George H. Gordon, From Brook Farm to Cedar Mountain

[vii] for which credit is duly given. I further acknowledge my obligations to this gentleman for his permission to copy those maps in his volume which represent the routes of Jackson and Ewell from Swift Run Gap in .the movement against Banks, and the battles of Kernstown and Mac-Dowell

It may not be necessary to assert that I have not so much attempted to point out how the skill of General Lee and the daring of General Stonewall Jackson prevailed over their enemies, in the general theatre of the latter's military operations, as to show in particular instances how, from Patterson to Banks through Milroy and McDowell, many of the so-called grand achievements of the great Confederate General were due to the blundering stupidity of political managers in Washington acting upon the colossal incapacity of their favorites in the field. But that this does not detract from the very marked ability shown by both Lee and Jackson in taking advantage of these blunders, I cheerfully concede.