unition wagons?"
sternly. "All right, sir. They were in advance, and I doubled teams on
them and brought them through." "Ah!" in a tone of relief.

To give countenance to this quartermaster, if such can be given of a
dark night, I remarked jocosely: "Never mind the wagons. There are
quantities of stores in Winchester, and the General has invited me to
breakfast there to-morrow."

Jackson, who had no more capacity for jests than a Scotchman, took this
seriously, and reached out to touch me on the arm. In fact, he was of
Scotch-Irish descent, and his unconsciousness of jokes was _de race_.
Without physical wants himself, he forgot that others were differently
constituted, and paid little heed to commissariat; but woe to the man
who failed to bring up ammunition! In advance, his trains were left far
behind. In retreat, he would fight for a wheelbarrow.

Some time after midnight, by roads more direct from Front Royal, other
troops came on the pike, and I halted my jaded people by the roadside,
where they built fires and took a turn at their haversacks.

Moving with the first light of morning, we came to Kernstown, three
miles from Winchester, and the place of Jackson's fight with Shields.
Here heavy and sustained firing, artillery and small arms, was heard. A
staff officer approached at full speed to summon me to Jackson's
presence and move up my command. A gallop of a mile or more brought me
to him. Winchester was in sight, a mile to the north. To the east Ewell
with a large part of the army was fighting briskly and driving the enemy
on to the town. On the west a high ridge, overlooking the country to the
south and southeast, was occupied by a heavy mass of Federals with guns
in position. Jackson was on the pike, and near him were several
regiments lying down for shelter, as the fire from the ridge was heavy
and searching. A Virginian battery, Rockbridge artillery, was fighting
at a great disadvantage, and already much cut up. Poetic authority
asserts that "Old Virginny never tires," and the conduct of this battery
justified the assertion of the muses. With scarce a leg or wheel for man
and horse, gun or caisson, to stand on, it continued to hammer away at
the crushing fire above.

Jackson, impassive as ever, pointed to the ridge and said, "You must
carry it." I replied that my command would be up by the time I could
inspect the ground, and rode to the left for that purpose. A small
stream, Abraham's creek, flowed fro