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[622] selected. Ashby, expecting to find an easy prey in Winchester, did not wait for Jackson, but vigorously attacked the Federal outposts a few kilometres south of the town. In order to hold them in check, without, however, revealing his strength, Shields sent the brigade of Kimball to take position near the village of Kernstown, but only brought two regiments into action, with which Ashby kept skirmishing until night, believing that he had all the available forces of the Federals before him. In placing these two regiments in position, Shields had an arm shattered by a splinter from a shell, but he continued to give his orders without even allowing his wound to be dressed, and on the following day, despite his sufferings, he directed all the movements of his division from his bed. Jackson had reluctantly abandoned a portion of the Virginia valley and slowly fallen back before an enemy greatly superior in number. As soon as he was apprised of the retreat of the Federals towards Winchester he could not resist the desire to retrace his steps. In the course of a single day, March 2d, he travelled, with his small army, the distance of forty kilometres, which separates Mount Jackson from the borders of Cedar Creek, where he encamped for the night. He had with him the three brigades of Garnett, Burks, and Fulkerstone; Ashby's brigade of cavalry, together with a light battery, was already near Winchester; his artillery consisted of twenty-seven field-pieces; but the infantry was so much reduced that his forces did not amount to more than four thousand two hundred, or four thousand three hundred at the utmost. On the morning of the 23d he resumed his march, having yet nearly forty kilometres to travel before he could reach Winchester. On the same morning the three brigades of Shields's division took position five kilometres in advance of this town. The turnpike road leading southward divides into three branches on the summit of a hill situated this side of Kernstown village, and sloping down gradually to the edge of a ravine running from west to east. The left branch leads to Front Royal, the right to a ford of Cedar Creek at the foot of North Mountain; the principal road in the centre runs to Strasburg. The country, highly cultivated and intersected with wall fences and small woods, is one of
Philadelphia, Jos. H. Coates and co., 1876.
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