Centreville

On Ricketts' right was King near Groveton, and the line was continued thence by McDowell's remaining division and by Sigel's corps to the Stone Bridge.

At Centreville, seven miles away, was Pope with three divisions.

A fourth was northeast of Manassas Junction and Porter's corps at Bristoe Station.

Thus, while Ricketts continued at Gainesville to mask Longstreet, Pope could concentrate a superior force against Jackson, whom he now believed to be meditating a retreat to the gap.

But a series of misunderstandings resulted in the withdrawal of Ricketts and King, so that nothing now intervened between Longstreet and Jackson, while Sigel and McDowell's other division alone remained to face Jackson until such time as Pope could bring up the rest of his scattered forces.

Jackson now closed on his left and prepared for battle, and on the morning of the 29th, the Confederates, posted behind a high railway embankment, repelled two sharp attacks made by Sigel.

Pope arrived at noon with the divisions from Centreville, which, led by the general himself and by Reno and Hooker, two of the bravest officers in the Union Army, made a third and most desperate attack on Jackson's line.

The latter, repulsing it with difficulty, carried its counterstroke too far and was in turn repulsed by Grover's brigade of Hooker's division.

Jackson watched these Union troops from his horse on the brow of the hill.

He knew that if he remained silent, the Federals would pass on toward Centreville, and his whereabouts would remain a mystery.

He also knew that if he didn't reveal himself, John Pope would slip away toward Washington and unite with McClellan without fighting a battle.

So that was unacceptable.