that he would win a signal victory.  In the meantime, whilst the council was assembling, he went off, booted and spurred, to make a hasty call on Dr. Graham, whose family he found oppressed with the gloom that overspread the whole town.  “He was so buoyant and hopeful himself that their drooping spirits were revived, and after engaging with them in family worship, he retired, departing with a cheerful “Good evening,” merely saying that he intended to dine with them the next day as usual.”

When the council met, however, it was found that someone had blundered.  The staff had been at fault.  The general had ordered his trains to be parked immediately south of Winchester, but they had been taken by those in charge to Kernstown and Newtown, from three to eight miles distant, and the troops had been marched back to them to get their rations.

Jackson learned for the first time, when he met his officers, that his brigades, instead of being on the outskirts of Winchester, were already five or six miles away.  A march of ten miles would thus be needed to bring them into contact with the enemy.  This fact and the disapproval of the council caused him to abandon his project.

Before following his troops he once more went back to Dr. Graham’s.  His cheerful demeanour during his previous visit, although he had been as reticent as ever as to his plans, had produced a false impression, and this he thought it his duty to correct.  He explained his plans to his friend, and as he detailed the facts which had induced him to change them, he repeatedly expressed his reluctance to give up Winchester without a blow.  “With slow and desperate earnestness he said, ’Let me think—­can I not yet carry my plan into execution?’ As he uttered these words he grasped the hilt of his sword, and the fierce light that blazed in his eyes revealed to his companion a new man.  The next moment he dropped his head and released his sword, with the words, No, I must not do it; it may cost the lives of too many brave men.  I must retreat and wait for a better time.’” He had learned a lesson.  “Late in the evening,” says the medical director of the Valley army, “we withdrew from Winchester.  I rode with the general as we left the place, and as we reached a high point overlooking the town we both turned to look at Winchester, now left to the mercy of the Federal soldiers.  I think that a man may sometimes yield to overwhelming emotion, and I was utterly overcome by the fact that I was leaving all that I held dear on earth; but my emotion was arrested by one look at Jackson.  His face was fairly blazing with the fire of wrath that was burning in him, and I felt awed before him.  Presently he cried out, in a tone almost savage, ‘That is the last council of war I will ever hold!’”

On leaving Winchester Jackson fell back to Strasburg, eighteen miles south.  There was no immediate pursuit.

March 18.