That night Pope believed Jackson was retiring toward
Thoroughfare Gap, and that King had met and fought his



162 HISTORY OP TWENTY-FIRST U. S. INFANTRY

retreating column. He ordered his various divisions to close
upon the enemy. He hoped to reoccupy Gainesville with the
corps of Porter and McDowell, thus cutting off the Confeder-
ate retreat while he, with the troops at Centerville, should
fall upon Jackson's rear and crush him. That hope was for-
ever too late. He seemed to have forgotten Longstreet, and
to be ignorant of the fact that King and Ricketts had been
retreating all day before his advance. Longstreet was already
at Gainesville on the morning of the 39th. Had General Pope
realized this he surely would not have attacked the combined
Confederate force. His corps and divisions were so scattered
that he could not cause them to move in unison, and he did
not even know the positions of some. Moreover, the destruc-
tion of his depot of supplies at Manassas had made it difficult
to ration his army, which was now in a half starved condition.
His orders show that had he known Lee's army was reunited
he would have concentrated his forces and fallen back, at
least as far as Centerville.
