and supplies upon which he depended for feeding his army were behind
him, and that, if Jackson succeeded in seizing them and getting
between the Union army and Washington, Pope would lose his head
and dash to the rescue regardless of consequences.

Great, therefore, as the risk was he determined to take it, and
Jackson circled away with his 25,000 men, leaving Lee with the
same number confronting an army of 70,000 which might have swept
the field. But its commander never dreamed of the opportunity
which lay before him and he remained utterly unsuspicious until the
night of August 26, 1862, when his flow of telegrams was suddenly
checked and he was informed that there was something the matter
with the wires connecting him to Washington. There was, indeed,
something the matter with them, for Jackson's men had cut them
down and were at that moment greedily devouring Pope's provisions,
helping themselves to new uniforms and shoes and leaving facetious
letters complaining of the quality of the supplies.

For a while, however, the Union general had no suspicion of what was
happening, for he interpreted the interference with the telegraph
wires as the work of cavalry riders whom a comparatively small
force could quickly disperse. But when the troops dispatched for
this purpose came hurrying back with the news that Jackson's whole
army was behind them, he acted precisely as Lee had expected, and
completely forgetting to close the doors behind him, dashed madly
after "Stonewall," whom he regarded as safe as a cat in a bag.

The door which he should have closed was Thoroughfare Gap, for that
was the only opening through which Lee could have led his men with
any hope of arriving in time to help his friends, and a few troops