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On the same morning I had crossed the river,
Stuart, with a portion of his cavalry, after crossing the river above, had made a raid to Catlett's Station and upon
Pope's headquarters at Warrenton Junction, and among other things had captured
Pope's dispatch book.
The captured correspondence showed that
Pope was being reinforced from the
Kanawha Valley and also from
McClellan's army, and
General Lee determined to send
General Jackson to the enemy's rear, to cut the railroad, so as to destroy his communications and bring on a general engagement before the whole of the approaching reinforcements could arrive.
Jackson's wing of the army was put in motion early on the morning of the 25th, with no wagons but the ordnance and medical wagons, and with three days rations in haversacks, for a “cavalry raid with infantry.”
Moving with
Ewell's division in front, we crossed the river at Hinson's Mill above Waterloo bridge, and marched by a small place called
Orleans to
Salem, near which place we bivouacked after a very long day's march.
On the morning of the 26th, we moved, with
Ewell's division still in front, past
White Plains, through Thoroughfare Gap in
Bull Mountain to
Gainesville on the
Warrenton Pike, and there turned off to the right towards Bristow Station on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad.
At
Haymarket, before reaching
Gainesville, we halted two or three hours to wait for
Stuart to come up with his cavalry, which had started that morning to follow us, and did join us at
Gainesville.
Hays' brigade, under
General Forno, was in the advance of the division on this day, and it arrived at Bristow Station a little before sunset, just as several trains were approaching from the direction of Warrenton Junction.
