--"

"Yes. General Stuart brought me much information that I desired. Fitz
John Porter commands there--the 5th Army Corps--twenty-five thousand
men. I propose, general, that you bring your troops as rapidly as
possible from Frederickshall to Ashland, that from Ashland you march by
the Ashcake road and Merry Oaks Church to the Totopotomoy Creek road and
that, moving by this to Beaver Dam Creek, you proceed to turn and
dislodge Porter and his twenty-five thousand, crumpling them back upon
McClellan's centre--here." He pointed with a quill which he took from
the ink-well.

"Good! good! And the frontal attack?"

"General A. P. Hill and his division will make that. The batteries on
the Chickahominy will cover his passage of the bridge. General
Longstreet will support him. General Magruder with General Huger and the
reserve artillery will be left before Richmond. They will so demonstrate
as to distract General McClellan's attention from the city and from his
right and General Porter. General Stuart will take position on your line
of march from Ashland, and General D. H. Hill will support you."

"Good! good! This is the afternoon of the twenty-third."

"Yes. Frederickshall is forty miles from this point--" He touched the
map again. "Now, general, when can you be here?"

"Thursday morning, the twenty-sixth, sir."

"That is very soon."

"Time is everything in war, sir."

"That is perfectly true. But the time is short and the manoeuvre
delicate. You and your troops are at the close of a campaign as arduous
as it is amazing. The fatigue and the strain must be great. You and
General Hill are far apart and the country between is rough and
unmapped. Yet victory depends on the simultaneous blow."

Jackson sat rigid again, his hand stiffly placed upon the sabre. "It is
not given to man to say with positiveness what he can do, sir. But it
is necessary that this right be turned before McClellan is aware of his
danger. Each day makes it more difficult to conceal the absence of my
army from the Valley. Between the danger of forced marching and the
obvious danger that lies in delay, I should choose the forced marching.
Better lose one man in marching than five in a battle not of our
selecting. A straw may bring failure as a straw may bring victory. I may
fail, but the risk should be taken. Napoleon failed at Eylau, but his
plan was correct."

"Very well," said Lee. "Then the morning of the twenty-sixth be it!
Final orders shal