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could it be otherwise?
Place the figures of the force I have given for Banks's corps against the twelve brigades of Jackson's three divisions, against the 25,000 men of all arms which met the charge of our 7,500 men,1 and can there be a doubt how such a contest would terminate?
Even Dabney admits in his history of this action that Jackson had 20,000 men engaged; but he puts our force at 32,000 in the battle.2 Arguments for Jackson's prowess based upon such figures are grounded on air. Jackson admits a loss in killed and wounded of 1,314, and claims to have caused us a loss of twice that number.3
“ Jackson thought,” says Dabney, “that Cedar Mountain was his most successful battle.”
4 Had Jackson known that he was fighting none other than Banks's corps, would he have thought this battle so successful?
Who shall say?
Jackson was fallible, and oftentimes too stubborn to know or admit the truth.
In his official report, he feels obliged to defend himself for not attacking on the 10th the army he thought he had whipped on the 9th, by assuming that Pope had received reinforcements, which, Dabney says, Jackson placed as high as 60,000.
Jackson himself says that he fled on the 11th “to avoid being attacked by vastly superior forces in front.”
1 The force under Jackson, according to our most authentic information, was 27,000 men of all arms, and sixty guns; of which about 25,000 men were present in the action. Banks's force is officially stated at 6,289 men, with thirty guns and a brigade of cavalry; total, 7,500 men of all arms. See “Strother's Recollections of a Virginia Campaign.”
3 “We captured four hundred prisoners, 5,302 small arms, one twelve-pounder Napoleon and its caisson, with two other caissons and a limber.” Jackson's Report.
4 “This field was remarkable for the narrowness of its front: a mile in width, embracing the whole ground upon which centre and left wing had wrestled for half a day against 30,000 men,--a number which would make a line of battle six miles long.” Dabney's Life of Jackson.
James R. Osgood and Company, 1883.
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