several days was heard the constant roar of passing trains for an hour before and an hour after noon.  But since the “empties” were sent up the road at night, Jackson again complained that the nuisance was as great as ever, and, as the road had two tracks, said he must insist that the west-bound trains should pass during the same hour as those going east.  Again he was obliged, and we then had, for two hours every day, the liveliest railroad in America.

“One night, as soon as the schedule was working at its best, Jackson instructed the officer commanding at Point of Rocks to take a force of men across to the Maryland side of the river the next day at eleven o’clock, and letting all west-bound trains pass till twelve o’clock, to permit none to go east.  He ordered the reverse to be done at Martinsburg.

“Thus he caught all the trains that were going east or west between these points, and ran them up to Winchester, thirty-two miles on the branch line, whence they were removed by horse power to the railway at Strasburg, eighteen miles further south."* (* Battles and Leaders volume 1.)

May 24.

This capture was Jackson’s only exploit whilst in command at Harper’s Ferry.  On May 24 he was relieved by General Joseph E. Johnston, one of the senior officers of the Confederate army.  The transfer of authority was not, however, at once effected.  Johnston reached Harper’s Ferry in advance of his letter of appointment.  Jackson had not been instructed that he was to hand over his command, and, strictly conforming to the regulations, he respectfully declined to vacate his post.  Fortunately a communication soon came from General Lee, commanding the Virginia troops, in which he referred to Johnston as in command at Harper’s Ferry.  Jackson at once recognised this letter as official evidence that he was superseded, and from that time forth rendered his superior the most faithful and zealous support.  He seems at first to have expected that he would be sent to North-west Virginia, and his one ambition at this time was to be selected as the instrument of saving his native mountains to the South.  But the Confederate Government had other views.  At the beginning of June a more compact organisation was given to the regiments at Harper’s Ferry, and Jackson was assigned to the command of the First Brigade of the Army of the Shenandoah.* (* The Virginia troops were merged in the army of the Confederate States on June 8, 1861.  The total strength was 40,000 men and 115 guns.  O.R. volume 2 page 928.)

Recruited in the Valley of the Shenandoah and the western mountains, the brigade consisted of the following regiments:—­

The 2nd Virginia, Colonel Allen. 
The 4th Virginia, Colonel Preston. 
The 5th Virginia, Colonel Harper. 
The 27th Virginia, Lieutenant-Colonel Echols. 
The 33rd Virginia, Colonel Cummings.