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[381] of Travellers' Repose, and to turn that position so as to cut it off from Great Pass. A second detachment was directed upon the latter point, with orders to cross the defile of Staunton Pike, in order to proceed afterwards by the route between Cheat Summit and Elk Water. Lee himself proposed to attack this position both in front and by his right, with five or six thousand men, joining hands with the detachment which had been directed upon Great Pass, and cutting off the retreat of the Federals on that side. Jackson's demonstration in the direction of Cheat Summit was to be the signal of this attack, which was designed to be the most important. The Confederates, being obliged to follow narrow mountain paths, took neither cavalry nor artillery with them. On the morning of September 12th, their movement extended all along the line. Lee drove before him without difficulty the weak posts which guarded the defiles of Greenbrier, and descended towards Elk Water, where Reynolds was preparing to defend himself as well as he could; the detachment which had been sent in the direction of Great Pass reached, without meeting the enemy, the Elk Water road, and thus cut off all communication between Reynolds's troops and those of Kimball. Jackson, after a very fatiguing march, had succeeded, on his part, in investing the positions of the latter, and in placing himself between them and Great Pass, while a detachment attacked their outposts in front along the eastern slope of Cheat Mountain. It seemed as if the Confederates had only to make one more effort to annihilate their opponents, isolated as they were and surrounded on every side. But Lee did not exhibit on that occasion those great military talents which he was to display subsequently on a wider field, and that effort was not made. He was deceived by the determined attitude of the Federals as to their numerical strength, and did not dare to attack them in the strong positions they occupied. After a few skirmishes, in which his young soldiers showed but little firmness, Jackson confined himself to watching Kimball's encampments; after which, on the following day, the 13th, he withdrew, almost without striking a blow. The detachment which had been sent against Great Pass did the same; and Lee, who was still waiting for Jackson to begin the
Philadelphia, Jos. H. Coates and co., 1876.
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