Staunton, May 5th.
Since I last wrote to my darling I have been very busy. On
Wednesday last I left my
position near Swift Run Gap, and moved up the south fork of the Shenandoah to
Port Republic, which is about three miles from Weyer's Cave. I would like to
see the cave, for I remembered that my little pet had been there, and that gave
me a deeper interest in the great curiosity. The road up the river was so
treacherous that I could only advance about six miles per day, and to leave the
road was at the risk of sinking yet deeper in the quicksands, in which that
locality abounds. The country is one of the loveliest I have ever seen. On
Saturday the march was resumed, and we crossed the Blue Ridge at what is known
as Brown's Gap, and thus entered into Eastern Virginia. I stopped with a very
agreeable family named Pace. Here I expected to pass the Sabbath, but on Sunday
morning I received a despatch stating that part of the enemy's force had
arrived within one day's march of Brigadier-General Edward Johnson's camp.
Under the circumstances I felt it incumbent upon me to press forward, and I
arrived here last evening, where I am stopping at the Virginia House. The
troops are still coming in. The corps of cadets of the Virginia Military
Institute is here.
SOURCE: Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of
General Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson), p. 254-5
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