According to an officer of the 14th Indiana, the Federals at Kernstown were in much the same condition as the Germans at Worth.  “The Confederates fell back in great disorder, and we advanced in disorder just as great.  Over logs, through woods, over hills and fields, the brigades, regiments, and companies advanced, in one promiscuous, mixed, and uncontrollable mass.  Officers shouted themselves hoarse in trying to bring order out of confusion, but all their efforts were unavailing along the front line, or rather what ought to have been the front line."* (* Colonel E.H.C.  Cavins, Battles and Leaders volume 2 page 307.)

Garnett’s conduct was not the only incident connected with Kernstown that troubled Jackson.  March 23 was a Sunday.  “You appear much concerned,” he writes to his wife, “at my attacking on Sunday.  I am greatly concerned too; but I felt it my duty to do it, in consideration of the ruinous effects that might result from postponing the battle until the morning.  So far as I can see, my course was a wise one; the best that I could do under the circumstances, though very distasteful to my feelings; and I hope and pray to our Heavenly Father that I may never again be circumstanced as on that day.  I believed that, so far as our troops were concerned, necessity and mercy both called for the battle.  I do hope that the war will soon be over, and that I shall never again be called upon to take the field.  Arms is a profession that, if its principles are adhered to, requires an officer to do what he fears may be wrong, and yet, according to military experience, must be done if success is to be attained.  And the fact of its being necessary to success, and being accompanied with success, and that a departure from it is accompanied with disaster, suggests that it must be right.  Had I fought the battle on Monday instead of Sunday, I fear our cause would have suffered, whereas, as things turned out, I consider our cause gained much from the engagement.”

We may wonder if his wife detected the unsoundness of the argument.  To do wrong—­for wrong it was according to her creed—­in order that good may ensue is what it comes to.  The literal interpretation of the Scriptural rule seems to have led her husband into difficulties; but the incident may serve to show with what earnestness, in every action of his life, he strove to shape his conduct with what he believed to be his duty.

It has already been observed that Jackson’s reticence was remarkable.  No general could have been more careful that no inkling of his design should reach the enemy.  He had not the slightest hesitation in withholding his plans from even his second in command; special correspondents were rigorously excluded from his camps; and even with his most confidential friends his reserve was absolutely impenetrable.  During his stay at Winchester, it was his custom directly he rose to repair to headquarters and open his correspondence.  When he returned to breakfast at Dr. Graham’s