an immediate retreat; and
retreat, so long as the enemy was not fully concentrated, and there
was a chance of dealing with him in detail, was a measure which
neither Lee nor Jackson was ever willing to advise.

On the evening of the 24th Jackson began his preparations for the
most famous of his marches. His troops were quietly withdrawn from
before the Sulphur Springs, and Longstreet's division, unobserved by
the Federals, took their place. Captain Boswell was ordered to report
on the most direct and hidden route to Manassas Junction, and the
three divisions--Ewell's, Hill's, and the Stonewall, now commanded by
Taliaferro--assembled near Jefferson. Three days' cooked rations were
to be carried in the haversacks, and a herd of cattle, together with
the green corn standing in the fields, was relied upon for
subsistence until requisition could be made on the Federal magazines.
The troops marched light. Knapsacks were left behind. Tin cans and a
few frying-pans formed the only camp equipment, and many an officer's
outfit consisted of a few badly baked biscuits and a handful of salt.

August 26.

Long before dawn the divisions were afoot. The men were hungry, and
their rest had been short; but they were old acquaintances of the
morning star, and to march while the east was still grey had become a
matter of routine. But as their guides led northward, and the sound
of the guns, opening along the Rappahannock, grew fainter and
fainter, a certain excitement began to pervade the column. Something
mysterious was in the air. What their movement portended not the
shrewdest of the soldiers could divine; but they recalled their
marches in the Valley and their inevitable results, and they knew
instinctively that a surprise on a still larger scale was in
contemplation. The thought was enough. Asking no questions, and full
of enthusiasm, they followed with quick step the leader in whom their
confidence had become so absolute. The flood had subsided on the
Upper Rappahannock, and the divisions forded it at Hinson's Mill,
unmolested and apparently unobserved. Without halting it pressed on,
Boswell with a small escort of cavalry leading the way. The march led
first by Amissville, thence north to Orleans, beyond Hedgeman's
River, and thence to Salem, a village on the Manassas Gap Railroad.
Where the roads diverged from the shortest line the troops took to
the fields. Guides were stationed by the advanced guard at each gap
and gate which