Generals Heintzelman and Schenck under his control.

But it was soon proved that this control was rather in name than in reality; for when he attempted to fit out from these departments a column of fifteen thousand men to move on Frederick, he found himself estopped by General Halleck's fears touching the safety of Washington—a circumstance for which General Hooker conceived he provided sufficiently by the presence of the Army of the Potomac covering the capital; and when, after advancing on Frederick, he had planned the movement on the rear of Lee, and for that purpose had directed the temporary abandonment of Harper's Ferry, with the view of uniting its garrison of eleven thousand men under General French with the column of General Slocum destined to make the proposed movement, he asked General Halleck, on the 26th of June, "if there was any reason why Maryland Heights should not be abandoned after the removal of the public stores and property," he was met by the following reply from the general-in-chief: "Maryland Heights have always been regarded as an important point to be held by us, and much expense and labor incurred in fortifying them. I cannot approve their abandonment except in case of absolute necessity."* It was in vain that General Hooker urged in rejoinder of this fatuitous objection that Harper's Ferry was, under the circumstances, a point of no importance; that it defended no ford of the Potomac; that its fortifications would remain after the troops were withdrawn ; nor was there the slightest probability that the enemy would take possession of them, and that, therefore, the ten thousand men that remained there useless, should be marched to a point where they could be of service.t

# Telegram from General Halleck to General Hooker, June 27: Report on the Conduct of the War, second series, vol. i., p. 292.

The text of General Hooker's dispatch is as follows:

MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK, General-in-chief :

SANDY HOOK, June 27, 1868.

I have received your telegram in regard to Harper's Ferry. I find ten thousand men here in condition to take the field. Here they are of no earthly

Against stupidity, sings Schiller, gods and men fight in

vain.

Finding himself deprived of that freedom of action on which, in so large a degree, the success of military operations depends, General Hooker requested, on the 27th of June, to be relieved from the command of the Army of the Potomac; and early the following morning, a messenger reached Frederick from Washington with an order appointing MajorGeneral G. G. Meade, commanding the Fifth Army Corps, in his stead.

Provoking as was the behavior of General Halleck, the conduct of General Hooker cannot be accounted noble or high-minded. A truly lofty sense of duty would have dictated much long-suffering, in a conjuncture of circumstances amid which the success of the campaign might be seriously compromised by the sudden change of commanders. Yet it was fortunate for the Union cause at this crisis, that the choice of the Government for the commander of the Army of the Potomac fell upon one who proved fitted for the high trust; and fortunate, too, that that oft-displayed steadfastness of the army, unshaked of fortune and committed to the death to a duty self-imposed, rendered such transitions, elsewhere dangerous, here safe and easy. Meade put his hand to his work in a quiet, practical, business-like way; and it was remarked that his undemonstrative temper, and the aspect he wore of a scholar rather than a soldier, were no drawback to the confidence of the troops, who had learned from the experience of his predecessor, that high-flown

account. They cannot defend a ford of the river; and as far as Harper's Ferry is concerned, there is nothing in it. As for the fortifications, the work of the troops, they remain when the troops are withdrawn. No enemy will ever take possession of it for them. This is my opinion. All the public property could have been secured to-night, and the troops marched to where they could have been of some service. Now, they are but a bait for the rebels should they return. I beg that this may be presented to the Secretary of War, and his excellency the President.

JOSEPH HOOKER, Major-General.

promise is often associated with very disproportionate performance. Without being what is called a popular officer, General Meade was much respected by his comrades in arms. He was known in the army as one who had grown up with it, whose advancement was due to merit, and who had shown a special steadfastness in many trying hours. The command of the Army of the Potomac was put into his hand without any lets or hindrances, the President expressly waiving all the powers of the Executive and the Constitution, so as to enable General Meade to make, untrammelled, the best dispositions for the emergency.

Immediately the columns moved on as if no change had occurred.

V.

CONCENTRATION ON GETTYSBURG.

At the time General Meade took command, the army was lying around and near Frederick-its left at Middletown; and all he knew touching the enemy was, that Lee, after crossing the Potomac, had marched up the Cumberland Valley, and that Ewell's corps occupied York and Carlisle, and threatened the passage of the Susquehanna at Columbia and Harrisburg.

In this state of facts, Meade adopted the only course then considered by him practicable, which was to move his army by the inner line from Frederick towards Harrisburg, continuing the movement until he should meet Lee, or make him loose his hold on the Susquehanna.

He therefore put his army in motion on the morning of the 29th, taking a course due northward, and keeping east of the South Mountain range. The army moved in three columns, covering, as it advanced, the lines of approach to Baltimore and Washington. The First and Eleventh corps were directed on Emmettsburg; the Third and Twelfth on Taney

town; the Second on Frizzleburg; the Fifth to Union, and the Sixth to Windsor.

Now, on the very day that Meade began to move northward, Lee, apprised of those previous manoeuvres that seemed to threaten an irruption into the Cumberland Valley (a step which would imperil his communications with the Potomac), discovered it would be necessary to do something to check this menace. At this time Longstreet and Hill were at

SKETCH OF MANEUVRES ON GETTYSBURG.

Chambersburg, Ewell was at York and Carlisle, and Lee was just on the point of moving his whole force northward to cross the Susquehanna and strike Harrisburg;* when, learning the already mentioned menace, he resolved to concentrate on the east side of the South Mountain range as a diversion

"Preparations were now made to advance upon Harrisburg; but on the night of the 28th information was received from a scout that the Federal army, having crossed the Potomac, was advancing northward, and that the head of the column had reached South Mountain. As our communications

in favor of his line of retreat, touching which he was justifiably nervous. Accordingly, instead of directing Longstreet and Hill to join Ewell on the intended invasion, he ordered them to march from Chambersburg, defiling through the South Mountain range, towards Gettysburg, distant twenty miles eastward; and he instructed Ewell to countermarch from York and Carlisle on the same point. These movements were begun on the morning of Monday, the 29th of June.

It was not until the night of the 30th, after the army had made two marches, that General Meade became satisfied that Lee, apprised of his movement, had loosed his hold on the Susquehanna and was concentrating his forces east of the South Mountain to meet him. But when and where the shock of battle, which was now seen to be imminent, would take place it was impossible to tell. Under these circumstances, he set about to select a position on which, by a rapid movement of concentration, he might be prepared to receive battle on advantageous terms. With this view, the general line of Pipe Creek, on the dividing ridge between the Monocacy and the waters running into the Chesapeake Bay, was selected as a favorable position, though its ultimate adoption was held contingent on developments that might arise. Accordingly, orders were issued on the night of the 30th for the movements of the different corps on the following day : the Sixth Corps, forming the right wing of the army, was ordered to Manchester in rear of Pipe Creek; headquarters and the Second Corps to Taneytown; the Twelfth and Fifth corps, forming the centre, were directed on Two Taverns and Hanover, somewhat in advance of Pipe Creek; while the left wing, formed of the First, Third, and Eleventh corps under General Reynolds, as it was closest to the line of march of the enemy, was thrown forward to Gettysburg, towards which, as it happened, Lee was then heading.

with the Potomac were thus menaced, it was resolved to prevent his further progress in that direction by concentrating our army on the east side of the mountains."-Lee: Report of the Gettysburg Campaign.