question or explain what was going on at the front, the spectacle was to
us of the Sixth corps one of infinite amusement. None of these hundreds
and thousands of stragglers were so undignified as to run, but such
walking was never seen before. None of them deigned to look to the right
or left, they were bent only upon getting as far on the road to
Winchester as possible.

At length the truth flashed upon us. More than half of our army was
already beaten and routed, while the remainder had been in ignorance of
the fact that anything serious was transpiring. Now the rebels were
pouring down toward the Winchester and Strasburgh turnpike, sending a
perfect shower of bullets whistling about the vicinity of the
head-quarters of the army, into the Sixth corps hospital camp and into
the trains, which were by this time joining in the stampede.

Staff officers now came riding furiously through the camps of the Sixth
corps, with orders to fall in at once, and proceed at double-quick to
the left.

We may now turn back and trace the cause of this unexpected state of
affairs. Early had, without doubt, assured himself of the exact position
of our army through information conveyed by spies, who were able to
comprehend the whole situation. He then prepared for a bold and sudden
movement, which should take by surprise one flank of our army. Kershaw's
rebel division advanced along the sides of the mountains, and, at
midnight, crossed the north branch of the Shenandoah, still observing
the most complete silence. Even the canteens of the soldiers had been
left behind lest the sound of them should betray the movement.

The whole division over, it was massed on the left of General Crook's
command. A dense fog enveloped the whole surrounding country, and so
thick was it that no man could see an object a few feet from him. Under
the cover of this fog, the rebels succeeded in quietly capturing a large
part of the picket force and nothing now interposed between the rebels
and General Crook's camps. Toward these they hastened, and so complete
was the surprise, that the men of the Eighth corps were, for the most
part, quietly sleeping in their tents. The few who had got into the
breastworks were subjected to a fierce fire in the flank, and were soon
forced to abandon the line. The rebels seized the Union batteries along
that part of the line, and turned them upon the camps of the Nineteenth
corps, and at the same time a rebel line of battle adva