n the Shenandoah, crowned by the swift transfer of
the Valley army from the Blue Ridge to the Chickahominy, took fast
hold of the popular imagination. The mystery in which Jackson's
operations were involved, the dread he inspired in the enemy, his
reticence, his piety, his contempt of comfort, his fiery energy, his
fearlessness, and his simplicity aroused the interest and enthusiasm
of the whole community. Whether Lee or his lieutenant was the more
averse to posing before the crowd it is difficult to say. Both
succeeded in escaping all public manifestation of popular favour;
both went about their business with an absolute absence of
ostentation, and if the handsome features of the Commander-in-Chief
were familiar to the majority of the citizens, few recognised in the
plainly dressed soldier, riding alone through Richmond, the great
leader of the Valley, with whose praises not the South only, but the
whole civilised world, was already ringing.

CHAPTER 2.15. CEDAR RUN.

The victories in the Valley, the retreat of Banks, Shields, and
Fremont, followed by the victory of Gaines' Mill, had raised the
hopes of the South to the highest pitch.

When McClellan fell back to the James the capture or destruction of
his army seemed a mere matter of time, and it was confidently
expected that a disaster of such magnitude would assuredly bring the
North to terms. But the slaughter of the Confederates at Malvern
Hill, the unmolested retreat of the enemy to Harrison's Landing, the
fortification of that strong position, induced a more sober mood. The
Northern soldiers had displayed a courage for which the South had not
yet given them credit. On the last of the Seven Days they had fought
almost as stubbornly as on the first. Their losses had been heavy,
but they had taught their adversaries that they were no longer the
unmanageable levies of Bull Run, scattered by the first touch of
disaster to the four winds. It was no frail barrier which stood now
between the South and her independence, but a great army of trained
soldiers, seasoned by experience, bound together by discipline, and
capable of withstanding a long series of reverses. And when it became
clear that McClellan, backed by the fleet, had no intention of losing
his grip on Richmond; when the news came that Lincoln had asked for
300,000 fresh troops; and that the Federal Army of the West,
undisturbed by Lee's victories, was still advancing through
Tennessee,* (* After the rep