* (* O.R. volume 12 part 3 page 50.)
Such were the considerations that influenced the Federal commander.
Had he occupied New Market, as McClellan had desired, he would have
secured the Luray road, have opened the South Fork Valley to his
scouts, and have overcome half the difficulties presented by the
Massanuttons. A vigorous advance would have turned the attention of
the Confederates from his communications to their own; and to drive
Jackson from the Valley was the best method of protecting the trains
and the magazines. But Banks was not inclined to beard the lion in
his den, and on April 16 Jackson had been unmolested for more than
three weeks. Ashby's troopers were the only men who had even seen the
enemy. Daily that indefatigable soldier had called to arms the
Federal outposts. "Our stay at Edenburg," says Gordon, "was a
continuous season of artillery brawling and picket stalking. The
creek that separated the outposts was not more than ten yards wide.
About one-fourth of a mile away there was a thick wood, in which the
enemy concealed his batteries until he chose to stir us up, when he
would sneak up behind the cover, open upon us at an unexpected
moment, and retreat rapidly when we replied.
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