se brain it emanated, on Lee fell the burden of
the responsibility; on his shoulders, and on his alone, rested the
honour of the Confederate arms, the fate of Richmond, the
independence of the South; and if we may suppose, so consonant was
the design proposed with the strategy which Jackson had already
practised, that it was to him its inception was due, it is still to
Lee that we must assign the higher merit. It is easy to conceive. It
is less easy to execute. But to risk cause and country, name and
reputation, on a single throw, and to abide the issue with
unflinching heart, is the supreme exhibition of the soldier's
fortitude.

Lee's decision was to divide his army. Jackson, marching northwards,
was to cross the Bull Run Mountains at Thoroughfare Gap, ten miles as
the crow flies from the enemy's right, and strike the railway which
formed Pope's line of supply. The Federal commander, who would
meanwhile be held in play by Longstreet, would be compelled to fall
back in a north-easterly direction to save his communications, and
thus be drawn away from McClellan. Longstreet would then follow
Jackson, and it was hoped that the Federals, disconcerted by these
movements, might be attacked in detail or forced to fight at a
disadvantage. The risk, however, was very great.

An army of 55,000 men was about to march into a region occupied by
100,000,* (* Pope, 80,000; Washington and Aquia Creek, 20,000. Lee
was well aware, from the correspondence which Stuart had captured, if
indeed he had not already inferred it, that Pope had been strictly
enjoined to cover Washington, and that he was dependent on the
railway for supplies. There was not the slightest fear of his falling
back towards Aquia Creek to join McClellan.) who might easily be
reinforced to 150,000; and it was to march in two wings, separated
from each other by two days' march. If Pope were to receive early
warning of Jackson's march, he might hurl his whole force on one or
the other. Moreover, defeat, with both Pope and McClellan between the
Confederates and Richmond, spelt ruin and nothing less. But as Lee
said after the war, referring to the criticism evoked by manoeuvres,
in this as in other of his campaigns, which were daring even to
rashness, "Such criticism is obvious, but the disparity of force
between the contending forces rendered the risks unavoidable."* (*
The Army of Northern Virginia, Colonel Allan page 200.) In the
present case the only alternative was