered the
manœuvres of their leader overbold, their misgivings were soon
justified.
A train full of soldiers from Warrenton Junction put back on finding
Ewell in possession of Bristoe Station; but a more determined effort
was made from the direction of Alexandria. So early as seven o’clock a
brigade of infantry, accompanied by a battery, detrained on the north
bank of Bull Run, and advanced in battle order against the
Junction.[12] The Federals, unaware that the depôt was held in
strength, expected to drive before them a few squadrons of cavalry. But
when several batteries opened a heavy fire, and heavy columns advanced
against their flanks, the men broke in flight towards the bridge. The
Confederate infantry followed rapidly, and two Ohio regiments, which
had just arrived from the Kanawha Valley, were defeated with heavy
loss. Fitzhugh Lee, who had fallen back before the enemy’s advance, was
then ordered in pursuit. The cars and railway bridge were destroyed;
and during the day the brigade followed the fugitives as far as Burke’s
Station, only twelve miles from Alexandria.
This feeble attack appears to have convinced Jackson that his danger
was not pressing. It was evident that the enemy had as yet no idea of
his strength. Stuart’s cavalry watched every road; Ewell held a strong
position on Broad Run, barring the direct approach from Warrenton
Junction, and it was determined to give the wearied soldiers the
remainder of the day for rest and pillage. It was impossible to carry
away even a tithe of the stores, and when an issue of rations had been
made, the bakery set working, and the liquor placed under guard, the
regiments were let loose on the magazines. Such an opportunity occurs
but seldom in the soldiers’ service, and the hungry Confederates were
not the men to let it pass. “Weak and haggard from their diet of green
corn and apples, one can well imagine,” says Gordon, “with what
surprise their eyes opened upon the contents of the sutlers’ stores,
containing an amount and
variety of property such as they had never conceived. Then came a
storming charge of men rushing in a tumultuous mob over each other’s
heads, under each other’s feet, anywhere, everywhere, to satisfy a
craving stronger than a yearning for fame. There were no laggards in
that charge, and there was abundant evidence of the fruits of victory.
Men ragged and famished clutched tenaciously at whatever came in their
way, whether of clothing or food, of luxury or necessity. Here a long
yellow-haired, barefooted son of the South claimed as prizes a
toothbrush, a box of candles, a barrel of coffee; while another, whose
butternut homespun hung round him in tatters, crammed himself with
lobster salad, sardines, potted game and sweetmeats, and washed them
down with Rhenish wine. Nor was the outer man neglected. From piles of
new clothing the Southerners arrayed themselves in the blue uniforms of
the Federals. The naked were clad, the barefooted were shod, and the
sick provided with luxuries to which they had long been strangers.”[13]
The history of war records many extraordinary scenes, but there are few
more ludicrous than this wild revel at Manassas. Even the chagrin of
Northern writers gives way before the spectacle; and Jackson must have
smiled grimly when he thought of the maxim which Pope had promulgated
with such splendid confidence: “Let us study the probable lines of
retreat of our opponents, and leave our own to take care of
themselves!”
It was no time, however, to indulge in reflections on the irony of
fortune. All through the afternoon, while the sharp-set Confederates
were sweeping away the profits which the Northern sutlers had wrung
from Northern soldiers, Stuart’s vigilant patrols sent in report on
report of the Federal movements. From Warrenton heavy columns were
hurrying over the great highroad to Gainesville, and from Warrenton
Junction a large force of all arms was marching direct on Bristoe.
There was news, too, from Lee. Despite the distance to be covered, and
the