Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1.

[525] and Twenty-eighth New York Regiments, under Colonel Stone, and on the following day by the Fifth and Twelfth New York Regiments, under General Sandford. Thus strengthened, Patterson immediately issued orders for an advance on Winchester, when it was found that the troops of Stone were too weary and footsore to be of efficient service. The order was countermanded, and on the following morning

July 9, 1861.

Patterson held a council of officers at his quarters, a small house in the village, when he was advised not to advance at the present.¹ The wisdom of that advice will be apparent hereafter. Patterson acted in accordance with it, and remained almost a fortnight at Martinsburg, waiting for re-enforcement, supplies, and means for transportation.

Patterson's quarters at Martinsburg.

While these movements were in progress in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry, others equally important were occurring elsewhere, and at points far distant from each other. In Missouri, the fires of civil war were blazing out; and in Western Virginia the opposing forces were carrying on quite an active campaign. Nearer Washington City blood began to flow. From their grand encampment at Manassas Junction the insurgents were continually sending out reconnoitering parties, all having reference to the seizure of the Capital. These were frequently seen along the line of the Potomac from Leesburg to the Chain Bridge, within five or six miles of Washington City; while others were establishing batteries below Alexandria for the blockade of the river.

At the middle of June the insurgents were hovering along the line of the railway between Alexandria and Leesburg, and on the 16th they fired upon a train of cars on that road, at the little village of Vienna, fifteen miles from Alexandria. General McDowell immediately ordered the First Ohio Regiment, Colonel A. McD. McCook, to picket and guard the road. These troops left their encampment near Alexandria on the 17th, accompanied by Brigadier-General Robert C. Schenck, and proceeded cautiously in cars and on trucks in the direction of Vienna. Detachments were left at different points along the road, one of which was the village of Falls Church, which became a famous locality during the earlier years of the war. When the train approached Vienna, only four companies, comprising less than three hundred men, were on the train, and these were on open platforms or trucks.

In the mean time a detachment of Beauregard's army was waiting for them in ambush. These consisted of six hundred South Carolina infantry, a company of artillery, and two companies of cavalry, under Colonel Maxcy Gregg.² They had been on a reconnoissance up the Potomac region as far