Ewell in the meantime had left his post near Gordonsville and had moved into Swift Run Gap in order to go to Jackson if necessary. After the Battle of McDowell, Jackson returned to the Valley. Lee ordered him to make a movement against Banks as speedily as possible, to drive him towards Washington and appear ready to attack the Union capital. Thus he hoped to see some of the Northerners leave the vicinity of Richmond and return to defend their capital. Jackson entered the Valley at Mount Solon and pushed northward at once. Banks erected earthworks at Strasburg and considered himself well entrenched against the enemy. Ewell, with his Confederates, left Swift Run Gap and moved to Luray. Jackson moved north to New Market. The Confederates now organized into two divisions, Jackson's and Ewell's, numbering about 17,000 men. The troops under Jackson instead of continuing northward in their march turned east and crossed the Massanutten Mountain and headed north. On May 22nd the advanced guard camped within ten miles of Front Royal. This town was "held by a strong detachment of Banks' small army." "Since they had left Mount Solon and Elk Run Valley on May 19th the troops in four days had made just sixty miles. Such celerity of movement was unfamiliar to both Banks and Stanton, and on the night of the 22nd neither the Secretary nor the General had the faintest suspicion that the enemy had as yet passed Harrisonburg.... There was serenity at Washington.... The Secretary, ... saw no reason for alarm. His strategical combinations were apparently working without a hitch.... Milroy's defeat was considered no more than an incident of 'la petite guerre'. Washington seemed so perfectly secure that the recruiting offices had been closed, and the President and Secretary, anticipating the immediate fall of Richmond, left for Fredericksburg the next day. McDowell was to march on the 26th, and the departure of his fine army was to be preceded by a grand review.... "So on this night of May 22nd the President and his people were without fear of what the morrow might bring forth. The end of the rebellion seemed near at hand. Washington was full of the anticipated triumph. The crowds passed to and fro exchanging congratulations on the success of the Northern arms and the approaching downfall of the slaveholders.... Little dreamt the light-hearted multitude that, in the silent woods of the Luray Valley, a Confederate army lay asleep beneath the stars. Little dreamt Lincoln, or Banks, or Stanton, that not more than seventy miles from Washington, and less than thirty from Strasburg, the most daring of the enemies, waiting for the dawn to rise above the mountains was pouring out his soul in prayer."