File:The history of the Civil War in the United States- its cause, origin, progress and conclusion (1865) (14576171688).jpg

Identifier: historyofcivilwa00smuc (find matches)
Title: The history of the Civil War in the United States: its cause, origin, progress and conclusion
Year: 1865 (1860s)
Authors: Smucker, Samuel M. (Samuel Mosheim), 1823-1863 Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893
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Publisher: Philadelphia (etc.) Jones Brothers & Co. Chicago (etc.) Zeigler, McCurdy & Co
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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attacked at anymoment by an enraged enemy with an overwhelming preponderance ofnumbers. The commander of the Rebels in that region was too shrewdand vigilant an officer not to discover the immense advantages whichwere thus unfortunately placed within his reach ; and he soon gave thefriends of the Union ample cause to regret the energy and skill withwhich he improved the opportunity of revenge and conquest which thisindiscretion tendered him. On the 23d of May, the advance guard of General Banks, which was.stationed under Colonel Kenley at Front Royal, consisting of the firstMaryland regiment, was suddenly attacked by the Rebels with great furyand with an immense superiority of numbers. As soon as informationof this event reached the headquarters at Strasburg, General Banks or-dered a detachment of cavalry and a portion of his artillery forward tothe support of Colonel Kenley; but when it was ascertained, soon after-ward, that the troops of that officer had been wholly scattered by the
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■5? S 1!==. REBEL DESIGN TO OVERPOWER BANKS DIVISION. 245 avalanche wliich had descended upon them, and that the enemy, twenty-five thousand strong, were rushing on like a deluge for the purpose ofsurrounding and crushing the comparatively weak force of General Banks,the reinforcements thus ordered forward were recalled. That commanderquickly discerned the full extent of his danger, and the novel and peril-ous crisis summoned all his rare powers of discrimination into immediateaction. He perceived that, under the circumstances, only one of threelines of conduct was possible for him: He might advance with his wholeforce from Strasburg toward Front Royal, and attack the enemy on theflank; he might retire across Little North Mountain, and thus reach thePotomac on the west; he might retreat to Winchester, there preserve hiscommunications with his original base of operations, wait for reinforce-ments, engage the advancing enemy if necessary, or retreat to Williams-port, as the event migh

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