t the
disaster at Beaver Dam Creek was due to Jackson's indifferent
tactics; and, at first sight, the bare facts would seem to justify
the verdict. He had not reached his appointed station on the night of
the 25th, and on the 26th he was five hours behind time. He should
have crossed the Virginia Central Railway at sunrise, but at nine
o'clock he was still three miles distant. His advance against the
Federal right flank and rear should have been made in co-operation
with the remainder of the army. But his whereabouts was unknown when
Hill attacked; and although the cannonade was distinctly heard at
Hundley's Corner, he made no effort to lend assistance, and his
troops were encamping when their comrades, not three miles away, were
rushing forward to the assault. There would seem to be some grounds,
then, for the accusation that his delay thwarted General Lee's
design; some reason for the belief that the victor of the Valley
campaign, on his first appearance in combination with the main army,
had proved a failure, and that his failure was in those very
qualities of swiftness and energy to which he owed his fame.

General D.H. Hill has written that "Jackson's genius never shone when
he was under the command of another. It seemed then to be shrouded or
paralysed...MacGregor on his native heath was not more different from
MacGregor in prison than was Jackson his own master from Jackson in a
subordinate position. This was the keynote to his whole character.
The hooded falcon cannot strike the quarry."* (* Battles and Leaders
volume 2 pages 389, 390.)

The reader who has the heart to follow this chronicle to the end will
assuredly find reason to doubt the acumen, however he may admire the
eloquence, of Jackson's brother-in-law. When he reads of the Second
Manassas, of Harper's Ferry, of Sharpsburg and of Chancellorsville,
he will recall this statement with astonishment; and it will not be
difficult to show that Jackson conformed as closely to the plans of
his commander at Mechanicsville as elsewhere.

The machinery of war seldom runs with the smoothness of clockwork.
The course of circumstances can never be exactly predicted.
Unforeseen obstacles may render the highest skill and the most
untiring energy of no avail; and it may be well to point out that the
task which was assigned to Jackson was one of exceeding difficulty.
In the first place, his march of eight-and-twenty miles, from
Frederickshall to Ashland, on June 23,