BATTLES OF THE "SEVEN DAYS" Meanwhile, on May 31 and June 1, Johnston had attacked Mc Clellan in the battle of Fair Oaks (Seven Pines) and fell wounded, Lee succeeding to the command of the Confederate army in Virginia. Lee first openly reinforced Jackson with some 7,000 men from Richmond in order to create a fresh alarm of a Confederate advance on Washington, and then brought him by road and rail towards Richmond to envelop the right flank of McClellan's army. Thus, on June 26, began the battles of the "Seven Days." Jackson was late at his first rendezvous, and some of his movements during the battle, notably at White Oak Swamp on June 3o, were slow. This apparent dilatoriness in one notori ous for bold, quick and decisive movement has by many been ascribed to physical exhaustion, but it seems more probable that it was due to the fact that Jackson was without experience of handling in a great battle, in combination with other troops, so large a force as he then commanded, and was without an adequate and experienced staff.
Though the "Seven Days" did not bring all the results Lee hoped, McClellan was driven back to the James river, and Jack son was then dispatched by Lee to the Rapidan to make head against the Federal forces which, recovering from his previous blows, were now commanded by Gen. Pope. When McClellan's evacuation of the peninsula was well advanced Lee joined Jack son, and Pope fell back before them behind the I Lee now decided on a bold manoeuvre. Detaching Jackson with nearly half his force to move by a wide encircling movement upon Pope's rear, he followed with the remainder. Jackson came down upon Pope's advanced base at Manassas Junction, dispersing Fed eral detachments and destroying quantities of stores. This done ' he struck at a Federal column which moved along his front ig norant of his presence, and so, on Aug. 28, brought on the second battle of Bull Run, in which Pope was utterly defeated.
Lee then crossed the Potomac, invaded Maryland, and then detached Jackson to capture Harper's Ferry, which was held by a Federal garrison of II ,000 men. Beginning the attack on Sept. 13, Jackson compelled the place to surrender on Sept. 15, only to learn that McClellan, who had become aware of the division of Lee's forces, was advancing to attack the Confederates on the Antietam. By prompt movement Jackson reached the field in time to avert a disaster to the Confederate arms, and Lee having repulsed McClellan's attack was able to retire without molesta tion over the Potomac. The campaign ended with the Federals as far from Richmond as they had been at the beginning of the year, a result due to the military genius of two men, Lee and Jackson.
Jackson was now recognized as Lee's right arm. He was pro moted lieutenant-general and given command of the 2nd Army Corps of the army of northern Virginia. In the winter of 1862
he, in command of that corps, awaited on the Rappahannock the next Federal move, which came on Dec. 13. Burnside, now in command of the army of the Potomac, attacked the Confederates at Fredericksburg. In that battle Jackson was in command of the Confederate right, where his task was easy. The injudicious at tack was easily and severely repulsed.
It took the Federals some time to recover from the disaster of Fredericksburg, and it was not until April 1863 that Hooker, Burnside's successor, initiated the next campaign by an attempt to turn the Confederate position on the Rappahannock. Hooker had some 120,000 opposed to Lee's 6o,000, and when his turning movement had been well advanced on May 1, he was confident of victory. Lee, leaving a detachment to oppose the Federals on the Rappahannock, moved his main body, including Jack son's corps, to meet Hooker's threatened envelopment, which was developing in the woods of Chancellorsville. On the night of May 1-2 Lee and Jackson planned one of the boldest strokes in the history of war. Whilst Lee kept barely 1o,000 men to dem onstrate against Hooker's front, he sent Jackson with his whole corps to move secretly round Hooker's right. The enveloper was to be enveloped. This manoeuvre was completely successful ; on the evening of May 2, Jackson had his whole corps in position; and his attack rolled up the flank of the unsuspecting Federals. In the moment of victory Jackson, who had ridden forward to organize the pursuit, was shot down in the dusk by his own men, and mortally wounded. "I should have wished," wrote Lee to him, "for the good of the country to be disabled in your stead." The loss of Jackson was fatal to the Confederate cause. Never again was Lee, without one who at once grasped what was in his mind and executed brilliantly his plans, able to attempt those bold manoeuvres which had enabled victory to be won against greatly superior numbers. Jackson was a tactician and a leader of men of the first order. He was never called upon to command large forces independently, but his valley campaign remains a classic example of what a small force can achieve when led by a man who understands the value of resolution, secrecy and mobility in war. In the major operations he was the ideal lieutenant to one who was a real master of the art of war. (F. B. M.) Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; G. F. R. Henderson, Stonewall Jackson, and the American Civil War (1898) ; M. A. Jackson, Memoirs of Stonewall Jackson (1895) ; R. L. Dabney, Life and Campaigns of T. J. Jackson (Stone wall Jackson) (1866) ; W. Allan, Jackson's Valley Campaign; A. Tate, Stonewall Jackson, the Good Soldier (1928).