Banks, when the pursuit had so suddenly ceased, had determined to save the remnant of his train.  Three regiments and a couple of batteries were ordered back from Bartonsville, with Gordon in command; and this rearguard had not only shown a formidable front, but had actually driven the infantry that still remained with Ashby out of Newtown, and into the woods beyond.  General Hatch, who had regained the turnpike with part of his brigade, had now come up; and the addition of six squadrons of cavalry rendered Gordon’s force capable of stout resistance.  The Federals held a strong position.  The Confederates had present but 50 cavalry, 150 infantry, and 5 guns.  Nor was there any hope of immediate support, for the remainder of the troops were still several miles in rear, and Steuart’s two regiments appear to have rejoined General Ewell on the road for Nineveh. $ Shortly before sunset the Confederate artillery was reinforced.  The Stonewall Brigade had also arrived upon the scene; and Gordon, firing such waggons as he could not carry off, as well as the pontoons, fell back on Winchester as the night closed in.

The Confederates had now marched from sixteen to twenty miles, and the men had not eaten since the early morning.  But Jackson had determined to press the march till he was within striking distance of the hills which stand round Winchester to the south.  It was no time for repose.  The Federals had a garrison at Harper’s Ferry, a garrison at Romney, detachments along the Baltimore and Ohio Railway; and Washington, within easy distance of Winchester by rail, was full of troops.* (* Twenty regiments of infantry and two regiments of cavalry.  O.R. volume 12 part 3 page 313.) A few hours’ delay, and instead of Banks’ solitary division, a large army might bar the way to the Potomac.  So, with the remnant of Ashby’s cavalry in advance, and the Stonewall Brigade in close support, the column toiled onward through the darkness.  But the Federal rear-guard was exceedingly well handled.  The 2nd Massachusetts regiment held the post of honour, and, taking advantage of stream and ridge, the gallant New Englanders disputed every mile of road.  At Bartonsville, where the Opequon, a broad and marshy creek, crosses the turnpike, they turned stubbornly at bay.  A heavy volley, suddenly delivered, drove the Confederate cavalry back in confusion on the infantry supports.  The 33rd Virginia was completely broken by the rush of flying horsemen; the guns were overridden; and Jackson and his staff were left alone upon the turnpike.  In the pitch darkness it was difficult to ascertain the enemy’s numbers, and the flashes of their rifles, dancing along the top of the stone walls, were the only clue to their position.  The Confederate column was ordered to deploy, and the Stonewall Brigade, pushing into the fields on either flank, moved slowly forward over the swampy ground.  The stream proved an impassable obstacle both below and above the Federal position; but the 27th Virginia, attacking the enemy in front, drove them back and crossed to the further bank.