The Photographic History of The Civil War: in ten volumes, Thousands of Scenes Photographed 1861-65, with Text by many Special Authorities, Volume 4: The Cavalry
Francis Trevelyan Miller, Ed.

[102] was the guarding of the Potomac River on a line nearly one hundred and twenty-five miles in length. No more striking and picturesque figure than Ashby ever won the confidence and affections of his followers. Since his boyhood he had been famed as a horseman, even in that land of centaurs. Throughout all those marvelous campaigns in the Valley, which have made Jackson immortal, Turner Ashby, as brigadier-general, commanded the cavalry that formed an impenetrable screen between Jackson and the Federal armies in his front.

In May and June, 1862, Jackson moved up the Shenandoah valley, Generals Banks and Saxton following with fourteen thousand troops. General Fremont, with his army, was approaching Strasburg from the direction of Moorefield, while General Shields, who had crossed the Blue Ridge from the east, was moving up Luray Valley on Jackson's left flank, with still another division. Jackson waited at Strasburg nearly twenty-four hours for one of his regiments, which he had left below him, to rejoin his command. Meanwhile Fremont approached within ten miles, was met by General Richard Taylor, and held in check until Jackson, starting his wagon trains off before him, had followed in a leisurely manner, while Ashby, with his cavalry, kept back Fremont, who was pressing Jackson's rear. Shields was moving rapidly in the hope of intercepting Jackson before he could cross the Blue Ridge, which Shields supposed he was striving to do. A few miles south of Harrisonburg, Jackson turned toward Port Republic, encountered Fremont's cavalry, under Colonel Percy Wyndham, which Ashby quickly routed, capturing Colonel Wyndham and a large part of his command. Fremont sent forward General Bayard and his command, which met the Fifty-eighth Virginia, near Cross Keys. General Ashby dismounted, and placing himself at the head of this infantry regiment, received the bullet which ended his career.

His former regiment, with certain additions, was organized into a brigade consisting of the Second, Sixth, Seventh,