day was consumed by the army in selecting grounds and pitching tents; and by night, Gen. Patterson, with twenty thousand men, had succeeded in marching seven miles, routing Col.  Jackson’s rebel brigade, and occupying Camp Jackson, distant about two and one-half miles from the Maryland shore of the Potomac.  On Tuesday, the 3d of July, the indomitable general advanced five and one-half miles farther, to Martinsburg, the county seat of Berkeley County, and occupied the town with his whole force, without firing a gun; the rebel rear-guard leaving Martinsburg for the south as the Federal advance entered it from the north.

It would seem that at such a moment a skillful general would take advantage of such a little success, and follow it up, especially when he had spent as much time in preparation as had Patterson, by a series of crushing blows, if anything could be found to crush.  And in view of the facts that Gen. Johnston had thus far made almost no opposition to the advance of the Unionists, and that Patterson’s soldiers were without exception eager and anxious to push on, the policy of holding back seems almost unaccountable.  But Patterson tarried at Martinsburg for nearly two weeks, and telegraphed for more troops; and on the 15th of July, when he commenced his forward march toward Winchester, he suddenly discovered that Johnston had so fortified that place that it would be unsafe to attack it!  It may be that he could get no accurate information as to the strength of the rebel force, and that he supposed them to be superior to himself.  Still, there were many signs which a capable general could have read plainly.  It was well known that there were in Johnston’s advance force no really good troops, except the ’Berkeley Border Guard,’ a company of cavalry, composed of citizens of Berkeley County, who, from their complete and minute knowledge of the country, their skill in the saddle, and their zeal in the rebel cause, were as formidable, though not so notorious, as the Black Horse Cavalry of Fairfax and Prince William.  The rout of the rebels at Hainesville, or Falling Waters, partook of the nature of a panic, as was evidenced by the profuse scattering of knapsacks, clothing, canteens and provisions along the ‘pike.’  Indeed, the conduct of the Virginia militia scarcely sustained the loud professions of desire to ’fight and die in defending the sacred soil of Virginia from the invader,’ as announced by the letters and papers found in their knapsacks.  And the whole course of these events convinced the private soldiers, if not the commanding general, that Johnston’s highest ambition at that time was to gain time.  Did he not know as well as any one that the time of enlistment of many of Patterson’s men had nearly expired?  And what more natural than for him to keep the latter at bay till such a time as the withdrawal of very many of his best troops would force him to retire?  There were many true Unionists, too, in the ranks of the rebels, who would have been glad of opportunities