The Long Roll
and quitted before the inhabitants recovered from their surprise.
Cavalry in the rear swept together all stragglers. The detachment,
twenty-five thousand men, almost half of Lee's army, drove, a swift,
clean-cut body, between the autumn fields and woods that were beginning
to turn. In the fields were farmers ploughing, in the orchards gathering
apples. They stopped and stared. "Well, ain't that a sight?--And half of
them barefoot!--and their clothes fit for nothing but scarecrows. Well,
they ain't robbers. No--and their guns are mighty bright!"
South Mountain was crossed at Turner's Gap. It was near sunset when the
bugles rang halt. Brigade by brigade Stonewall Jackson's command left
the road, stacked arms, broke ranks in fair, rolling autumn fields and
woods. A mile or two ahead was the village of Boonsboro. Jackson sent
forward to make enquiries Major Kyd Douglas of his staff. That officer
took a cavalryman with him and trotted off.
The little place looked like a Sweet Auburn of the vale, so tranquilly
innocent did it lie beneath the rosy west. The two officers commented
upon it, and the next moment ran into a Federal cavalry company sent to
Sweet Auburn from Hancock for forage or recruits or some such matter.
The blue troopers set up a huzzah, and charged. The two in grey turned
and dug spur,--past ran the fields, past ran the woods! The thundering
pursuit fired its revolvers; the grey turned in saddle and emptied
theirs, then bent head to horse's neck and plied the spur. Before them
the road mounted. "Pass the hill and we are safe!--Pass the hill and we
are safe!" thought the grey, and the spur drew blood. Behind came the
blue--a dozen troopers. "Stop there, you damned rebels, stop there! If
you don't, when we catch you we'll cut you to pieces!" Almost at the
hilltop one of the grey uttered a cry. "Good God! the general!"
Stonewall Jackson was coming toward them. He was walking apparently in
deep thought, and leading Little Sorrel. He was quite alone. The two
officers shouted. They saw him look up, take in the situation, and put
his hand on the saddle bow. Then, to give him time, the two turned.
"Yaaiih! Yaaaaiiahh!" they yelled, and charged the enemy.
The blue, taken by surprise, misinterpreted the first shout and the
ensuing action. There must, of course, be coming over the hill a grey
force detached on some reconnoissance or other from the rebel horde
known to be reposing at Frederick. Presumably it would be cavalry--and
coming at a gallop! To stop to cut down these two yelling grey devils
might be to invite destruction. The blue troopers first emptied their
revolvers, then wheeled horse, and retired to Sweet Auburn, out of which
a little later the grey cavalry did indeed drive them.
In the last of the rosy light the two officers, now again at the
hilltop, saw the camp outspread below it and coming at a double quick
the regiment which Jackson had sent to the rescue. One checked his
horse. "What's that?" asked the other.
"The general's gloves. He dropped them when he mounted."
He stooped from his horse and gathered them up. Later, back in camp, he
went to headquarters. Jackson was talking ammunition with his chief of
ordnance, an aide of A. P. Hill's standing near, waiting his turn.
"Well, Major Douglas?"
"Your gloves, general. You dropped them on the hilltop."
"Good! put them there, major, if you please.--Colonel Crutchfield, the
ordnance train will cross first. As the batteries come up from the river
see that every caisson is filled. That is all. Now, Captain
Scarborough--"
"General Hill very earnestly asks, sir, that he may be permitted to
speak to you."
"Where is General Hill? Is he here?"
"Yes, sir, he is outside the tent."
"Tell him to come in. You have a very good fast horse, Major Douglas.
There is nothing more, I think, to-night. Good-night."
A. P. Hill entered alone, without his sword. "Good-evening, General
Hill," said Jackson.
Hill stood very straight, his red beard just gleaming a little in the
dusky tent. "I am come to prefer a request, sir."
"Yes. What is it?"
"A week ago, upon the crossing of the Potomac, you placed me under
arrest for what you conceived--for disobedience to orders. Since then
General Branch has commanded the Light Division."
"Yes."
"I feel certain, sir, that battle is imminent. General Branch is a good
and brave soldier, but--but--I am come to beg, sir, that I may be
released from arrest till the battle is over."
Stonewall Jackson, sitting stiffly, looked at the other standing, tense,
energetic, before him. Something stole into his face that without being
a smile was like a smile. It gave a strange effect of mildness,
tenderness. It was gone almost as soon as it had come, but it had been
there. "I can understand your feeling, sir," he said. "A battle _is_
imminent. Until it is over you are restored to your command."
The detachment of the Army of Northern Virginia going against Harper's
Ferry crossed the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Williamsport and forded
the Potomac a few hundred yards below the ferry. A. P. Hill, McLaws,
Walker, Jackson's own, the long column overpassed the silver reaches,
from the willows and sycamores of the Maryland shore to the tall and
dreamy woods against the Virginia sky. "We know this place," said the
old Army of the Valley. "Dam No. 5's just above there!" Regiment by
regiment, as it dipped into the water, the column broke into song.
"Carry me back to Old Virginny!" sang the soldiers.
At Martinsburg were thirty-five hundred blue troops. Stonewall Jackson
sent A. P. Hill down by the turnpike; he himself made a detour and came
upon the town from the west. The thirty-five hundred blue troops could
retire southward, a thing hardly to their liking, or they could hasten
eastward and throw themselves into Harper's Ferry. As was anticipated,
they chose the latter course.
Stonewall Jackson entered Martinsburg amid acclaim. Here he rested his
troops a few hours, then in the afternoon swung eastward and bivouacked
upon the Opequon. "At early dawn," he marched again. Ahead rode his
cavalry, and they kept the roads on two sides of Harper's Ferry. A
dispatch came from General Lafayette McLaws. _General Jackson:--After
some fighting I have got the Maryland Heights. Loudoun Heights in
possession of General Walker. Enemy cut off north and east._
"Good! good!" said Jackson. "North, east, south, and west."
On the Maryland side of the Potomac, some miles to the north of Harper's
Ferry, Lee likewise received a report--brought in haste by a courier of
Stuart's. _General:--The enemy seems to have waked up. McClellan
reported moving toward South Mountain with some rapidity. I am holding
Crampton and Turner's Gaps. What are my orders?_
Lee looked eastward toward South Mountain and southward to Harper's
Ferry. "General McClellan can only be guessing. We must gain time for
General Jackson at Harper's Ferry." He sent word to Stuart. "D. H.
Hill's division returning to South Mountain General Longstreet ordered
back from Hagerstown. We must gain time for General Jackson. Hold the
gaps."
D. H. Hill and Stuart held them. High above the valleys ran the
roads--and all the slopes were boulder-strewn, crested moreover by
broken stone walls. Hooker and Reno with the First and Ninth corps
attacked Turner's Gap, Franklin's corps attacked Crampton's Gap. High
above the country side, bloody and determined, eight thousand against
thirty thousand, raged the battle.
Stonewall Jackson, closely investing Harper's Ferry, posting his
batteries on both sides of the river, on the Maryland Heights and
Loudoun Heights, heard the firing to the northward. He knit his brows.
He knew that McClellan had occupied Frederick, but he knew nothing of
the copy of an order found wrapped around three cigars. "What do you
think of it, general?" ventured one of his brigadiers.
"I think, sir, it may be a cavalry engagement. Pleasanton came into
touch with General Stuart and the Horse Artillery."
"It could not be McClellan in force?"
"I think not, sir. Not unless to his other high abilities were added
energy and a knowledge of our plans.--Captain Page, this order to
General McLaws: _General:--You will attack so as to sweep with your
artillery the ground occupied by the enemy, take his batteries in
reverse, and otherwise operate against him as circumstances may
justify._ Lieutenant Byrd, this to General Walker: _General:--You will
take in reverse the battery on the turnpike and sweep with your
artillery the ground occupied by the enemy, and silence the batteries on
the island of the Shenandoah._ Lieutenant Daingerfield, this to General
A. P. Hill: _General:--You will move along the left bank of the
Shenandoah, and thus turn the enemy's flank and enter Harper's Ferry._"
This was Sunday. From every hilltop blazed the grey batteries, and down
upon the fourteen thousand blue soldiers cooped in Harper's Ferry they
sent an iron death. All afternoon they thundered, and the dusk knew no
cessation. Harper's Ferry was flame-ringed, there were flames among the
stars. The air rocked and rang, the river shivered and hurried by. Deep
night came and a half silence. There was a feeling as if the earth were
panting for breath. All the air tasted powder.
A. P. Hill, struggling over ground supposed impassable, was in line of
battle behind Bolivar Heights. Lawton and Jones were yet further
advanced. All the grey guns were ready--at early dawn they opened. Iron
death, iron death!--they rained it down on Harper's Ferry and the
fourteen thousand in garrison there. They silenced the blue guns. Then
the bugles blew loudly, and Hill assaulted. There were lines of
breastworks and before them an abattis. The Light Division tore through
the latter, struck against the first. From the height behind thundered
the grey artillery.
For a day and a night the blue defence had been stubborn. It was over.
Out from the eddying smoke, high from the hilltop within the town, there
was shaken a white flag. A. P. Hill received the place's surrender, and
Stonewall Jackson rode to Bolivar Heights and then into the town.
Twelve thousand prisoners, thirteen thousand stands of arms,
seventy-three guns, a great prize of stores, horses, and wagons came
into his hand with Harper's Ferry.
On the Bolivar turnpike the Federal General White and his staff met the
conqueror. The first, general and staff, were handsomely mounted, finely
equipped, sparklingly clean and whole. The last was all leaf brown--dust
and rain and wear and tear, scarfed and stained huge boots, and shabby
forage cap. The surrender was unconditional. Formalities over, there
followed some talk, a hint on the side of the grey of generous terms,
some expression on the side of the blue of admiration for great
fighters, some regret from both for the mortal wound of Miles, the
officer in command. Stonewall Jackson rode into the town with the
Federal general. The streets were lined with blue soldiers crowding,
staring. "That's him, boys! That's Jackson! That's him! _Well!_"
Later A. P. Hill came to the lower room in a stone house where the
general commanding sat writing a dispatch to Lee. Jackson finished the
thing in hand, then looked up. "General Hill, the Light Division did
well. I move almost at once, but I shall leave you here in command until
the prisoners and public property are disposed of. You will use
expedition."
"I am not, then, sir, to relinquish the command to General Branch?"
"You are not, sir. Battle will follow battle, and you will lead the
Light Division. Be more careful hereafter of my orders."
"I will try, sir."
"Good! good!--What is it, colonel?"
"A courier, sir, from General Lee."
The courier entered, saluted, and gave the dispatch. Jackson read it,