HEADQUARTERS FIRST
VIRGINIA. BRIGADE,
CAMP STEPHENS, June
22d.
My darling esposita, I am at present about four miles
north of Martinsburg, and on the road leading to Williamsport, Maryland.
General Johnston ordered me to Martinsburg on last Wednesday, and there
appeared to be a prospect for a battle on Thursday, but the enemy withdrew from
our side of the river. Our troops are very anxious for an engagement, but this
is the second time the enemy have retreated before our advance. However, we may
have an engagement any day. Rumor reports the Federal troops as concentrating
near Shepherdstown, on the Maryland side of the Potomac. A great number of
families have left their homes. By order of General Johnston I have destroyed a
large number of locomotives and cars on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. . . .
I have just learned that the enemy are again crossing into Virginia at
Williamsport, and I am making the necessary arrangements for advancing to meet
them.
SOURCE: Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of
General Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson), p. 162-3
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