t posted in second line behind the 1st
Virginia, and that only a staff officer and an orderly were sent to
patrol the forest to the westward, instead of several companies of
infantry, was in no way due to the general-in-chief.

Nor was the position of A.P. Hill's division, which, in conjunction
with the Stonewall Brigade, averted the disaster and won the victory,
a fortuitous circumstance. Before the attack began it had been
directed to this point, and the strong counterstroke which was made
by these fresh troops was exactly the manoeuvre which the situation
demanded. At the time it was ordered the Confederate left and centre
were hard pressed. The Stonewall Brigade had checked the troops which
had issued from the forest, but the whole Confederate line was
shaken. The normal, though less brilliant, course would have been to
have re-established the front, and not till that had been done to
have ventured on the counter-stroke. Jackson, with that quick
intuition which is possessed by few, saw and seized his opportunity
while the Federals were still pressing the attack. One of Hill's
brigades was sent to support the centre, and, almost in the same
breath, six others, a mass of 7000 or 8000 men, were ordered to
attack the enemy's right, to outflank it, and to roll back his whole
line upon Ewell, who was instructed at the same moment to outflank
the left. Notwithstanding some delay in execution, Ewell's inability
to advance, and the charge of the Federal cavalry, this vigorous blow
changed the whole aspect of the battle within a short half-hour.
Conceived in a moment, in the midst of wild excitement and fierce
tumult, delivered with all the strength available, it cannot be
judged otherwise than as the mark of a great captain. Few battles,
indeed, bear the impress of a single personality more clearly than
Cedar Run. From the first cannon-shot of the advanced guard until the
last volley in the midnight forest, one will directed every movement.
The field was no small one. The fight was full of startling changes.
It was no methodical conflict, but a fierce struggle at close
quarters, the lines swaying to and fro, and the ground covered with
confused masses of men and guns, with flying batteries and broken
regiments. But the turmoil of battle found a master. The strong brain
was never clearer than when the storm raged most fiercely. Wherever
his presence was most needed there Jackson was seen, rallying the
fugitives, reinforcing