and camped there for the night. The Stonewall Brigade,
meanwhile, had passed through Winchester, halting near Newtown; the
2nd Virginia Regiment having marched thirty-five miles, and all the
remainder twenty-eight. Little had been seen of the enemy. Fremont
had passed Wardensville, and, marching through heavy rain, had halted
after nightfall at Cedar Creek, six miles west of Strasburg. On the
road to Front Royal, only a few scouts had been encountered by the
Confederate patrols, for Shields, deceived by a demonstration which
the Louisiana Brigade had made from Winchester, had let the day pass
by without a decisive movement. The difficulties on which Jackson had
counted had weighted the feet of his adversaries with lead.* (* Up to
the time that they arrived within striking distance of Jackson they
had acted vigorously, Shields marching eighty miles in five days, and
Fremont seventy over a mountain road.) Fremont, with two-and-twenty
miles to march, had suffered Ashby to delay his progress; and
although he had promised Lincoln that he would be in Strasburg at
five o'clock that evening, he had halted on the mountains six miles
distant. Shields, far ahead of the next division, had done nothing
more than push a brigade towards Winchester, and place strong pickets
on every road by which the enemy might approach. Neither Federal
general could communicate with the other, for the country between
them was held by the enemy. Both had been informed of the other's
whereabouts, but both were uncertain as to the other's movements; and
the dread of encountering, unsupported, the terrible weight of
Jackson's onset had sapped their resolution. Both believed the enemy
far stronger than he really was. The fugitives from Winchester had
spread exaggerated reports of the Confederate numbers, and the
prisoners captured at Front Royal had by no means minimised them.* (*
According to the Official Records, 156 men were taken by General
Shields. It is said that when Colonel Connor, in command of the 12th
Georgia Regiment, reported to Jackson at Winchester, and gave rather
a sensational account of his defeat, the General looked up, and asked
in his abrupt manner: "Colonel, how many men had you killed?" "None,
I am glad to say, General." "How many wounded?" "Few or none, sir."
"Do you call that fighting, sir?" said Jackson, and immediately
placed him under arrest, from which he was not released for several
months.) Banks, impressed by the long array