CHAPTER X. WINCHESTER
Ashby's troopers put the armed guard of the wagons to flight in aninstant, and then they seized the rich pillage in these wagons. Theywere not yet used to the stern discipline of regular armies and Ashbystrove in vain to bring most of them back to the pursuit of the flyingenemy. Harry also sought to help, but they laughed at him, and he hadnot yet come to the point where he could cut down a disobedient soldier.Nor had the soldiers reached the point where they would suffer suchtreatment from an officer. Had Harry tried such a thing it is more thanlikely that he would have been cut down in his turn.
But the delay and similar delays elsewhere helped the retreatingNorthern army. Banks, feeling that the pursuit was not now so fierce,sent back a strong force with artillery under a capable officer, Gordon,to help the rear. The scattered and flying detachments also gatheredaround Gordon and threw themselves across the turnpike.
Harry felt the resistance harden and he saw the pursuit of the Southernarmy slow up. The day, too, was waning. Shadows were already appearingin the east and if Jackson would destroy Banks' army utterly he muststrike quick and hard. Harry at that moment caught sight of the generalon the turnpike, on Little Sorrel, the reins lying loose on the horse'sneck, his master sitting erect, and gazing at the darkening battlefieldwhich was spread out before him.
Harry galloped up and saluted.
"I could not come back at once, sir," he said, "because the enemy wascrowded in between Ashby and yourself."
"But you've come at last. I was afraid you had fallen."
Harry's face flushed gratefully. He knew now that Stonewall Jacksonwould have missed him.
"If the night were only a little further away," continued Jackson, "wecould get them all! But the twilight is fighting for them! And theyfight for themselves also! Look, how those men retreat! They do well fortroops who were surprised and routed not so long ago!"
He spoke in a general way to his staff, but his tone expressed decidedadmiration. Harry felt again that the core of the Northern resistancewas growing harder and harder. The hostile cannon blazed down the road,and the men as they slowly retired sent sheets of rifle bullets at theirpursuers. Detachments of their flying cavalry were stopped, reformed onthe flanks, and had the temerity to charge the victors more than once.
Harry did not notice now that the twilight was gone and the sun had sunkbehind the western mountains. The road between pursuer and pursued waslighted up by the constant flashes of cannon and rifles, and at timeshe fancied that he could see the vengeful and threatening faces of thosewhom he followed, but it was only fancy, fancy bred by battle and itsexcitement.
The pursued crossed a broad marshy creek, the Opequon, and suddenlyformed in line of battle behind it with the cavalry on their flanks.The infantry poured in heavier volleys than before and their horsemen,charging suddenly upon a Virginia regiment that was trying to cross,sent it back in rapid retreat.
After the great volleys it was dark for a moment or two and then Harrysaw that General Jackson and his staff were sitting alone on theirhorses on the turnpike. The Northern rifles flashed again on the edge ofthe creek, and from a long stone fence, behind which they had also takenrefuge for a last stand.
Harry and his comrades urged Jackson off the turnpike, where he was afair target for the rifles whenever there was light, and into the bushesbeside it. They were just in time, as the night was illuminated aninstant later by cannon flashes and then a shower of bullets swept theroad where Jackson and his staff had been.
Harry thought that they would stop now, but he did not yet know fullyhis Stonewall Jackson. He ordered up another Virginia regiment, which,reckless of death, charged straight in front, crossed the creek anddrove the men in blue out of their position.
Yet the Northern troops, men from Massachusetts, refused to be routed.They fell back in good order, carrying their guns with them, andstopping at intervals to fire with cannon and rifles at their pursuers.Jackson and his staff spurred through the Opequon. Water and mud flew inHarry's face, but he did not notice them. He was eager to be up with thefirst, because Jackson was still urging on the pursuit, even far intothe night. Banks with his main force had escaped him for the time, buthe did not mean that the Northern commander should make his retreat atleisure.
Harry had never passed through such a night. It contained nothing butcontinuous hours of pursuit and battle. The famous foot cavalry hadmarched nearly twenty miles that day, they had fought a hard combatthat afternoon, and they were still fighting. But Jackson allowed not amoment's delay. He was continually sending messengers to regiments andcompanies to hurry up, always to hurry up, faster, and faster and yetfaster.
Harry carried many such messages. In the darkness and the confusionhis clothing was half torn off him by briars and bushes. His horse felltwice, stumbling into gulleys, but fortunately neither he nor his riderwas injured. Often he was compelled to rein up suddenly lest he rideover the Southern lads themselves. All around him he heard the pantingof men pushed to the last ounce of their strength, and often there wasswearing, too. Once in the darkness he heard the voice of a boy cry out:
"Oh, Lord, have mercy on me and let me go to Hades! The Devil will havemercy on me, but Stonewall Jackson never will!"
Harry did not laugh, nor did he hear anyone else laugh. He had expressedthe opinion that many of them held at that moment. Stonewall Jackson wasdriving them on in the darkness and the light that he furnished them wasa flaming sword. It was worse to shirk and face him, than it was to goon and face the cannon and rifles of the enemy.
They called upon their reserves of strength for yet another ounce, andit came. The pursuit thundered on, through the woods and bushesand across the hills and valleys, but the men in blue, in spite ofeverything, retained their ranks on the turnpike, retreated in order,and facing at intervals, sent volley after volley against the foe. Itwas impossible for the Southern army to ride them down or destroy themwith cannon and rifle.
Harry came back about midnight from one of his messages, to Jackson, whowas again riding on the turnpike. Most of his staff were gone on likeerrands, but General Taylor who led the Acadians was now with him. Offin front the rifles were flashing, and again and again, bullets whistlednear them. Harry said nothing but fell in behind Jackson and close tohim to await some new commission.
They heard the thunder of a horse's hoofs behind them, and a mangalloped up, he as well as his horse breathing hard.
He was the chief quartermaster of the army, and Jackson recognized himat once, despite the dark.
"Where are the wagon trains?" exclaimed Jackson, shouting forth hiswords.
"They're far behind. They were held up by a bad road in the Lurayvalley. We did our best, sir," replied the officer, his voice tremblingwith weariness and nervousness.
"And the ammunition wagons, where are they?"
The voice was stern, even accusing, but the officer met Jackson's gazefirmly.
"They are all right, sir," he replied. "I sacrificed the other wagonsfor them, though. They're at hand."
"You have done well, sir," said Jackson, and Harry thought he saw himsmile. No food for his veterans, but plenty of powder. It was exactlywhat would appeal to Stonewall Jackson.
"Supply more powder and bullets to the men," said Jackson presently."Keep on pushing the enemy! Never stop for a moment."
Harry mechanically put his hand in his pocket, why he did not know, buthe felt a piece of bread and meat that he had put there in the morning.He fingered the foreign substance a moment, and it occurred to himthat it was good to eat. It occurred to him next that he had not eatenanything since morning, and this body of his, which for the time beingseemed to be dissevered from mind, might be hungry.
He took out the food and looked at it. It was certainly good to theeyes, and the body was not so completely dissevered after all, as itbegan to signal the mind that it was, in very truth, hungry. He wasabout to raise the food to his lips and then he remembered.
Spurring forward a little he he
ld out the bread and meat to Jackson.
"It's cold and hard, sir," he said, "but you'll find it good."
"It's thoughtful of you," said Jackson. "I'll take half and see that youeat the rest. Give none of it to this hungry horde around me. They'reable to forage for themselves."
Jackson ate his half and Harry his. That reminded most of the officersthat they had food also, and producing it they divided it and fellto with an appetite. As they ate, a shell from one of the retreatingNorthern batteries burst almost over their heads and fragments of hotmetal struck upon the hard road. They ate on complacently. When Jacksonhad finished his portion he took out one of his mysterious lemons andbegan to suck the end of it.
Midnight was now far behind and the pursuit never halted. One of theofficers remarked jokingly that he had accepted an invitation to takebreakfast on the Yankee stores in Winchester the next morning. Jacksonmade no comment. Harry a few minutes later uttered a little cry.
"What is it?" asked Jackson.
"We're coming upon our old battlefield of Kernstown. I know those hillseven in the dark."
"So we are. You have good eyes, boy. It's been a long march, but here weare almost back in Winchester."
"The enemy are massing in front, sir," said Dalton. "It looks as if theymeant to make another stand."
The Massachusetts troops, their hearts bitter at the need to retreat,were forming again on a ridge behind Kernstown, and the Pennsylvaniansand others were joining them. Their batteries opened heavily on theirpursuers, and the night was lighted again with the flame of many cannonand rifles.
But their efforts were vain against the resistless advance of Jackson.The peal of the Southern trumpets was heard above cannon and rifles,always calling upon the men to advance, and, summoning their strengthanew, they hurled themselves upon the Northern position.
Fighting hard, but unable to turn the charge, the men in blue weredriven on again, leaving more prisoners and more spoil in the hands oftheir pursuers. The battle at three o'clock in the morning lasted but ashort time.
The sound of the retreating column, the footsteps, the hoof-beats andthe roll of the cannon, died away down the turnpike. But the sound ofthe army marching in pursuit died, also. Jackson's men could call upno further ounce of strength. The last ounce had gone long ago. Many ofthem, though still marching and at times firing, were in a mere daze.The roads swam past them in a dark blur and more than one babbled ofthings at home.
It would soon be day and there was Winchester, where the kin of so manyof them lived, that Winchester they had left once, but to which theywere now coming back as conquerors, conquerors whose like had not beenseen since the young Napoleon led his republican troops to the conquestof Italy. No, those French men were not as good as they. They could notmarch so long and over such roads. They could not march all day and allnight, too, fighting and driving armies of brave men before them as theyfought. Yes, the Yankees were brave men! They were liars who said theywouldn't fight! If you didn't believe it, all you had to do was tofollow Stonewall Jackson and see!
Such thoughts ran in many a young head in that army and Harry's, too,was not free from them, although it was no new thing to him to admitthat the Yankees could and would fight just as well as the men of hisSouth. The difference in the last few days lay in the fact that theSouthern army was led by a man while the Northern army was led by meremen.
The command to halt suddenly ran along the lines of Jackson's troops,and, before it ceased to be repeated, thousands were lying prostrate inthe woods or on the grass. They flung themselves down just as they were,reckless of horses or wagons or anything else. Why should they care?They were Jackson's men. They had come a hundred miles, whipping armiesas they came, and they were going to whip more. But now they meant torest and sleep a little while, and they would resume the whipping aftersunrise.
It was but a little while until dawn and they lay still. Harry, who hadkept his eyes open, felt sorry for them as they lay motionless in thechill of the dawn, like so many dead men.
Jackson himself took neither sleep nor rest. Without even a cloak tokeep off the cold of dawn, he walked up and down, looking at the silentranks stretched upon the ground, or going forward a little to gazein the direction of Winchester. Nothing escaped his eye, and he heardeverything. Dalton, too, had refused to lie down and he stood withHarry. The two gazed at the sober figure walking slowly to and fro.
"He begins to frighten me," whispered Dalton. "He now seems to me attimes, Harry, not to be human, or rather more than human. It has beenmore than a day and night now since he has taken a second of rest, andhe appears to need none."
"He is human like the rest of us, but the flame in him burns stronger.He gets cold and hungry and tired just as we do, but his will carrieshim on all the same."
"I'm thankful that I fight with him and not against him," said Daltonearnestly.
"Yes, and you're going to march again with him in five minutes. See thegray blur in the east, George. It's the dawn and Jackson never waits onthe morning."
Jackson was already giving the order for the men to awake and marchforth to battle. It seemed to most of them that they had closed theireyes but a minute before. They rose, half awake, without food, cold,and stiff from the frightful exertions of the day and night before, andadvanced mechanically in line.
The sun again was yellow and bright in a clear blue sky, and soon theday would be warm. As they heard the sound of the trumpets they shooksleep wholly from their eyes, and, as they moved, much of the sorenesswent from their bones. Not far before them was Winchester.
Banks was in Winchester with his army. The fierce pursuit of the nightbefore had filled him with dismay, but with the morning he recalled hiscourage and resolved to make a victorious stand with the valiant troopsthat he led. Many of his officers told him how these men had foughtJackson all through the night, and he found abundant cause for courage.
Harry and Dalton sprang into the saddle again, and, as they rode withJackson, they saw that the whole Southern army was at hand. Ewell wasthere and the cavalry and the Acadians, their band saluting the morningwith a brave battle march. It sent the blood dancing through Harry'sveins. He forgot his immense exertions, dangers and hardships and thathe had had no sleep in twenty-four hours.
Before him lay the enemy. It was no longer Jackson who retreated beforeoverwhelming numbers. He had the larger force now, at least wherethe battle was fought, and although the Northern troops in thevalley exceeded him three or four to one, he was with his single armydestroying their detached forces in detail.
General Jackson, General Taylor and several other high officers werejust in front of the first Southern line, and Harry and Dalton sat ontheir horses a few yards in the rear. The two generals were examiningthe Northern position minutely through their glasses, and the chief,turning presently to Harry, said:
"You have young and strong eyes. Tell me what you can see."
Harry raised the splendid pair of glasses that he had captured in one ofthe engagements and took a long, careful look.
"I can see west of the turnpike," he said, "at least four or fiveregiments and a battery of eight big guns. I think, too, that there is aforce of cavalry behind them. On the right, sir, I see stone fences andthe windings of the creeks with large masses of infantry posted behindthem."
He spoke modestly, but with confidence.
"Your eyesight agrees with mine," said Jackson. "We outnumber them, butthey have the advantage of the defense. But it shall not avail them."
He spoke to himself rather than to the others, but Harry heard everyword he said, and he already felt the glow of the victory that Jacksonhad promised. He now considered it impossible for Jackson to promise invain.
The sun was rising on another brilliant morning, and the two armies thathad been fighting all through the dark now stood face to face in fullforce in the light. Behind the Northern army was Winchester in all thethroes of anxiety or sanguine hope.
The people had heard two or three days before t
hat Jackson was fightinghis way back toward the north, winning wherever he fought. They hadheard in the night the thunder of his guns coming, always nearer, andthe torrents of fugitives in the dark had told them that the Northernarmy was pushed hard. Now in the morning they were looking eagerlysouthward, hoping to see Jackson's gray legions driving the enemy beforehim. But it was yet scarcely full dawn, and for a while they heardnothing.
Jackson waited a little and scanned the field again. The morning had nowcome in the west as well as in the east, and he saw the strong Northernartillery posted on both sides of the turnpike, threatening the Southernadvance.
"We must open with the cannon," he said, and he dispatched Harry andDalton to order up the guns.
The Southern batteries were pushed forward, and opened with a terrificcrash on their enemy, telling the waiting people in Winchester that thebattle had begun. The infantry and cavalry on either side, eager despitetheir immense exertions and loss of rest and lack of food, were heldback by their officers, while the artillery combat went on.
Jackson, anxious to see the result, rode a little further forward, andthe group of staff officers, of course, went with him. Some keen-eyedNorthern gunner picked them out, and a shell fell near. Then cameanother yet nearer, and when it burst it threw dirt all over them.
"A life worth so much as General Jackson's should not be risked thisway," whispered Dalton to Harry, "but I don't dare say anything to him."
"Nor do I, and if we did dare he'd pay no attention to us. Our gunnersdon't seem to be driving their gunners away. Do you notice that,George?"
"Yes, I do and so does General Jackson. I can see him frowning."
The Northern batteries, nearly always of high quality, were doingvaliant service that morning. The three batteries on the left of theturnpike and another of eight heavy rifled guns on the right, swept thewhole of Jackson's front with solid shot, grape and shell. The Southernguns, although more numerous, were unable to crush them. The batteriesof the South were suffering the more. One of them was driven backwith the loss of half its men and horses. At another every officer waskilled.
"They outshoot us," said Dalton to Harry, "and they make a splendidstand for men who have been kept on the run for two days and nights."
"So they do," said Harry, "but sooner or later they'll have to give way.I heard General Jackson say that we would win a victory."
Dalton glanced at him.
"So you feel that way, too," he said very seriously. "I got the beliefsome time ago. If he says we'll win we'll win. His prediction settles itin my mind."
"There's a fog rising from the creek," said Harry, "and it's growingheavier. I think Ewell was to march that way with his infantry and itwill hold him back. Chance is against us."
"His guns have been out of action, but there they come again! I can'tsee them, but I can hear them through the mist."
"And here goes the main force on our left. Stonewall is about tostrike."
Harry had discovered the movement the moment it was begun. The wholeStonewall brigade, the Acadians and other regiments making a formidableforce, moved to the left and charged. Gordon, Banks' able assistant,threw in fresh troops to meet the Southern rush, and they fired almostpoint blank in the faces of the men in gray. Harry, riding forwardwith the eager Jackson, saw many fall, but the Southern charge was notchecked for a moment. The men, firing their rifles, leaped the stonefences and charged home with the bayonet. The Northern regiments weredriven back in disorder and their cavalry sweeping down to protect them,were met by such a sleet of bullets that they, too, were driven back.
Now all the Southern regiments came up. Infantry, cavalry and artillerycrossed the creek and the ridges and formed in a solid line whichnothing could resist. The enemy, carrying away what cannon he could, wasdriven swiftly before them. The rebel yell, wild and triumphant, swelledfrom ten thousand throats as Jackson's army rushed forward, pursuing theenemy into Winchester.
Harry was shouting with the rest. He couldn't help it. The sober Daltonhad snatched off his cap, and he, too, was shouting. Then Harry sawJackson himself giving way to exultation, for the first time. He wasback at Winchester which he loved so well, he had defeated the enemybefore it, and now he was about to chase him through its streets. Hespurred his horse at full speed down a rocky hill, snatched off his cap,whirled it around his head and cried at the top of his voice again andagain:
"Chase them to the Potomac! Chase them to the Potomac!"
Harry and Dalton, hearing the cry, took it up and shouted it, too.Before them was a vast bank of smoke and dust, shot with fire, and thebattle thundered as it rolled swiftly into Winchester. The Northernofficers, still strove to prevent a rout. They performed prodigies ofvalor. Many of them fell, but the others, undaunted, still cried to themen to turn and beat off the foe.
Winchester suddenly shot up from the dust and smoke. The battle went onin the town more fiercely than ever. Torrents of shell and bullets sweptthe narrow streets, but many of the women did not hesitate to appear atthe windows and shout amid all the turmoil and roar of battle cheers andpraise for those whom they considered their deliverers. Over all rosethe roar and flame of a vast conflagration where Banks had set hisstorehouses on fire, but the women cheered all the more when they sawit.
Harry did his best to keep up with his general, but Jackson still seemedto be aflame with excitement. He was in the very front of the attack andhe cried to his men incessantly to push on. It was not enough to takeWinchester. They must follow the beaten army to the Potomac.
Harry had a vision of flame-swept streets, of the whizzing of bulletsand shell, of men crowded thick between the houses, and of the faces ofwomen at windows, handkerchiefs and veils in their hands. Before him wasa red mist sown with sparks, but every minute or two the mist was rentopen by the blast of a cannon, and then the fragments of shell whistledagain about his ears. He kept his eyes on Jackson, endeavoring to followhim as closely as possible.
He heard suddenly a cry behind him. He saw Dalton's horse falling, andthen Dalton and the horse disappeared. He felt a catch at the heart,but it was not a time to remember long. The Southern troops were stillpouring forward driving hard on the Northern resistance.
He heard a moment or two later a voice by his side and there was Daltonagain mounted.
"I thought you were gone!" Harry shouted.
"I was gone for a minute but it was only my horse that stayed. He wasshot through the heart but I caught another--plenty of riderless onesare galloping about--and here I am."
The houses and the narrow streets offered some support to the defenseof Banks, but he was gradually driven through the town and out intothe fields beyond. Then the women, careless of bullets, came out of thehouses and weeping and cheering urged on the pursuit. It always seemedto Harry that the women of this section hated the North more than themen did, and now it was in very fact and deed the fierce women of theSouth cheering on their men.
He came in the fields into contact with the Invincibles. St. Clair wason foot, his horse killed, but Langdon was still riding, although therewas a faint trickle of blood from his shoulder. Some grim demon seizedhim as he saw Harry.
"We said we were coming back to Winchester," he shouted in his comrade'sear, "and we have come, but we don't stay. Harry, how long does Old Jackexpect us to march and fight without stopping?"
"Until you get through."
Then the Invincibles, curving a little to the right, were lost in theflame and smoke, and the pursuit, Jackson continually urging it, swepton. He seemed to Harry to be all fire. He shouted again and again. "Wemust follow them to the Potomac! To the Potomac! To the Potomac!" Hesent his staff flying to every regimental commander with orders. He hadthe horses cut from the artillery and men mounted on them to continuethe pursuit. He inquired continually for the cavalry. Harry, afterreturning from his second errand with orders, was sent on a third toAshby. There was no time to write any letter. He was to tell him to comeup with cavalry and attack the Federal rear with all his might.
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Harry found Ashby far away on the right, and with but fifty men. Therest had been scattered. He galloped back to his general and reported.He saw Jackson bite his lip in annoyance, but he said nothing.Harry remained by his side and the chase went on through the fields.Winchester was left out of sight behind, but the crashing of the riflesand the shouts of the troopers did not cease.
The Northern army had not yet dissolved. Although many commands wereshattered and others destroyed, the core of it remained, and, as itretreated, it never ceased to strike back. Harry saw why Jackson wasso anxious to bring up his cavalry. A strong charge by them and thefighting half of the Northern force would be split asunder. Then nothingwould be left but to sweep up the fragments.
But Jackson's men had reached the limit of human endurance. They werenot made of steel as their leader was, and the tremendous exultation ofspirit that had kept them up through battle and pursuit began to die.Their strength, once its departure started, ebbed fast. Their kneescrumpled under them and the weakest fell unwounded in the fields. Thegaps between them and the Northern rear-guard widened, and gradually theflying army of Banks disappeared among the hills and woods.
Banks, deeming himself lucky to have saved a part of his troops, did notstop until he reached Martinsburg, twenty-two miles north of Winchester.There he rested a while and resumed his flight, other flying detachmentsjoining him as he went. He reached the Potomac at midnight with lessthan half of his army, and boats carried the wearied troops over thebroad river behind which they found refuge.
Most of the victors meanwhile lay asleep in the fields north ofWinchester, but others had gone back to the town and were making anequitable division of the Northern stores among the different regiments.Harry and Dalton were sent with those who went to the town. On theirway Harry saw St. Clair and Langdon lying under an apple tree, still andwhite. He thought at first they were dead, but stopping a moment he sawtheir chests rising and falling with regular motion, and he knewthat they were only sleeping. The whiteness of their faces was due toexhaustion.
Feeling great relief he rode on and entered the exultant town. He markedmany of the places that he had known before, the manse where the goodminister lived, the churches and the colonnaded houses, in more than oneof which he had passed a pleasant hour.
Here Harry saw people that he knew. They could not do enough for him.They wanted to overwhelm him with food, with clothes, with anything hewanted. They wanted him to tell over and over again of that wonderfulmarch of theirs, how they had issued suddenly from the mountains in thewake of the flying Milroy, how they had marched down the valley winningbattle after battle, marching and fighting without ceasing, both by dayand by night.
He was compelled to decline all offers of hospitality save food, whichhe held in his hands and ate as he went about his work. When he finishedhe went back to his general, and being told that he was wanted no morefor the night, wrapped himself in his cloak and lay down under an appletree.
He felt then that mother-earth was truly receiving him into her kindlylap. He had not closed his eyes for nearly two days--it seemed amonth--and looking back at all through which he had passed it seemedincredible. Human beings could not endure so much. They marched throughfire, where Stonewall Jackson led, and they never ceased to march. Hesaw just beyond the apple tree a dusky figure walking up and down. Itwas Jackson. Would he never rest? Was he not something rather more thannormal after all? Harry was very young and he rode with his hero, seeinghim do his mighty deeds.
But nature had given all that it had to yield, and soon he slept, lyingmotionless and white like St. Clair and Langdon. But all through thenight the news of Jackson's great blow was traveling over the wires. Hehad struck other fierce blows, but this was the most terrible of themall. Alarm spread through the whole North. Lincoln and his Cabinet saw agreat army of rebels marching on Washington. A New York newspaper whichhad appeared in the morning with the headline, "Fall of Richmond,"appeared at night with the headline "Defeat of General Banks."McDowell's army, which, marching by land, was to co-operate withMcClellan in the taking of Richmond, was recalled to meet Jackson. Thegovernors of the loyal states issued urgent appeals for more troops.
Harry learned afterward how terribly effective had been the blow. Thewhole Northern campaign had been upset by the meteoric appearance ofJackson and the speed with which he marched and fought. McDowell's armyof 40,000 men and a hundred guns had been scattered, and it would takehim much time to get it all together again. McClellan, advancing onRichmond, was without the support on his right which McDowell was tofurnish and was compelled to hesitate.
But Jackson's foot cavalry were soon to find that they were not to reston their brilliant exploits. As eager as ever, their general was makingthem ready for another great advance further into the North.