d it, the heights on both sides of
the river commanding it would have to be fortified, and a clear line of
communication maintained with his base.

General McClellan, with a force equal to his, was hovering about Romney
and the upper Valley, ready at any moment to swoop down upon his flank
and make a junction with Patterson, who was in his front, thus crushing
him between them. Patterson was threatening Winchester, at which point
he would be able to cut Johnston's supplies and at the same time effect
his desired junction with McClellan.

To prevent this, about the middle of June, General Johnston evacuated
Harper's Ferry, destroying the magazines and a vast amount of property,
and fell back to Winchester. Then, for one month, Patterson and he
played at military chess, on a field ranging from Winchester to
Martinsburg, without advantage on either side. At the end of that
time--on the 15th of July--the former made his grand feint of an
advance, which Colonel Jeb Stuart--who was scouting in his
front--declared to be a real movement; warning General Johnston that
the blow was at last to fall in earnest. This warning the clear-headed
and subtle tactician took in such part, that he at once prepared to
dispatch his whole force to Manassas to join Beauregard. Well did
General Scott say, "Beware of Johnston's retreats;" for--whatever the
country may have thought of it at the time--the retreat from Harper's
Ferry culminated in the battle of Manassas!

Meanwhile, in Richmond the excitement steadily rose, but the work of
strengthening the defenses went steadily on. Fresh troops arrived
daily--from the South by cars--from the West by railroad and canal; and
from the country around Richmond they marched in. Rumors of the wildest
and most varied sort could be heard at any hour. Now Magruder had
gained a terrible victory at Big Bethel, and had strewn the ground for
miles with the slain and spoils! Then Johnston had met the enemy at
Winchester and, after oceans of blood, had driven him from the field in
utter rout! Again Beauregard had cut McDowell to pieces and planted the
stars-and-bars over Alexandria and Arlington Heights! Such was the
morbid state of the public mind that any rumor, however fanciful,
received some credit.

Each night some regiments broke camp noiselessly and filed through the
streets like the army of specters that

"Beleaguered the walls of Prague,"

to fill a train on the Central, or Fredericksburg road,