An hour
after midnight
We 'll fall back . We 'll have to do it before morning . '' The sergeant on this occasion had the power of divination . An hour after midnight the whole force which had fought with so much heroism was withdrawn . It was a strange night to the whole Union army , full of sinister omens . Pope , in his quest for Jackson , had heard about sunset the booming of guns in the west , but he could not believe that the Southern general was there . Many of his dispatches had been captured by the hard-riding cavalry of Stuart .