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At
Centreville,
Pope united with the corps of
Franklin and
Sumner, and he remained there during the whole of the 31st.
But
Lee had not yet given up the pursuit.
Leaving
Longstreet on the battle-field, he sent
Jackson by a detour on
Pope's right, to strike the
Little River turnpike, and by that route to Fairfax Courthouse, to intercept, if possible,
Pope's retreat to
Washington.
Jackson's march was much retarded by a heavy storm that commenced the day before and still continued.
Pope, meantime, fell back to positions covering Fairfax Courthouse and
Germantown; and on the evening of the 1st of September,
Jackson struck his right posted at
Ox Hill, near
Germantown.
He immediately engaged the
Union force with
Hill's and
Ewell's divisions in the midst of a cold and drenching rain.
The attack fell upon
Reno,
Hooker, a part of
McDowell, and
Kearney.
A firm front was maintained till
Stevens' division of
Reno's corps, owing to the exhaustion of its ammunition, and the death of its general, was forced back in disorder.
To repair this break,
Kearney, with the promptitude that marked him, sent forward
Birney's brigade of his own division; and presently, all aglow with zeal, brought up a battery which he placed in position.
But there still remained a gap on
Birney's right, caused by the retirement of
Stevens' division.
This
Birney pointed out to
Kearney, and that gallant soldier, dashing forward to reconnoitre the ground, unwittingly rode into the enemy's lines and was killed.
In his death, the army lost the living ideal of a soldier—a
preux chevalier, in whom there were mixed the qualities of chivalry and gallantry as strong as ever beat beneath the mailed coat of an olden knight.
Like Desaix, whom
Napoleon characterized as ‘the man most worthy to ’
