Part 57 (1/2)

”General A. P. Hill and his division will make that. The batteries on the Chickahominy will cover his pa.s.sage of the bridge. General Longstreet will support him. General Magruder with General Huger and the reserve artillery will be left before Richmond. They will so demonstrate as to distract General McClellan's attention from the city and from his right and General Porter. General Stuart will take position on your line of march from Ashland, and General D. H. Hill will support you.”

”Good! good! This is the afternoon of the twenty-third.”

”Yes. Frederickshall is forty miles from this point--” He touched the map again. ”Now, general, when can you be here?”

”Thursday morning, the twenty-sixth, sir.”

”That is very soon.”

”Time is everything in war, sir.”

”That is perfectly true. But the time is short and the manoeuvre delicate. You and your troops are at the close of a campaign as arduous as it is amazing. The fatigue and the strain must be great. You and General Hill are far apart and the country between is rough and unmapped. Yet victory depends on the simultaneous blow.”

Jackson sat rigid again, his hand stiffly placed upon the sabre. ”It is not given to man to say with positiveness what he can do, sir. But it is necessary that this right be turned before McClellan is aware of his danger. Each day makes it more difficult to conceal the absence of my army from the Valley. Between the danger of forced marching and the obvious danger that lies in delay, I should choose the forced marching.

Better lose one man in marching than five in a battle not of our selecting. A straw may bring failure as a straw may bring victory. I may fail, but the risk should be taken. Napoleon failed at Eylau, but his plan was correct.”

”Very well,” said Lee. ”Then the morning of the twenty-sixth be it!

Final orders shall await you at Ashland.”

Jackson rose. ”Good! good! By now my horses will have been changed. I will get back. The army was to advance this morning to Beaver Dam Station.”

He rode hard through the country all night, it being the second he had spent in the saddle. Beaver Dam Station and the bivouacking Army of the Valley saw him on Tuesday morning the twenty-fourth. ”Old Jack's back from wherever he's been!” went the rumour. Headquarters was established in a hut or two near the ruined railroad. Arriving here, he summoned his staff and sent for Ewell. While the former gathered he read a report, forwarded from Munford in the rear. ”Scout Gold and Jarrow in from the Valley. Fremont still fortifying at Strasburg--thinks you may be at Front Royal. s.h.i.+elds at Luray considers that you may have gone to Richmond, but that Ewell remains in the Valley with forty thousand men.

Banks at Winchester thinks you may have gone against s.h.i.+elds at Luray, or King at Catlett's, or Doubleday at Fredericksburg, or gone to Richmond--but that Ewell is moving west on Moorefield!”

”Good! good!” said Jackson. Staff arrived, and he proceeded to issue rapid and precise orders. All given, staff hurried off, and the general spoke to Jim. ”Call me when General Ewell comes.” He stretched himself on a bench in the hut. ”I am suffering,” he said, ”from fever and a feeling of debility.” He drew his cloak about him and closed his eyes.

It was but half an hour, however, that he slept or did not sleep, for Ewell was fiery prompt.

The Army of the Valley entered upon a forced march through country both difficult and strange. It had been of late in the possession of the enemy, and the enemy had stretched felled trees across forest roads and burned the bridges spanning deep and sluggish creeks. Guides were at fault, cross-roads directions most uncertain. The wood grew intolerably thick, and the dust of the roads was atrocious; the air cut away by the tall green walls on either hand; the sun like a furnace seven times heated. Provisions had not come up in time at Beaver Dam Station and the troops marched upon half-rations. Gone were the mountains and the mountain air, present was the languorous breath of the low country. It had an upas quality, dulling the brain, r.e.t.a.r.ding the step. The men were very tired, it was hot, and a low fever hung in the air.

They marched until late of a night without a moon, and the bugles waked them long ere dawn. A mist hung over all the levels, presaging heat.

_Column Forward!_ To-day was a repet.i.tion of yesterday, only accented.

The sun girded himself with greater strength, the dust grew more stifling, the water was bad, gnats and mosquitoes made a painful cloud, the feet in the ragged shoes were more stiff, more swollen, more abraded. The moisture in the atmosphere weakened like a vapour bath. The entire army, ”foot cavalry” and all, marched with a dreadful slowness.

_Press Forward--Press Forward--Press Forward--Press Forward!_ It grew to be like the humming insects on either hand, a mere noise to be expected.

”Going to Richmond--Going to Richmond--Yes, of course we're going to Richmond--unless, indeed, we're going a roundabout way against McDowell at Fredericksburg! Richmond will keep. It has kept a long time--ever since William Byrd founded it. General Lee is there--and so it is all right--and we can't go any faster. War isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Oh, hot, hot, hot! and skeetery! and General Humidity lives down this way. _Press Forward--Press Forward--Press Forward. If that noise don't stop I'll up with my musket b.u.t.t and beat somebody's brains out!_”

Ashland was not reached until the late evening of this day. The men fell upon the earth. Even under the bronze there could be seen dark circles under their eyes, and their lips were without colour. Jackson rode along the lines and looked. There were circles beneath his own eyes, and his lips shut thin and grey. ”Let them rest,” he said imperturbably, ”until dawn.” There rode beside him an officer from Lee. He had now the latter's General Order, and he was almost a day behind.

Somewhat later, in the house which he occupied, his chief of staff, Ewell and the brigadiers gone, the old man, Jim, appeared before him.

”Des you lis'en ter me er minute, gineral! Ob my sartain circ.u.mspection I knows you didn't go ter bed las' night--nurr de night befo'--nurr de night befo' dat--'n' I don' see no preperation for yo' gwine ter bed dish-yer night! Now, dat ain' right. W'at Miss Anna gwine say w'en she heah erbout hit? She gwine say you 'stress her too much. She gwine say you'll git dar quicker, 'n' fight de battle better, ef you lie down erwhile 'n' let Jim bring you somethin' ter eat--”

”I have eaten. I am going to walk in the garden for awhile.”

He went, all in bronze, with a blue gleam in his eye. Jim looked after him with a troubled countenance. ”Gwine talk wif de Lawd--talk all night long! Hit ain' healthy. Pray an' pray 'n' look up ter de sky 'twel he gits paralysis! De gineral better le' me tek his boots off, 'n' go ter bed 'n' dream ob Miss Anna!”