ong the line of the Rappahannock, and when
Jackson attacked they were to drive him toward the northeast and away
from McClellan.

The hot August night was one of the most momentous in American history,
and the next few days were to see the Union in greater danger than it
has ever stood either before or since. Perhaps it was not given to the
actors in the drama to know it then, but the retrospect shows it now.
The North had not attained its full fighting strength, and the genius of
the two great Southern commanders was at the zenith, while behind them
stood a group of generals, full of talent and fearless of death.

Jackson had been directly before Sulphur Springs where Dick lay with the
division to which he belonged. But Jackson, under cover of the darkness,
had slipped away and the division of Longstreet had taken its place so
quietly that the Union scouts and spies, including Shepard himself, did
not know the difference.

Jackson's army marched swiftly and silently, while that of Pope slept.
The plan of Lee was complicated and delicate to the last degree, but
Jackson, the mainspring in this organism, never doubted that he could
carry it out. His division soon left the rest of the army far behind, as
they marched steadily on over the hills, the fate of the nation almost
in the hollow of their hands.

The foot cavalry of Jackson were proud of their ability that night. They
carried only three days' rations, expecting to feed off the enemy at
the end of that time. Near midnight they lay down and slept a while,
but long before dawn they were in line again marching over the hills and
across the mountains. There were skirmishers in advance on either side,
but they met no Union scouts. The march of Jackson's great fighting
column was still unseen and unsuspected. A single Union scout or a
message carried by a woman or child might destroy the whole plan, as a
grain of dust stops all the wheels and levers of a watch, but neither
the scout, the woman nor the child appeared.

Toward dawn the marching Southerners heard far behind them the thunder
of guns along the Rappahannock. They knew that Longstreet had opened
with his batteries across the river, and that those of Pope were
replying. The men looked at one another. There was a deep feeling of
excitement and suspense among them. They did not know what all this
marching meant, but they had learned to trust the man who led them. He
had led them only to victory, and they did n