less efficient than his own division.  They had as yet seen little fighting, but they were well commanded.  Ewell was a most able soldier, full of dash and daring, who had seen much service on the Indian frontier.  He was an admirable subordinate, ready to take responsibility if orders were not forthcoming, and executing his instructions to the letter.  His character was original.  His modesty was only equalled by his eccentricity.  “Bright, prominent eyes, a bomb-shaped bald head, and a nose like that of Francis of Valois, gave him a striking resemblance to a woodcock; and this was increased by a bird-like habit of putting his head on one side to utter his quaint speeches.  He fancied that he had some mysterious internal malady, and would eat nothing but frumenty, a preparation of wheat; and his plaintive way of talking of his disease, as if he were someone else, was droll in the extreme.  “What do you suppose President Davis made me a major-general for?” beginning with a sharp accent, ending with a gentle lisp, was a usual question to his friends.  Superbly mounted, he was the boldest of horsemen, invariably leaving the roads to take timber and water; and with all his oddities, perhaps in some measure because of them, he was adored by officers and men."* (* Destruction and Reconstruction, General R. Taylor pages 38 and 39.) To Jackson he must have been peculiarly acceptable; not indeed as an intimate, for Ewell, at this period of the war, was by no means regenerate, and swore like a cowboy:  but he knew the value of time, and rated celerity of movement as high as did Napoleon.  His instructions to Branch, when the march against Banks was first projected, might have emanated from Jackson himself:  “You cannot bring tents; tent-flies without poles, or tents cut down to that size, and only as few as are indispensable.  No mess-chests, trunks, etc.  It is better to leave these things where you are than to throw them away after starting.  We can get along without anything but food and ammunition.  The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage."* (* O.R. volume 12 part 3 page 890.)

Trimble, too, was a good officer, an able tactician and a resolute leader.  He had hardly, however, realised as yet that the movements of a brigade must be subordinated to those of the whole army, and he was wont to grumble if his troops were held back, or were not allowed to pursue some local success.  Steuart was also a West Pointer, but with much to learn.  Taylor and his Louisianians played so important a part in the ensuing operations that they deserve more detailed mention.  The command was a mixed one.  One of the regiments had been recruited from the roughs of New Orleans.  The 7th and 9th were composed of planters and sons of planters, the majority of them men of fortune.  “The 6th,” writes the brigadier, “were Irishmen, stout, hardy fellows, turbulent in camp and requiring a strong hand, but responding to justice and kindness, and ready to follow their officers to the death.