de a detour and came
upon the town from the west. The thirty-five hundred blue troops could
retire southward, a thing hardly to their liking, or they could hasten
eastward and throw themselves into Harper's Ferry. As was anticipated,
they chose the latter course.

Stonewall Jackson entered Martinsburg amid acclaim. Here he rested his
troops a few hours, then in the afternoon swung eastward and bivouacked
upon the Opequon. "At early dawn," he marched again. Ahead rode his
cavalry, and they kept the roads on two sides of Harper's Ferry. A
dispatch came from General Lafayette McLaws. _General Jackson:--After
some fighting I have got the Maryland Heights. Loudoun Heights in
possession of General Walker. Enemy cut off north and east._

"Good! good!" said Jackson. "North, east, south, and west."

On the Maryland side of the Potomac, some miles to the north of Harper's
Ferry, Lee likewise received a report--brought in haste by a courier of
Stuart's. _General:--The enemy seems to have waked up. McClellan
reported moving toward South Mountain with some rapidity. I am holding
Crampton and Turner's Gaps. What are my orders?_

Lee looked eastward toward South Mountain and southward to Harper's
Ferry. "General McClellan can only be guessing. We must gain time for
General Jackson at Harper's Ferry." He sent word to Stuart. "D. H.
Hill's division returning to South Mountain General Longstreet ordered
back from Hagerstown. We must gain time for General Jackson. Hold the
gaps."

D. H. Hill and Stuart held them. High above the valleys ran the
roads--and all the slopes were boulder-strewn, crested moreover by
broken stone walls. Hooker and Reno with the First and Ninth corps
attacked Turner's Gap, Franklin's corps attacked Crampton's Gap. High
above the country side, bloody and determined, eight thousand against
thirty thousand, raged the battle.

Stonewall Jackson, closely investing Harper's Ferry, posting his
batteries on both sides of the river, on the Maryland Heights and
Loudoun Heights, heard the firing to the northward. He knit his brows.
He knew that McClellan had occupied Frederick, but he knew nothing of
the copy of an order found wrapped around three cigars. "What do you
think of it, general?" ventured one of his brigadiers.

"I think, sir, it may be a cavalry engagement. Pleasanton came into
touch with General Stuart and the Horse Artillery."

"It could not be McClellan in force?"

"I think not, sir. Not unless to h