WINCHESTER. 355 CHAPTER XII. WINCHESTER. WHILE General Jackson was hurrying back from Franklin, critical events were occurring at Richmond, which must be known in order to appreciate the value of his victories, and their effect upon the public mind. The destruction of the ship Virginia by her crew, on the 11th of May, has been narrated. This blunder left the River James open to the enemy's fleet, up to the wharves of the city. The Confederate engineers had indeed projected an carthwork upon an admirable position, seven miles below, where the lands of a planter named Drewry overlooked a narrow reach of the stream, in a lofty bluff or precipitous hill. But so nerveless and dilatory had been their exertions, that when the river was thus opened to the enemy, there were neither guns mounted upon the unfinished ramparts of earth, nor obstructions completed in the channel beneath. The Legislature of Virginia had urged upon the Confederate War Department, the vast importance of defending this avenue to the Capital of the Commonwealth, and had received promises; but they remained unfulfilled. The hurried removal of military stores to the Southwest; the packing of the archives of the Confederate Departments, and the significant movements of their occupants, now indicated the purpose of the Government to desert Richmond to the enemy. Not only was it left approachable by water; but the grand army of M'Clellan had pressed from the peninsula up to the neighborhood of the city on the east, while a strong and increasing army under General M'Dowell, at Fredericksburg, threatened it by a northern route of only three marches, with no adequate force to oppose him. It was in this gloomy hour, that the spirit of the General Assembly of Virginia, and of the citizens of her Capital, flamed up with a lofty and unshaken heroism, worthy to be compared with the noblest displays of patriotism in all the ages. The former body addressed to the President of the Confederate States, a Resolution, requesting him to defend the city, if necessary, until one stone was not left upon another, and proposing to lay it as a sacrifice, with all its wealth, upon the country's altar. The Town-council met, and amidst the stern and unanimous enthusiasm of the citizens, seconded this resolve. They were determined, that if the city could not be successfully defended, it should only be yielded to the enemy as a barren heap of rubbish, the sepulchre, and glorious monument at once, of its defenders. The General Assembly sent its Committee to lay their wishes before the President; who thanked them for their devotion, and assured them that the evacuation of Richmond, if it occurred, would by no means imply the desertion of Virginia. Even while they conferred together, a courier brought him news, that some Federal ships of war, availing themselves of the absence of the Virginia, were ascending the river, with the evident intention of reaching Richmond. Rising from his seat, he dismissed the Committee, saying, "This manifestly concludes the matter;" and proceeded to arrange for the removal of his family. But the timidity of the Federalists, afraid of torpedoes, or some other secret annoyance, and incredulous that so vital a point could indeed be left open for them, for this time saved the city; which, so far as its proper defenders were concerned, was already lost. The ships paused to make soundings, and to MAIN OBJECT OF THE CAMPAIGN. 357 reconnoitre the banks; and meantime, the citizens went to work. The City Council called upon the Confederate Engineers, to know what they lacked for the immediate completion of their works; and pledged themselves to supply everything. The citi zens themselves turned laborers, and drapers and bankers were seen at the port, loading barges with stone. Two or three excellent guns were mounted; great timbers were hewn, floated to the foot of Drewry's Bluff, and built into a row of cribs; which, when ballasted with stone and bricks, promised to resist the momentum of the heaviest ships. By the 15th of May, when the advance of the Federal fleet appeared, after their cautious dallying, these beginnings of defences were made; and the three guns, manned by Confederate marines, gloriously beat off the gunboats Monitor and Galena, with no little damage of their boasted invulnerability. The benefit wrought by these events upon the temper of the people, which was before tending fast to abject discouragement, cannot be described by words. The Confederate authorities had doubtless decided with perfect correctness, according to the technical maxims of war, that Richmond was untenable; but fortunately, the great heart of the "Unterrified Commonwealth " was wiser than the intellect of the Government. Her glorious example sent a quickening pulsation of generous shame, of hope, and of courage, through the veins of the army and of all the States. Throughout the Confederacy, her high determination was re-cchoed; the people everywhere resolved rather to sacrifice their homes to the magnanimous work of defence, than to yield them a coveted prey to the enemy; the Government and Generals began, in good earnest, to prepare for holding the Capital against every assault. This was, properly, the main object of the campaign, and all other movements were auxiliary to it. General Jackson's command was expected to concur in securing the Capital, by so dealing with that of General Banks, as to neutralize his cooperation in movements against Richmond, whatever might be the form they assumed. General Lee, reasoning from the strategic principles which he thought should have governed M Clellan and Banks, and from news of partial movements of the forces of the latter towards Eastern Virginia, anticipated the sudden withdrawal of his whole army from the Valley, to Fredericksburg, for a combined movement with M-Dowell against Richmond; or even to the peninsula. General Jackson was steadfast in the opinion, that Banks's objective point was still Staunton, and the command of the Central Railroad; and he therefore confidently expected to fight him in the Valley. General Joseph E. Johnston, who, as commander of the Department of North Virginia, was still General Jackson's immediate superior, constantly instructed him and General Ewell, in his despatches to them, to observe these two injunctions: If General Banks moved his army to M'Dowell at Fredericksburg, to march immediately by way of Gordonsville, and join General Anderson at some point in front of the former town; or if he remained in the Valley, to fight him there immediately, only avoiding the effusion of blood in assaults of a fortified position. But he left it to them to decide which of these alternatives was about to become necessary. In the case that they were compelled to follow Banks to Fredericksburg, General Edward Johnson was to be left with his six regiments, to hold the Valley against Fremont, as he best might. Two more fine brigades were sent from Richmond to Gordonsville, to assist General Jackson in his movement against Banks; but before a junction was effected with him, they were suddenly ordered back to the neighborhood of Richmond, to defend the approaches on the side of Fredericksburg; where they soon after suffered a disastrous JUNCTION WITH EWELL. 359 defeat from M'Clellan's advance, at Hanover Court House. Jackson was also very nearly deprived of the assistance of General Ewell, by the same uneasiness concerning an attack from the side of Fredericksburg. After a series of despatches, varying with the appearances of danger, the latter General was finally instructed by the Commander-in-Chief, that it would be necessary for him to move at once from Swift Run Gap towards Gordonsville. But he had just been informed by General Jackson, that he was hastening back, to effect a junction with him near Harrisonburg, and to assail Banks. Mounting his horse, without escort, General Ewell rode express, night and day, and met Jackson on the Sabbath, May 18th, at Mossy Creek, to inform him of this necessity for inflicting so cruel a disappointment upon him. The latter uttered no complaint, and made no comment, although the sleepless energy with which he had been pressing forward, told how dear the project was to his wishes. He meekly replied; "Then Providence denies me the privilege of striking a decisive blow for my country; and I must be satisfied with the humble task of hiding my little army about these mountains, to watch a superior force." The warm and generous heart of Ewell was touched with such an exhibition of unselfish devotion, and was unwilling to desert him. He therefore proposed that if Jackson, under whose immediate orders he was, as ranking Major-General, would assume the responsibility of detaining him until a remonstrance could be uttered against his removal, he would remain. The contingency under which General Johnston had authorized him to leave the Valley had not yet occurred; and the discretion which their general instructions conceded to General Jackson, for regulating his movements according to circumstances, authorized such an exercise of power. It was therefore concluded between them, that the junction should be completed at New Market, a day's |