midnight
His division soon left the rest of the army far behind , as they marched steadily on over the hills , the fate of the nation almost in the hollow of their hands . The foot cavalry of Jackson were proud of their ability that night . They carried only three days ' rations , expecting to feed off the enemy at the end of that time . Near midnight they lay down and slept a while , but long before dawn they were in line again marching over the hills and across the mountains . There were skirmishers in advance on either side , but they met no Union scouts . The march of Jackson 's great fighting column was still unseen and unsuspected . A single Union scout or a message carried by a woman or child might destroy the whole plan , as a grain of dust stops all the wheels and levers of a watch , but neither the scout , the woman nor the child appeared .