nd the control of the railway. But the Secretary
of War rejected all advice. Fremont was given to understand that
under no circumstances was he to count on Banks,* (* O.R. volume 12
page 104.) and the latter was told to halt at Harrisonburg. "It is
not the desire of the President," wrote Mr. Stanton on April 26,
"that you should prosecute a further advance towards the south. It is
possible that events may make it necessary to transfer the command of
General Shields to the department of the Rappahannock [i.e. to the
First Army Corps], and you are desired to act accordingly." To crown
all, Blenker's division, which had reached Winchester, instead of
being sent to support Banks, forty-five miles distant by the Valley
turnpike, was ordered to join Fremont in the Alleghanies by way of
Romney, involving a march of one hundred and twenty miles, over bad
roads, before it could reinforce his advanced brigade.

Stanton, in writing to Banks, suggested that he should not let his
advanced guard get too far ahead of the main body; but be does not
appear to have seen that the separation of Banks, Fremont, and
Blenker, and the forward position of the two former, which he had
determined to maintain, was even more dangerous.* (* Jackson had
recognised all along the mistake the Federals had made in pushing
comparatively small forces up the Valley before McClellan closed in
on Richmond. On April 5, when Banks was at Woodstock, he wrote:
"Banks is very cautious. As he belongs to McClellan's army, I suppose
that McClellan is at the helm, and that he would not, even if Banks
so desired, permit him to advance much farther until other parts of
his army are farther advanced." (O.R. volume 12 part 3 page 843). He
did not know that at the date he wrote the President and Mr. Stanton
had relieved McClellan at the helm.) His lesson was to come, for
Jackson, by no means content with arresting Banks' march, was already
contemplating that general's destruction.

The situation demanded instant action, and in order that the import
of Jackson's movements may be fully realised it is necessary to turn
to the main theatre of war. McClellan, on April 5, with the 60,000
men already landed, had moved a few miles up the Peninsula. Near the
village of Yorktown, famous for the surrender of Lord Cornwallis and
his army in 1782, he found the road blocked by a line of earthworks
and numerous guns. Magruder, Jackson's captain in Mexico, was in
command; but Johnston w