George H. Gordon, From Brook Farm to Cedar Mountain

[186] from the War Department on the sixteenth of May, to protect the town of Front Royal and the railroads and bridges between there and Strasburg. By the road, the distance between these towns is about fourteen miles. The picturesque town of Front Royal nestles at the foot of high hills, which tower abruptly above it on almost every side. To the east runs the Blue Ridge, over whose summits, by winding and steep pathways, roads lead through the gaps known as Chester and Manassas into the valleys of eastern Virginia. About one mile and a half north of Front Royal, in a direct line with Winchester, the two branches of the Shenandoah unite into the single stream that pours its waters into the Potomac at Harper's Ferry. The pike road from Front Royal to Winchester crosses both Forks of the river,--the South Fork at a distance of one mile and a quarter from the town, the North Fork about one mile further on. At the two Forks there were two bridges standing. Colonel Kenly had pitched his camp north of and about half a mile from the town in a lovely valley. On the morning of the twenty-third of May there was no token of the impending storm. Trees of richest verdure were bathed in the morning sun, and fields sparkled with dew-drops shining amidst luxuriant grasses. Everything around seemed more in harmony with life and peace than with bloodshed and death. At two o'clock in the afternoon two companies of infantry were on duty as an advanced guard upon the roads leading south and west from Front Royal; at the bridges, and along the railroad for about five miles towards Strasburg, guards had also been stationed. Suddenly, and without the slightest warning, Jackson's advance was upon them.

On the twenty-third of May, at night, we left the enemy under Ewell in bivouac on the road that runs up the eastern bank of the South Fork of the Shenandoah from