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the first division of re-enforcements that should arrive to halt and take part in the works there, pushing forward its cavalry to Thoroughfare Gap.
Sigel with his supporters (
Banks and
Reno), moved slowly up the left side of the
Rappahannock, and drove the
Confederates from GreatRun.
After re-building the bridge the latter had destroyed, he pushed forward, and, under the fire of artillery from the opposite side of the
Rappahannock, took possession of
Sulphur Springs the next morning, and went on toward Waterloo Bridge.
The latter point was occupied by
Buford's cavalry at noon,
and
Sigel's advance under
Milroy arrived there late in the afternoon.
Pope's army now faced westward, with
Sigel's corps and
Buford's cavalry near the
Rappahannock, at Waterloo Bridge, and
Banks just behind them.
Reno was near
Sulphur Springs;
McDowell, with the divisions of
Ricketts and
King, was at
Warrenton; and
Heintzelman,
1 who had just arrived from the
Peninsula, was at Warrenton Junction.
Porter had been reported as near Bealton Station,
2 and it was expected that he would press forward and join
Reno; while
Franklin was expected to take post on
Heintzelman's right.
Sturgis and
Cox were hourly expected at Warrenton Junction.
Such was the position of
Pope's army, now about sixty thousand strong, on the 25th of August, the day on which
Jackson, who led
Lee's forces engaged in the great flank movement, crossed the
Rappahannock at Hinson's Mill, four miles above Waterloo Bridge, passed through
Orleans, bivouacked at
Salem, and, moving with his accustomed celerity, the next day,
crossed the
Bull's Run Mountains at Thoroughfare Gap to
Gainesville, where he was joined by
Stuart with two cavalry brigades, and at twilight reached Bristow Station, on the Orange and Alexandria railway, in
Pope's rear, and between him and
Washington and
Alexandria.
This movement had been so thoroughly masked that
Pope was completely deceived, and on the previous evening, when
Jackson was reposing at
Salem, between Thoroughfare and Manassas Gaps, he sent word to
McDowell at
Warrenton, that he believed “the whole force of the enemy had marched for the Shenandoah Valley, by way of
Luray and
Front Royal.”
From information received from an officer of the signal corps, at noon that day,
Banks was of the same opinion.
So little was
Jackson expected at the rear of the army that two trains of cars ran up to Bristow Station, and were captured by him.
Jackson knew the peril of his position, and the necessity for quick
