Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-17

Federal troops in that military pen. AS
the Comte de Paris puts 1t. he organ
lied a kind of grand hunting match
through the lower Valley of Virginia
fore him and forcing them to crowd into
the blind alley of Harpers Ferry
Fatigued by the days march, Jackson
was persuaded by his host of the night
OF spirits ever saw him take. While
mixing 1t leisurely he remarked that he
believed he liked the taste of whisky and
brandy more than any soldier in the
him than the most fragrant coffee, and
for that reason, with others, he rarely
tasted them.
The next morning the Confederates en-
tered Martinsburg. Here the general was
welcomed with great enthusiasm, and a
great crowd hastenedo to the hotel to
greet him. AT first he shut himself up in
q room to write dispatches, but the DEM
onstration became so persistent that he
ordered the door to be opened. The crowd,
chiefly ladies, rushed in and embarrassed
the general with every possible outburst
Of affection, to which he could only reply,
Thank, you. you're very kind" He gave
them his autograph in books and on
scraps Of paper, cut a button from his
coat for little girl and then submitted
patiently to an attack by the others, who
soon stripped the coat of nearly all the
remaining buttons. But when they looked
beseechingly at his hair, which was thin,
he drew the line there, and managed to
did not delay his movements, however.
for In the afternoon he was off again for
Harpers Ferry, sixteen miles to the
southeast.
The 18th he invested Bolivar Heights
and Harpers Ferry. On this day Gen.
Mcclellan, who had succeeded Pope to
the command Of the Army of the Poto-
mac. which he was rapidly assembling
against Lee. came into possession, by
carelessness or accident. of Gen. Lees
order Of the 9th, and he was thus notified
of the division of the Confederate army
and the intention to capture Harpers Fer
ry. From this moment Gen. Lees army,
scattered as 1t was, was in peril, immi-
nent in promotion to the promptness with
which the Federal commander might use
the knowledge he thus obtained. The
plans of the latter were quickly and skill
fully made. Had they been executed more
rapidly, or had Jackson been slower and
less sure, the result must have been a
disastrous one to us.
x*
But military critics disposed to censure
Gen. Mcclellan for not being equal to his
opportunities should credit him with the
embarrassment of his position. He had
not been in command of this army two
weeks. 1t was large army. but heter-
ogeneous one, with many old troops dis
pirited by recent defeat, and many new
troops that had never been under fire.
With such an army general as cautious
as Mcclellan does not take great risks,
nor put the safety of his army rashly
49, hn fNtro IN y1rfrp or ~
Mcclellan was inclined by nature to mag
Nifty the forces of the enemy, and had he
known Gen. Lees weakness he would
have ventured more. Yet when we re-
member what Pope had done and suffered
just before, and what happened to Burn
side and Hooker not long after, their
friends can hardly sit in Judgment upon
Mcclellan.
On the afternoon Of the 18th Col.
Miles, in command of Harpers Ferry,
made the fatal mistake of withdrawing
his troops from Maryland Heights and
giving them up to McLaws. Napier has
said: He who wars walks in a mist
through which the keenest eyes cannot
does seem that Col. Miles might have
known that to abandon these heights UNI
der the circumstances was simply suicidal.
Jackson met with so much delay in
opening communication with McLaws and
Walker. and ascertaining whether they
were in position. that much of the 18th
was consumed. But late in the afternoon
A. p Hill gained a feothold, with little
resistance. well up on the enemys left.
and established some artillery at the base
of Loudoun Heights and across the Shen-
andoah, so as to take the Federal line on
Bolivar Heights in rear (Gen. Hill had
been placed under arrest by Gen. Jack
son, before crossing the Potomac into
Maryland. for disobedience of orders, and
the command of his division devolved
upon Gen. Branch, who was killed a few
days later at Antietam. Believing bat
tie imminent. Gen. Hill requested Gen.
jackson to reinstate him In command OF
his division until the approaching engage
ment was over. No one could appreciate
such an appeal more keenly than Gen.
Jackson. and he at once restored Gen.
Hill to his command The work the Light
Division did at Harpers Ferry and
Sharpsburg proved the wisdom Of Hills
request and Of Jackson's compliance with
it,
During the 18th, while Jackson was fix
ing his clamps on Harpers Ferry, Nc
Clellan was pushing against Lees divided
forces at Turner'S Gap, in the South
mountains, twelve miles west Of FFeder-
lex Lee, with the main body Of his army,
having marched across the mountains