Now from Harrisonburg across the Massanuttons to Front Royal is
fifty-five miles; so it was well within the bounds of possibility
that the Confederates might reach the latter village at midday on the
23rd. Moreover, Banks himself had recognised that Strasburg was an
unfavourable position. It is true that it was fortified, but therein
lay the very reason that would induce the enemy to turn it by Front
Royal. Nor did the idea, which seems to have held possession of his
mind throughout the night, that Ewell alone had been sent to destroy
Kenly, and had afterwards fallen back, show much strategic insight.
Front Royal was the weak point in the Federal position. It was of all
things unlikely that a commander, energetic and skilful as Jackson
was well known to be, would, when he had once advertised his
presence, fail to follow up his first blow with his whole force and
the utmost vigour. It is only fair to add that the Federal
authorities were no wiser than their general. At two A.M. on the
morning of the 24th, although the news of Kenly's disaster had been
fully reported, they still thought that there was time to move fresh
troops to Strasburg from Baltimore and Washington.
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