corps, near Bristoe Station; after a sharp fight the Confederate
general, Ewell, retired on Manassas. Pope now realized that he had
Jackson's corps in front of him at the Junction, and at once took steps to
attack Manassas with all his forces. He drew off even the corps at
Gainesville for his intended battle of the 28th; McDowell, however, its
commander, on his own responsibility, left Ricketts's division at
Thoroughfare Gap. But Pope's blow was struck in the air. When he arrived at
Manassas on the 28th he found nothing but the ruins of his magazines, and
one of McDowell's divisions (King's) marching from Gainesville on Manassas
Junction met Jackson's infantry near Groveton. The situation had again
changed completely. Jackson had no intention of awaiting Pope at Manassas,
and after several feints made with a view to misleading the Federal scouts
he finally withdrew to a hidden position between Groveton and Sudley
Springs, to await the arrival of Longstreet, who, taking the same route as
Jackson had done, arrived on the 28th at Thoroughfare Gap and, engaging
Ricketts's division, finally drove it back to Gainesville. On the evening
of this day Jackson's corps held the line Sudley Springs-Groveton, his
right wing near Groveton opposing King's division; and Longstreet held
Thoroughfare Gap, facing Ricketts at Gainesville. On Ricketts's right was
King near Groveton, and the line was continued thence by McDowell's
remaining division and by Sigel's corps to the Stone Bridge. At
Centreville, 7 m. away, was Pope with three divisions, a fourth was
north-east of Manassas Junction, and Porter's corps at Bristoe Station.
Thus, while Ricketts continued at Gainesville to mask Longstreet, Pope
could concentrate a superior force against Jackson, whom he now believed to
be meditating a retreat to the Gap. But a series of misunderstandings
resulted in the withdrawal of Ricketts and King, so that nothing now
intervened between Longstreet and Jackson; while Sigel and McDowell's other
division alone remained to face Jackson until such time as Pope could bring
up the rest of his scattered forces. Jackson now closed on his left and
prepared for battle, and on the morning of the 29th the Confederates,
posted behind a high railway embankment, repelled two sharp attacks made by
Sigel. Pope arrived at noon with the divisions from Centreville, which, led
by the general himself and by Reno and Hooker, two of the bravest officers
in the Union army, mad