who had set out for
Warrenton, returned to the Valley, and pursued Jackson, but was unable
to bring him to bay. The enemy's cavalry under Colonel Turner Ashby was
frequently attacked by the Union Cavalry under General John P. Hatch. On
the sixth of May, the Fifth New York Cavalry, First Ira Harris Guard,
had a hand to hand encounter with Ashby's men near Harrisonburg, where
Yankee sabres and pluck had established a reputation. A portion of the
same regiment under Colonel John R. Kenly, at Front Royal, added new
lustre to their fame, on the twenty-third of the same month, during
"Stonewall's" flank movement on General Banks at Strasburg, and fought
bravely during that memorable retreat to Maryland.

At this juncture of affairs, a division of General McDowell's forces,
under General Shields, was dispatched to the valley to intercept
Jackson, while General John C. Fremont was ordered by telegraph to the
same scene from the Mountain Department. But unavoidably detained by
almost impassable mountain roads and streams enormously swollen by
recent rains, Fremont reached Strasburg just in time to see Jackson's
last stragglers retreating through the town. His pursuit was very rapid,
though no engagement was brought about until the fifth of June, at
Harrisonburg. Here Colonel Percy Wyndham, on our side, and Turner Ashby,
now a general, on the Rebel side, distinguished themselves in the
cavalry. Ashby was killed. His loss was greatly lamented by his
comrades. He always fought at the head of his men, with the most
reckless self-exposure, and for outpost duty and the skirmish line he
left scarcely an equal behind him in either army. His humaneness to our
men who had fallen into his hands caused many of them to shed tears at
the intelligence of his death. Men of valor and kindness are always
worthy of a better cause than that in which the Rebels are engaged; but
their merit is always appreciated.

Upon the heel of this fight followed the battles of Cross Keys, and Port
Republic, where Jackson eluded the combined Union forces which had been
directed against him.

During this memorable campaign, a curious military _modus operandi_ had
been resorted to in the Luray Valley, in which the cavalry had made
itself doubly useful. A small force of our infantry and cavalry were
surrounded by the enemy on the south bank of the Shenandoah River, which
was so high as to be unfordable. As a last resort the cavalrymen plunged
into the stream, swi