king ammunition with his chief of
ordnance, an aide of A. P. Hill's standing near, waiting his turn.
"Well, Major Douglas?"

"Your gloves, general. You dropped them on the hilltop."

"Good! put them there, major, if you please.--Colonel Crutchfield, the
ordnance train will cross first. As the batteries come up from the river
see that every caisson is filled. That is all. Now, Captain
Scarborough--"

"General Hill very earnestly asks, sir, that he may be permitted to
speak to you."

"Where is General Hill? Is he here?"

"Yes, sir, he is outside the tent."

"Tell him to come in. You have a very good fast horse, Major Douglas.
There is nothing more, I think, to-night. Good-night."

A. P. Hill entered alone, without his sword. "Good-evening, General
Hill," said Jackson.

Hill stood very straight, his red beard just gleaming a little in the
dusky tent. "I am come to prefer a request, sir."

"Yes. What is it?"

"A week ago, upon the crossing of the Potomac, you placed me under
arrest for what you conceived--for disobedience to orders. Since then
General Branch has commanded the Light Division."

"Yes."

"I feel certain, sir, that battle is imminent. General Branch is a good
and brave soldier, but--but--I am come to beg, sir, that I may be
released from arrest till the battle is over."

Stonewall Jackson, sitting stiffly, looked at the other standing, tense,
energetic, before him. Something stole into his face that without being
a smile was like a smile. It gave a strange effect of mildness,
tenderness. It was gone almost as soon as it had come, but it had been
there. "I can understand your feeling, sir," he said. "A battle _is_
imminent. Until it is over you are restored to your command."

The detachment of the Army of Northern Virginia going against Harper's
Ferry crossed the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Williamsport and forded
the Potomac a few hundred yards below the ferry. A. P. Hill, McLaws,
Walker, Jackson's own, the long column overpassed the silver reaches,
from the willows and sycamores of the Maryland shore to the tall and
dreamy woods against the Virginia sky. "We know this place," said the
old Army of the Valley. "Dam No. 5's just above there!" Regiment by
regiment, as it dipped into the water, the column broke into song.
"Carry me back to Old Virginny!" sang the soldiers.

At Martinsburg were thirty-five hundred blue troops. Stonewall Jackson
sent A. P. Hill down by the turnpike; he himself ma