Confederates.

Jackson at Manassas Junction. 
Longstreet to White Plains.

CHAPTER 2.17.  THE SECOND MANASSAS (CONTINUED).

During the night of August 30 the long line of camp-fires on the heights above Bull Run, and the frequent skirmishes along the picket line, told General Lee that his enemy had no intention of falling back behind the stream.  And when morning broke the Federal troops were observed upon every ridge.

August 30.

The Confederate leader, eager as he had been to force the battle to an issue on the previous afternoon, had now abandoned all idea of attack.  The respite which the enemy had gained might have altogether changed the situation.  It was possible that the Federals had been largely reinforced.  Pope and McClellan had been given time, and the hours of the night might have been utilised to bring up the remainder of the Army of the Potomac.  Lee resolved, therefore, to await events.  The Federal position was strong; their masses were well concentrated; there was ample space, on the ridges beyond Young’s Branch, for the deployment of their numerous artillery, and it would be difficult to outflank them.  Moreover, a contingent of fresh troops from Richmond, the divisions of D.H.  Hill, McLaws, and Walker, together with Hampton’s brigade of cavalry, and part of the reserve artillery, 20,350 men in all, had crossed the Rappahannock.*

(* D.H.  Hill 7000
   McLaws 6850
   Walker 4000
   Hampton 1500
   Artillery 1000
               -----
   Total:  20,350

Until this force should join him he determined to postpone further manoeuvres, and to rest his army.  But he was not without hope that Pope might assume the initiative and move down from the heights on which his columns were already forming.  Aware of the sanguine and impatient temper of his adversary, confident in the morale of his troops, and in the strength of his position, he foresaw that an opportunity might offer for an overwhelming counterstroke.

(map.)

Meanwhile, the Confederate divisions, still hidden in the woods, lay quietly on their arms.  Few changes were made in the dispositions of the previous day.  Jackson, despite his losses, had made no demand for reinforcements; and the only direct support afforded him was a battery of eighteen guns, drawn from the battalion of Colonel S.D.  Lee, and established on the high ground west of the Douglass House, at right angles to his line of battle.  These guns, pointing north-east, overlooked the wide tract of undulating meadow which lay in front of the Stonewall and Lawton’s divisions, and they commanded a field of fire over a mile long.  The left of the battery was not far distant from the guns on Jackson’s right, and the whole of the open space was thus exposed to the cross-fire of a formidable artillery.