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With a rusted sword in one hand and a Confederate battle flag
in the other,a grim-faced Stonewall Jackson desperately rallied his faltering troops. What Rebelworthy of the name could abandon
‘Old Jack’ in his hour of need?
By Robert C. Cheeks

It was devilishly hot in the summer of 1862, an oppressive, debilitating heat that ravaged the Union marching columns and left even the strongest soldiers lying by the roadside, gasping like fish pulled out of a creek. The temperature was climbing toward 100 degrees as Major General John Pope’s newly organized Army of Virginia pushed down Culpeper Road. Major General Nathaniel Banks’ II Corps held the van of the army, kicking up a cloud of choking dust that could be seen for miles.

By dawn of August 9, Pope was aware that Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s forces were moving on his front. The blue-clad cavalry of Brig. Gen. George Dashiell Bayard, some 1,200 effectives, covered the front of Brig. Gen. Samuel Crawford’s brigade at its advanced position near Cedar Mountain. Three miles up the road toward Culpeper the remainder of Banks’ II Corps assembled, with Brig. Gen. James Rickett’s division three miles farther back.

Major General Franz Sigel’s I Corps was on its way to Culpeper, as was Brig. Gen. Rufus King’s division of Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell’s III Corps. Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. John Buford’s cavalrymen were burning horseflesh in a hasty withdrawal from Madison Court House to Sperryville.

Pope ordered Banks’ corps to join their messmates, Crawford’s brigade, at Cedar Mountain, telling Banks in an order dictated by his aide: “General Banks to move to the front immediately, assume command of forces in the front, deploy his skirmishers if the enemy advances, and attack him immediately as he approaches, and be reinforced from here.” Banks interpreted the order to mean that he should confront Jackson as soon as the armies made contact. That was not what Pope had in mind.

Bayard’s and Buford’s cavalry had been the bane of Stonewall Jackson’s existence for the past several days. The night before, the ubiquitous Yankee horsemen had raided Jackson’s bivouacked column, setting off a firestorm of musketry at 3 o’clock in the morning. Now Jackson fretted constantly about the 1,200 wagons the army had gathered in its train. Brigadier General Jubal A. Early’s Virginia brigade held the van of Maj. Gen. Richard Ewell’s division, and although the irascible “Old Jube” needed help mounting his horse–he’d been wounded in the shoulder at Fort Magruder a few weeks earlier–he was in fine form. Because of the Federal cavalry raids, Early was ordered to picket the road, requiring the services of the 44th Virginia and six companies of the 52nd Virginia.

On Culpeper Road, three-quarters of a mile south of the intersection with the Madison Court House road and just west of Slaughter’s Mountain–named after Captain Phillip Slaughter, who had served in the Revolution, and also referred to as Cedar Mountain–a gathering of Bayard’s cavalry offered battle. Early pushed out his skirmish line, accompanied by a brace of 12-pounders, and proceeded to send the outmanned horsemen flying. With his videttes posted well to the north and his divisional commander informed of the proceedings, Old Jube led the brigade toward the intersection, soon coming under artillery fire from the omnipresent Union cavalry. The Federals gave every indication of preparing for battle at this place.

Jackson arrived on the scene and met with Ewell at a farmhouse just to the rear, where they quickly developed a plan of attack. Ewell was to march Brig. Gen. Isaac Trimble’s brigades and the Louisiana brigade of Brig. Gen. Harry Hays, now under the command of former New Orleans chief of police Colonel Henry Forno, over Cedar Mountain and strike the Federals on their left. Meanwhile, Early would continue to press up Culpeper Road toward the center of the Federal position. Brigadier General John Winder’s division would support Early and press the Federal right.

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