the presence
of a more active foe, Lee would never have hazarded so much, the very
aggressiveness of the manoeuvre, and the success of Jackson's former
flank attacks, commended it to Lee, and he gave his lieutenant orders to
proceed to its immediate execution.

For this division of his forces in the presence of an enemy of twice
his strength, Lee is not entitled to commendation. It is justifiable
only--if at all--by the danger of the situation, which required a
desperate remedy, and peculiarly by the success which attended it. Had
it resulted disastrously, as it ought to have done, it would have been
a serious blow to Lee's military prestige. The "nothing venture, nothing
have" principle applies to it better than any maxim of tactics.

Before daybreak Jackson sends two of his aides, in company with some
local guides, to find a practicable road, by which he may, with the
greatest speed and all possible secrecy, gain the position he aims at on
Hooker's right and rear, and immediately sets his corps in motion, with
Rodes, commanding D. H. Hill's division, in the advance, and A. P. Hill
bringing up the rear.

Jackson's route lay through the woods, along the road on which rested
Lee's line. His corps, since Friday's manoeuvres, was on the left; and,
as he withdrew his troops at dawn, Lee deployed to the left to fill
the gap, first placing Wright where Jackson had been on the west of the
plank road, and later, when Wright was ordered to oppose Sickles at the
Furnace, Mahone's brigade.

This wood-road led to Welford's or Catherine's Furnace, from which place
a better one, called the Furnace road, zigzagged over to join the Brock
(or Brook) road, the latter running northerly into Y-shaped branches,
each of which intersected the pike a couple of miles apart.

Jackson was obliged to make some repairs to the road as he advanced, for
the passage of his artillery and trains. In many places the bottom, none
too reliable at any time, was so soft with the recent rains, that it had
to be corduroyed to pull the guns through. But these men were used to
marches of unequalled severity, and their love for their leader made no
work too hard when "Old Jack" shared it with them. And although they had
already been marching and fighting continuously for thirty hours, this
circuit of well-nigh fifteen miles was cheerfully done, with an alacrity
nothing but willing and courageous hearts, and a blind belief that they
were outwitting their enemy