Battles at Winchester, Cross Keys and Port Republic

Meanwhile General Banks had been pressed back by Ewell, to Strasburg; and a fortnight later (May 23d) a National force under Colonel J. R. Kenly, of Baltimore, was captured or dispersed at Front Royal by the combined troops of Jackson and Ewell. Perceiving his peril, Banks fled down the Shenandoah Valley in swift marches, pursued by twenty thousand Confederates, and won the race to Winchester, where he made a stand with seven thousand men, ten Parrott guns, and a battery of 6-pound smooth-bore cannon. There he was attacked by Ewell, on the 25th of May. Contemplating the contingency of a retreat, he had sent his trains toward the Potomac. Very soon Jackson approached with an overwhelming force, when Banks ordered a retreat, after his troops had fought gallantly for several hours. It was done in a masterly manner. They were pursued as far as Martinsburg, where the chase was ended. The Nationals reached the Potomac, at Williamsport, where, on the hill-sides, the wearied troops rested behind a thousand blazing camp-fires that night.

The National capital was now in real danger, and it could only be relieved from peril by the retreat or capture of the Confederates in the Shenandoah Valley. McDowell sent a force over the Blue Ridge to intercept them if they should retreat, and Fremont pressed on from the west, toward Strasburg, with the same object in view. Perceiving the threatened danger, Jackson fled up the Valley with his whole force, hotly pursued by the Nationals; and at Cross Keys, beyond Harrisonburg, Fremont overtook Ewell, when a sharp but indecisive battle occurred on the 7th of June. Jackson was then at Port Republic, beyond the Shenandoah River, only a few miles distant, so closely pressed by troops under Generals Carroll and Tyler, that he called upon Ewell for help. The latter retired from Cross Keys under cover of night, closely followed by the vigilant Fremont; but Ewell fired the bridge over the Shenandoah near Port Republic, before his pursuer could reach that stream. Jackson, having overwhelming numbers, routed the Nationals after a severe battle at Port Republic, and then the latter retraced their steps toward Winchester. So ended the second great race of contending troops in the Shenandoah Valley.

General McClellan, with the head of his pursuing army, reached the "White House," at the head of navigation of the Pamunkey River, on the 16th of May. The "White House" and surrounding lands belonged to General Robert E. Lee's wife, which she inherited from Mrs. Washington. It was not the "White House" in which the first months of Washington's married life was spent, for that had been burned more than thirty years before. It was a modern dwelling near the spot; but by Mcclellan's order it was carefully protected from harm, not a sick soldier being allowed to find shelter beneath its roof. From that point, the general pressed forward to Cool Arbor, near the Chickahominy River, where he made his headquarters, within nine miles of Richmond. General Casey's division of General Keyes's corps crossed the river, and occupied heights on the Richmond side of the stream, supported by troops under General Heintzelman. Along the line of the Chickahominy the armies of McClellan and Johnston confronted each other toward the close of May, separated by a narrow stream liable to a sudden overflow of its banks and filling of the adjacent swamps. There the two commanders waited for decisive results in the Shenandoah Valley, each expecting reinforcements from that region.

In the meantime the Confederate government at Richmond, alarmed by the approach of the Nationals by land and water, had prepared to fly into South Carolina. They had actually sent their "archives" to Columbia, and to Lynchburg, in Virginia. The Virginia Legislature, disgusted with the cowardice and perfidy of President Davis and his colleagues, passed resolutions (May 14) calling upon them to defend Richmond at all hazards, and resolved, with a clearness that deprived the trembling government of every excuse but fear, that "the President be assured that whatever destruction or loss of property of the State or individual shall thereby result, will be cheerfully submitted to." It is believed that this act was inspired by General Johnston, who saw with indignation the railroad bridge at Richmond covered with plank, for facilitating the flight of artillery across them, and a train of cars in constant readiness for the flight of Davis and his cabinet.

The first collision between the two armies near the Chickahominy occurred on the 23d and 24th of May, one at New Bridge and the other at and near Mechanicsville, less than eight miles from Richmond. The Confederates were driven beyond the Chickahominy at Mechanicsville, and a large part of the Nationals took possession of the Richmond side of the stream. This bold dash was followed the next morning by a stirring order by McClellan for an immediate advance on Richmond. The loyal people rejoiced. He had said to the Secretary of War ten days before, "I will fight the enemy, whatever their force may be, with whatever force we may have." Everything was in readiness for an advance and every circumstance was favorable, for panic had seized the inhabitants in Richmond, and the Confederate troops were not sanguine of a successful defence. But the over-cautious general hesitated until the golden opportunity was lost forever. This chronic hesitancy President Lincoln evidently anticipated, for about the time when McClellan issued his inspiring order, the former, anxious for the safety of the Capital, telegraphed to the general, "I think the time is near when you must either attack Richmond or give up the job and come to the defence of Washington."