to retire to the reverse of the ridge, where other regiments found partial protection without sacrificing the efficiency of their fire.  Their commander, perceiving their useless exposure, endeavoured again and again to withdraw them; but amidst the roar of the musketry his voice was lifted up in vain, and when by passing along the ranks he persuaded one wing of the regiment to recede, they rushed again to the front while he was gone to expostulate with the other.  A tall Georgia youth expressed the spirit of his comrades when he replied the next day to the question why they did not retreat to the shelter of the ridge:  “We did not come all this way to Virginia to run before Yankees."* (* Dabney volume 2 page 73.) Nor was the courage of the other troops less ardent.  The 44th Virginia was placed in reserve, thirty paces in rear of the centre.  “After the battle became animated,” says the brigadier, “and my attention was otherwise directed, a large number of the 44th quit their position, and, rushing forward, joined the 58th and engaged in the fight, while the balance of the regiment joined some other brigade."* (* Report of Colonel Scott, 44th Virginia Infantry.  O.R. volume 12 part 1 page 486.)

The action gradually became so fierce that Jackson sent his Third Brigade to support the advanced guard.  These nine regiments now engaged sufficed to hold the enemy in check; the Second Brigade, which moved towards them as darkness fell, was not engaged, and the Stonewall regiments were still in rear.  No counterstroke was delivered.  Johnson himself was wounded, and had to hand over the command; and after four hours’ fighting the Federals fell back in perfect order under cover of the night.  Nor was there any endeavour to pursue.  The Confederate troops were superior in numbers, but there was much confusion in their ranks; the cavalry could not act on the steep and broken ground, and there were other reasons which rendered a night attack undesirable.

The enemy had been repulsed at every point.  The tale of casualties, nevertheless, was by no means small. 498 Confederates, including 54 officers, had fallen.  The 12th Georgia paid the penalty for its useless display of valour with the loss of 156 men and 19 officers.  The Federals, on the other hand, favoured by the ground, had no more than 256 killed, wounded, and missing.  Only three pieces of artillery took part in the engagement.  These were Federal guns; but so great was the angle of elevation that but one man on Sitlington’s Hill was struck by a piece of shell.  Jackson, in order to conceal his actual strength, had declined to order up his artillery.  The approach to the position, a narrow steep ravine, wooded, and filled with boulders, forbade the use of horses, and the guns must have been dragged up by hand with great exertion.  Moreover, the artillery was destined to form part of the turning column, and had a long night march before it.

(Map.  Battle of McDOWELL, Virginia.  Thursday, May 8th, 1862.  Showing West:  Crab Run, North:  Hull’s Ridge, South:  Stuart’s Run, East:  Bull Pasture Mountain.)