midnight
At the close of the day they were still marching , and when the sun was setting Jackson stood by the dusty roadside and watched his men as they passed . For the first time in that long march they broke through restraint and thundering cheers swept along the whole line as they took off their caps to the man whom they deemed at once their friend and a very god of war . The stern Jackson giving way so seldom to emotion was heard to say to himself : `` Who can fail to win battles with such men as these ? '' Jackson 's column did not stop until midnight . They had been more than twenty-four hours on the march , and they had not seen a hostile soldier . Harry Kenton himself did not know where they were going . But he lay down and gratefully , like the others , took the rest that was allowed to him .