too few for effective use. The two regiments under
Steuart, 600 or 700 strong, were the force on which Jackson had
depended, and Steuart had shown himself incapable of command. He had
received Jackson's message with the reply that he could obey no
orders unless they came through his immediate superior.* (* Jackson's
Report.) Before Ewell could be found, precious time was wasted, and
two hours elapsed before the cavalry took up the chase. But the
Federals had now established strong rear-guards. The whole of their
cavalry, supported by artillery, had been ordered to cover the
retreat; and Steuart, although he picked up numerous prisoners, and
followed as far as Martinsburg, twenty-two miles north of Winchester,
found no opportunity for attack.

Halting for two and a half hours at Martinsburg, the Federals
continued their retreat at sunset, abandoning the magazines in the
town to their pursuers. Before midnight 3000 or 4000 men had arrived
at Williamsport, and by the ford and ferry, supplemented by a few
pontoon boats, the remnant of Banks' army crossed the broad Potomac.

Although not a single Confederate squadron had followed him from
Martinsburg, the Northern general, elated by his unexpected escape,
spoke of this operation as if it had been carried out under heavy
fire. "It is seldom," he reported, "that a river-crossing of such
magnitude is achieved (sic) with greater success." But he added, with
more candour, "there were never more grateful hearts, in the same
number of men, than when at mid-day on the 26th we stood on the
opposite shore;" and then, with the loss of 2000 men, a hundred
waggons, the regimental transport of his cavalry, nearly 800 sick,
and a vast quantity of stores, to traverse his assertion, he stated
that his command "had not suffered an attack or rout, but had
accomplished a premeditated march of near sixty miles in the face of
the enemy, defeating his plans, and giving him battle wherever he was
found!"* (* Some of Banks' officers shared his opinion. The captain
of the Zouaves d'Afrique, the general's body-guard, who had been cut
off at Strasburg, but rejoined on the Potomac, reported that,
"incredible as it may appear, my men marched 141 miles in 47 hours,
as measured by Captain Abert," and concluded by congratulating Banks
upon the success of his "unparalleled retreat." The Zouaves, at all
events, could not complain that they had been excluded from "active
operations." Another officer declared