General Gordon, in anticipation of such a movement, had already transferred two regiments to his right.  The fire of this force, though delivered at close range, hardly checked the Confederate onset.  Closing the many gaps, and preserving an alignment that would have been creditable on parade, Taylor and Taliaferro moved swiftly forward over rocks and walls.  The Federal infantry gave way in great disorder.  The cavalry in support essayed a charge, but the Confederates, as the squadrons rode boldly towards them, halted where they stood, and the rolling volleys of the line of battle drove back the horsemen with many empty saddles.  Then, as Taylor resumed his advance, the Stonewall regiments, with Elzey in close support, rose suddenly from their covert, and the whole line swept forward across the ridges.  The bright sun of the May morning, dispersing the mists which veiled the field, shone down upon 10,000 bayonets; and for the first time in the Valley the rebel yell, that strange fierce cry which heralded the Southern charge, rang high above the storm of battle.

(Map of the battle of Winchester, Va.  Sunday, May 25th, 1862.)

It was impossible, before so strong an onset, for the Federals to hold their ground.  Infantry, artillery, and cavalry gave way.  From east, west, and south the grey battalions converged on Winchester; and as the enemy’s columns, covered by the heavy smoke, disappeared into the streets, Jackson, no longer the imperturbable tactician, moving his troops like the pieces on a chess-board, but the very personification of triumphant victory, dashed forward in advance of his old brigade.  Riding recklessly down a rocky slope he raised himself in his stirrups, and waving his cap in the direction of the retreating foe, shouted to his officers to “Press forward to the Potomac!” Elzey’s, the reserve brigade, was ordered to take up the pursuit; and within the town, where the storehouses had been already fired, the battle was renewed.  The Federal regiments, with the exception of the 2nd Massachusetts, lost all order in the narrow streets.* (* Banks’ aide-de-camp, Colonel Strother, says, “For several minutes it looked like the commencement of a Bull Run panic.  The stragglers,” he adds, “rapidly increased in numbers, and many threw down their arms.”  Harper’s Weekly.  See also Jackson’s Report, O.R. volume 12 part 1 page 706.) The roar of battle followed close; and with the rattle of musketry, the crash of shells, and the loud cries of the victors speeding their rapid flight, the Northern infantry dispersed across the fields.  As the Confederates passed through the town, the people of Winchester, frantic with triumph after their two months of captivity, rushed out from every doorway to meet the troops; and with weeping and with laughter, with the blessings of women and the fierce shouts of men, the soldiers of the Valley were urged forward in hot pursuit.