,
forbade the use of horses, and the guns must have been dragged up by
hand with great exertion. Moreover, the artillery was destined to
form part of the turning column, and had a long night march before it.

(MAP. BATTLE OF McDOWELL, VIRGINIA. Thursday, May 8th, 1862. Showing
West: Crab Run, North: Hull's Ridge, South: Stuart's Run, East: Bull
Pasture Mountain.)

"By nine o'clock," says Dabney, "the roar of the struggle had passed
away, and the green battle-field reposed under the starlight as
calmly as when it had been occupied only by its peaceful herds.
Detachments of soldiers were silently exploring the ground for their
wounded comrades, while, the tired troops were slowly filing off to
their bivouac. At midnight the last sufferer had been removed and the
last picket posted; and then only did Jackson turn to seek a few
hours' repose in a neighbouring farmhouse. The valley of M'Dowell lay
in equal quiet. The camp-fires of the Federals blazed ostentatiously
in long and regular lines, and their troops seemed wrapped in sleep.
At one o'clock the general reached his quarters, and threw himself
upon a bed. When his mulatto servant, knowing that he had eaten
nothing since morning, came in with food, he said, 'I want none;
nothing but sleep,' and in a few minutes he was slumbering like a
healthy child."

It seems, however, that the march of the turning column had already
been countermanded. Putting himself in his enemy's place, Jackson had
foreseen Milroy's movements. If the one could move by night, so could
the other; and when he rode out at dawn, the Federals, as he
anticipated, had disappeared. The next day he sent a laconic despatch
to Richmond: "God blessed our arms with victory at M'Dowell
yesterday."

This announcement was doubtless received by the people of Virginia,
as Dabney declares, with peculiar delight. On May 4 Johnston had
evacuated Yorktown. On the 5th he had checked the pursuit at
Williamsburg, inflicting heavy losses, but had continued his retreat.
On the 9th Norfolk was abandoned; and on the 11th the "Merrimac,"
grounding in the James, was destroyed by her commander. "The victory
of M'Dowell was the one gleam of brightness athwart all these
clouds." It must be admitted, however, that the victory was
insignificant. The repulse of 2500 men by 4000 was not a remarkable
feat; and it would even appear that M'Dowell might be ranked with the
battles of lost opportunities. A vigorous counterstroke would