"* (* From Manassas to Appomattox
pages 256, 257.)
The stroke against the centre was not, however, to be tried. Lee had
other views, and Jackson had been already ordered to turn the Federal
right. Stuart, reinforced by a regiment of infantry and several light
batteries, was instructed to reconnoitre the enemy's position, and if
favourable ground were found, he was to be supported by all the
infantry available. "About half-past twelve," says General Walker, "I
sought Jackson to report that from the front of my position in the
wood I thought I had observed a movement of the enemy, as if to pass
through the gap where I had posted Colonel Cooke's two regiments. I
found Jackson in rear of Barksdale's brigade, under an apple tree,
sitting on his horse, with one leg thrown carelessly over the pommel
of his saddle, plucking and eating the fruit. Without making any
reply to my report, he asked me abruptly: "Can you spare me a
regiment and a battery?"...Adding that he wished to make up, from the
different commands on our left, a force of four or five thousand men,
and give them to Stuart, with orders to turn the enemy's right and
attack him in the rear; that I must give orders to my division to
advance to the front, and attack the enemy as soon as I should hear
Stuart's guns, and that our whole left wing would move to the attack
at the same time.
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