FIGHTING JACKSON AT KERNSTOWN.
3 11
reverse came the order directing Shields’s division to move back to the Shen-andoah, while Fremont crossed the mountains to strike the army of Jacksonbefore it could retreat from the valley. On the 25th Shields’s division com-menced its return, and, without halting, reached Rectortown on the eveningof the 28th, where we stopped for rest and to await supplies. At 4 p. m. of the29th the following order was received: “Colonel Kimball, commanding FirstBrigade: You will march immediately; leave your teams and wagons, takeonly ambulances, ammunition-wagons, and provisions, as much as on handin haversacks. Shields, Brigadier-Gee era! commanding.”
At 6 p. m. my command was moving for Front Royal . Marching all night(save 2£ hours for rest and refreshment at Manassas Gap), we arrived and tookposition at 11: 30 a. m., May 30th, upon the ridge east of and overlooking thevillage, before our presence was known to the enemy. Having only one com-pany (30 men) of cavalry, my infantry was sent to surround the Confederates,but before this could be accomplished the attempt was discovered. Theenemy, setting lire to the depots, warehouses, and railroad freight trains,made away in retreat under rapid firing from our battery. My cavalrypushed forward fearlessly after the enemy, closely followed by a portion of myinfantry, to the junction of the Strasburg and Middletown roads, beyond thebranches of the river; here, being completely exhausted, my troops halted,the enemy having gone from view in the direction of Strasburg and Winches-ter. That portion of our command left in the village had saved the loadedfreight trains, but the warehouses and depots were completely destroyed, withmost of their contents. General Shields came up at 5 p. m. with the otherbrigades of the division, and the town and the captures were left to his direc-tion. J With the regiments of my brigade and the 4th, Colonel Carroll’s,I returned to the front and encamped in line for the night.
On the 31st the enemy appeared in considerable force in our front. Idirected Carroll to move out with his command and attack them, which waspromptly done, and after a sharp conflict the enemy was forced back, Carrolltaking several prisoners and one piece (11-pounder) of artillery. The enemyhaving retreated and night having set in, Carroll returned to his position.
Our command was aroused from its slumbers early on the morning ofthe 1st of June by the roar of cannon away to our left toward Strasburg.Fremont had passed over the mountains and attacked Jackson’s forces atFisher’s Hill. General Shields, at Front Royal , was informed of the fightgoing on at Strasburg and came to the front, but declined to send our forcesto join in the fight, and directed us to remain in our position to await thearrival of General Irvin McDowell and Ord’s (Ricketts’s) division.
General McDowell arrived on the evening of June 1st. Ord’s division
At Winchester, another stand was made on the l The captures at Front Royal were: 1 piece of25th. General Banks says: “ I determined to test artillery, 3 heavily laden trains with stores, and 8the substance and strength of the enemy by actual wagons, with teams, retreating with commissarycollision, and measures were promptly taken to pre- stores, and 160 prisoners, including Miss Bellepare our troops to meet them.” The Confederates Boyd, a famous spy in the service of the Confeder-were held in check several hours, and that night ates. We also recaptured many comrades ofBanks’s retreat was continued toward Martinsburg. Banks ’s division, captured during the fight of a fewSee p. 288.— Editors. days before.—N. K.