Status Updates From Stonewall in the Valley: Th...

While Washington squandered its strength to guard itself, Richmond sought ever greater concentration of its forces around Johnston.

No Nerve? Perhaps.

McClellan did have 100.000 men & dozens of heavy guns, force enough to dictate the pace at which his campaign would proceed.
Johnston had 55.000 & was seeking to stay out of his grasp, already anticipating another strategic retreat nearer the capital.
McDowells forces were rapidly assembling at Fredericksburg, preparing, Jackson supposed, to join McClellan by an overland descent from the north.

Johnston had ordered Jackson to remain on the defense in the Valley, protecting Richmond and its railroad, but Lee's letters as of 21 April with the nebulous authority of deskbound "commanding general of the confederate armies" urged him to secure the Rappahannock by attacking the Federal flank at Fredericksburg.

Jackson had achieved what he set out to with his winter expedition. Romney [close to the Potomac and the Baltimore & Ohio railroad] was again Southern, with Union fronts to the west and north had been shoved farther apart [away from Winchester in the Valley itself]