even hundred.[8] The hill was strewed
with small arms, and cannon and caissons met our view wherever we
passed.

[8] The prisoners taken thus far, at Winchester and Fisher Hill,
including the wounded, numbered more than seven thousand. The
absurdity and falsity of Early's statement, that his effective
force at Winchester amounted to only eight thousand five hundred
men, is readily seen. The rebel surgeons at Mount Jackson, and
the citizens, while claiming that we outnumbered Early's forces,
acknowledged that he retreated from Winchester with more than
twenty thousand men.

We had lost, as the cost of this brilliant victory, less than forty men
in the army; and the confederate loss in killed and wounded was scarcely
greater.

We followed the routed army through Mount Jackson, where were large
hospitals, occupied by wounded confederates, and attended by confederate
surgeons; then pressed on to New Market, keeping up a running fight with
the rear-guard of the rebel army.

On the 25th we reached Harrisonburgh, a village more than sixty miles
above Winchester.

Our march had been a grand triumphal pursuit of a routed enemy. Never
had we marched with such light hearts; and, though each day had found us
pursuing rapidly from dawn till dark, the men seemed to endure the
fatigue with wonderful patience. Our column, as it swept up the valley,
was a spectacle of rare beauty. Never had we, in all our campaigns, seen
anything to compare with the appearance of this victorious little army.
The smooth, wide turnpike was occupied by the artillery, ambulances and
baggage wagons moving in double file. The infantry marched in several
parallel columns on either side of the pike, and a line of cavalry,
followed by a skirmish line of infantry, led the way. Cavalry, too, hung
on either flank, and scouted the country. It was intensely exciting to
watch the steady progress of the advancing skirmishers. Now, as they
reached the base of some sloping eminence, the rebel skirmishers would
confront them; then, as they advanced, never halting nor slackening
their pace, the confederates would surrender the ground, to appear in
our front on the next commanding ground. So we marched up the valley--a
grand excursion--skirmishing only enough to maintain a constant state of
pleasant excitement.

At Harrisonburgh we remained until the 29th, then marched farther up the
valley to Mount Crawford, while the cavalry penetra