CHAPTER VII. On the morning of the 24th Ewell took up the line of march for Winchester, Jackson having moved on Strasburg the evening before. That night we encamped on the banks of the Opequon, six miles from our destination. Here we were ordered to cook some rations, and be ready to move at midnight upon Banks, whom we intended to attack at daylight. Long before the sun had risen on the morning of the 25th, the commands of Jackson and Ewell were in line of battle about two miles from the town, the former to the left of the Valley turnpike, the latter joining him on the right. Skirmishers were thrown out, and cautiously, at early dawn, through the dense fog that prevailed, the Confederate line advanced. In front of a portion of Ewell’s line the First Maryland was deployed, which, after proceeding a short distance, encountered the enemy’s skirmishers, who fell back at our approach. About the same time was heard the spattering of musketry in the direction of Jackson, which told us he, too, had them in his front. The fog had now become so dense as to make it impossible to see twenty steps in any direction; and Colonel Johnson therefore thought it advisable to assemble his skirmish line, as we had entirely lost sight of our line of battle, and did not know but we might be enveloped by the enemy. Quietly the men were drawn in, and the regiment lay down in an orchard and concealed itself behind a board fence, to await the lifting of the fog. For an hour everything was still as death, when, the fog rising somewhat, a column of the enemy was revealed lying behind a stone wall about three hundred yards in our front, with his right flank resting toward us, and totally unconscious of our close proximity. They were apparently intent on watching something before them; and presently, to our horror, there emerged from the fog the Twenty-First North Carolina regiment, marching directly upon the stone wall, and altogether ignorant of the ambuscade there awaiting. Scarcely two hundred yards separated them, and in a minute the poor fellows would be in the fatal trap. Like ourselves, they had become separated from the main body and lost their way; but, unlike ourselves, had failed to exercise the precaution to ascertain where they were before advancing. There was nothing on earth we could do to warn them of their danger. Oh! it was a sad, sickening sight, to see them thus unconsciously marching straight into the jaws of death. On, on they go, and nearer and nearer they approach the treacherous fence, behind which they expect to shelter themselves. They are but forty yards from it. “Can nothing be done for them?” I heard from more than one around me.