But woe to the man who failed to bring up
ammunition. In advance his trains were left behind. In retreat he
would fight for a wheelbarrow."* (* Destruction and Reconstruction
page 65.)
May 25.
At Kernstown, behind Hogg Run, the Federal rear-guard halted for the
last time, but after a short engagement fell back on Winchester. It
was now three o'clock, an hour before dawn, and the Massachusetts men
became aware that the enemy had halted. Their skirmishers still
pressed slowly forward, and an occasional shot flashed out in the
darkness. But that noise which once heard on a still night is never
forgotten, the solid tramp of a heavy column on a hard road, like the
dull roar of a distant cataract, had suddenly died away. As the day
broke the Confederate advanced guard, passing Pritchard's Hill and
Kernstown battlefield, struck the Federal pickets on Parkin's Hill.
In front was a brook which goes by the name of Abraham's Creek;
beyond the brook rose the ridge which covers Winchester, and Jackson
at last permitted his men to rest. The coveted heights were within
easy grasp. The Federal army was still in Winchester, and nothing now
remained but to storm the hills, and drive the enemy in panic from
the town.
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