But in the light of subsequent events, and by aid of the Official Records of the so-called “War of the Rebellion,” we learn that both commanders, Gen. Charles P. Stone, of the Federals and[1] Gen. N. G. Evans, of the Confederates, had really well-defined purposes and plans, and played the game with skill and intelligence on both sides.
It was General Stone’s purpose to cross the Potomac at two points, making a heavy display of force at Edwards’ Ferry, holding General Evans’ attention at that point in his front while making his real attack on the extreme left of the Confederate position, rolling back the small contingent of scouts and pickets about Smart’s Mill and turning the flank of Evans, which would compel a retreat, with Gorman’s brigade to cut him off, and at the same time General McCall’s force about Dranesville, on the Alexandria pike, only a short march away, making a possible combination of at least eighteen thousand men against Evans’ two thousand, with no support nearer than Manassas and Centreville; and moreover, General Stone had further aid in close call on the Maryland side of the river, under Generals Banks and Hamilton, so that when his main attack at the Bluff, with a force more than equal to Evans’ whole command, was made as a surprise, the game was his own, by all the rules of tactics and strategy.
General Evans had the evident advantage of his adversary in generalship, and had proven his claim to the pastmaster’s degree in the same situation at the first Manassas, just three months before, where he held the extreme left of Beauregard’s line at the Stone Bridge, and where McDowell applied the same tactics as did Stone on the Potomac.
There, as here, the Federals in heavy force demonstrated on Evans’ front at the bridge while moving for the main attack by way of Sudley, far beyond his left, and there their busy delay at the bridge, as here at Edward’s Ferry, caused him to look elsewhere for work, which he soon found to the left.
So, leaving a few companies to amuse General Tyler on the turnpike, just as he held the artillery and nine companies of the Thirteenth Mississippi in front of Fort Evans, he hurried his main force to meet the attack on his left.