Chapter 23

service, which speaks of a column passing through Thoroughfare Gap; but, although the compilers of the Records have placed it under the date August 26, it seems evident, as this officer (_see_ page 670) was at Rappahannock Station on the 26th and 27th (O.R., vol. xii, part iii, p. 688), that the report refers to Longstreet’s and not Jackson’s troops, and was written on August 28.

[17] O.R., vol. xii, part iii, p. 672. Pope to Porter, p. 675. Pope to Halleck, p. 684.

[18] O.R., vol. xii, part ii, p. 72.

[19] A. P. Hill had marched fourteen miles, Ewell fifteen, and Taliaferro, with whom were the trains, from eight to ten.

[20] The order, dated 2 a.m., August 25, was to the following effect:— “1. Sigel’s Corps to march from Gainesville to Manassas Junction, the right resting on the Manassas railroad. “2. Reynolds to follow Sigel. “3. King to follow Reynolds. “4. Ricketts to follow King; but to halt at Thoroughfare Gap if the enemy threatened the pass. King was afterwards, while on the march, directed to Centreville by the Warrenton–Alexandria road.”

[21] _Battles and Leaders,_ vol. ii, pp. 507, 508.

[22] Longstreet had been unable to march with the same speed as Jackson. Leaving Jefferson on the afternoon of August 26, he did not reach Thoroughfare Gap until “just before night” on August 28. He had been delayed for an hour at White Plains by the Federal cavalry, and the trains of the army, such as they were, may also have retarded him. In two days he covered only thirty miles.

[23] Twenty pieces had been ordered to the front soon after the infantry moved forward. The dense woods, however, proved impenetrable to all but three horse-artillery guns, and one of these was unable to keep up.

[24] Ricketts’ report would have been transmitted through McDowell, under whose command he was, and as McDowell was not to be found, it naturally went astray.

[25] “The Federal sharpshooters at this time,” says Colonel McCrady, of the Light Division, “held possession of the wood, and kept up a deadly fire of single shots whenever any one of us was exposed. Every lieutenant who had to change position did so at the risk of his life. What was my horror, during an interval in the attack, to see General Jackson himself walking quickly down the railroad cut, examining our position, and calmly looking into the wood that concealed the enemy! Strange to say, he was not molested.”—_Southern Historical Society Papers,_ vol. xiii, p. 27.

[26] _Battles and Leaders,_ vol. ii, p. 519.