"I have spent two weeks in learning your whereabouts, your condition, and your wants; in preparing you for active operations, and in placing you in positions from which you can act promptly and to the purpose.

"I have come to you from the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies-from an army whose business it has been to seek the adversary, and to beat him when found-whose policy has been attack, and not defence.

"In but one instance has the enemy been able to place our Western armies in a defensive attitude.

"I presume that I have been called here to pursue the same system, and to lead you against the enemy.

"It is my purpose to do so, and that speedily.

"I am sure you long for an opportunity to win the distinction you are capable of achieving that opportunity I shall endeavor to give you.

"Meantime I desire you to dismiss from your minds certain phrases which I am sorry to find much in vogue amongst you.

"I hear constantly of taking strong positions and holding them-of lines of retreat— and of bases of supplies. Let us discard such ideas.

"The strongest position a soldier should desire to occupy is one from which he can most easily advance against the enemy.

"Let us study the probable lines of retreat of our opponents, and leave our own to take care of themselves.

"Let us look before us, and not behind. "Success and glory are in the advance. "Disaster and shame lurk in the rear.

"Let us act on this understanding, and it is safe to predict that your banners shall be inscribed with many a glorious deed, and that your names will be dear to your countrymen forever.

(Signed)

"JOHN POPE, "Major-General Commanding."

Although the style of this address was not altogether in good taste, and the tone of it somewhat over-confident, it was accepted by the loyal people throughout the country as an indication that the newly appointed commander was prepared to push the war vigorously. In this opinion they were strengthened by the promulgation of several additional orders, showing that General Pope designed to act in a somewhat different spirit from his predecessors in the East. Hitherto the war had been conducted there on the principle that, by refraining from the exercise of the harsher measures to which generals in the field are entitled to resort, the rebels could be won over to their allegiance. Great tenderness was accordingly manifested for every species of rebel property, as also for the personal rights and privileges of the inhabitants, however bitter might be their hostility, of the territory through which the Union armies passed. No perceptible benefit, it is true, had as yet resulted from this lenity, but the policy was persevered in as if there could be no doubt of its propriety. General Pope, however, with the approval of the War Department, soon came to the conclusion that if the war was to be conducted at all, it should be carried on with every means adapted to hasten its termination and restore the supremacy of the General Government. The rebels laughed at the " rosewater" policy, as it was called, which sought to smooth their pathway back into the Union, and more resolutely than ever announced their intention to secure the independence of the Confederacy. Hence it became evident to reflective men that the hardships of war must be brought directly to the door of the enemy, if the latter were to be brought

to their senses; and this conclusion was arrived at in no spirit of wanton malice or revenge, but with the single object of crushing the rebellion, and thereby restoring the Union of the States. The first of the orders alluded to had reference to the question of subsistence, and consequently had an important bearing on the celerity of the army's movements. It was as follows:

GENERAL ORDERS-NO. 5

"HEAD-QUARTERS ARMY OF VIRGINIA, Į "WASHINGTON, July 18, 1862.

"Hereafter, as far as practicable, the troops of this command will subsist upon the country in which their operations are carried on. In all cases, supplies for this purpose will be taken by the officers to whose department they properly belong, under the orders of the commanding officer of the troops for whose use they are intended. Vouchers will be given to the owners, stating on their face that they will be payable at the conclusion of the war, upon sufficient testimony being furnished that such owners have been loyal citizens of the United States since the date of the vouchers. Whenever it is known that supplies can be furnished in any district of the country where the troops are to operate, the use of trains for carrying subsistence will be dispensed with as far as possible.

"By command of Major-General Pope.

"GEORGE D. RUGGLES, "Col, A. A.-G., and Chief of Staff."

By another order, issued on July 20th," the people of the Valley of the Shenandoah and throughout the region of the operations of the army, living along the lines of railroad and telegraph, and along the routes of travel in the rear of the United States forces, are notified that they will be held responsible for any injury done to the track, line, or road, or for any attacks upon trains or straggling soldiers by bands of guerrillas in their neighborhood." In such cases the citizens were to repair the damages. Any house from which a soldier should be fired upon was ordered to be razed to the ground, and the inhabitants sent prisoners to head-quarters. Persons detected in such outrages were to be shot without awaiting civil process. These measures, severe as they may seem, were rendered necessary by the acts of the Valley population. Farmers by day, with protections in their pockets, showing that they had taken the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government, these men at night sallied forth as guerrillas, irregular horsemen, or spies, and plundered, burned, or murdered, as the opportunity offered. It was the purpose of General Pope to intimidate this class into good behavior, and had his orders been rigidly enforced, or had similar orders been enforced wherever guerrillas or marauders oper ated, there would have been fewer outrages of the kind aimed at to complain of. Another order was to the following effect:

Commanders of Army Corps, Divisions, Brigades, and detached commands, will proceed immediately to arrest all disloyal male citizens within their lines, or within their reach, in rear of their respective stations.

“Such as are willing to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and will

furnish sufficient security for its observance, shall be permitted to remain at their homes, and pursue, in good faith, their accustomed avocations.

"Those who refuse shall be conducted South, beyond the extreme pickets of this army, and be notified that if found again anywhere within our lines, or at any point in rear, they will be considered spies, and subjected to the extreme rigor of military law. If any person, having taken the oath of allegiance, as above specified, be found to have violated it, he shall be shot, and his property seized and applied to the public use. "All communication with any persons whatever, living within the lines of the enemy, is positively prohibited, except through the military authorities, and in the manner specified by military law; and any person concerned in writing or in carrying letters or messages in any other way, will be considered and treated as a spy within the lines of the United States Army.

"By command of Major-General Pope.

"GEORGE D. RUGGLES, "Col. A. A.-G., and Chief of Staff." In consequence of a misinterpretation of the first of the above orders, or of wilful abuses of its provisions, General Pope subsequently issued the following supplementary order :

"The Major-General Commanding discovers with great dissatisfaction that General Order No. 5, requiring that the troops of this command be subsisted on the country in which their operations are conducted, has either been entirely misinterpreted or grossly abused, by many of the officers and soldiers of this command. It is to be distinctly understood that neither officer nor soldier has any right whatever, under the provisions of that order, to enter the house, molest the person, or disturb the property of any citizen whatsoever.

"Whenever it is necessary or convenient for the subsistence of the troops, provi sions, forage, and such other articles as may be required, will be taken possession of and used, but every seizure must be made solely by the order of the commanding officer of the troops there present, and by the officer of the department through which the issues are made. Any officer or soldier who shall be found to have entered the house or molested the property of any citizen will be severely punished. Such acts of pillage and outrage are disgraceful to the army, and have neither been contemplated nor authorized by any officer whatsoever. The perpetrators of them, whether officers or soldiers, will be visited with a punishment which they will have reason to remember; and any officer or soldier absent from the limits of his camp, found in any house whatever, without a written pass from his division or brigade commander, will be considered a piilager, and treated accordingly.

"Army corps commanders will immediately establish mounted patrols under charge of commissioned officers, which shall scour the whole country for five miles around their camps at least once a day, and at different hours, to bring into their respective commands all persons absent without proper authority, or who are engaged in any interruption of citizens living in the country; and commanding officers of regiments or smaller separate commands will be held responsible that neither officers nor men shall be absent from camp without proper authority.

"By command of Major-General Pope.

"R. O. SEFRIDGE, A. A.-G.”

On the following day, August 15th, General Halleck issued from Washington a general order, stating that the oath of allegiance shall be administered to no person against his will, and "no compulsory parole of honor be received." The order also called attention to the articles of war, which punished with death pillage or plundering, "either in our own or enemy's territories." Any private who leaves the ranks to enter a private house will be punished with death, and his officers held responsible. General Casey, at Washington, in command of provisional brigades, also issued an order denouncing for punishment

whoever shall commit any waste or spoil upon property, or any acts of violence towards unarmed women or children.

Meanwhile, previous to the arrival of General Halleck, cavalry expeditions were sent out by General King from Fredericksburg to break up at various points the Virginia Central Railroad between Gordonsville and Hanover Junction. These were generally successful, and undoubtedly retarded the forward movement of the enemy in August towards the Rapidan. On July 14th, Culpepper Court-House was occupied, but an expedition undertaken by General Hatch to gain possession of Gordonsville failed, and in consequence that officer, by command of General Pope, was superseded in command of the cavalry by General Buford.

In the latter part of July, General Halleck arrived in Washington, and on the 26th visited the head-quarters of the Army of the Potomac, at Harrison's Landing. After much deliberation, the General-inChief decided that the army could be extricated from its false position in no other way than by withdrawing it from the Peninsula, and posting it once more in front of Washington, either to unite or co-operate with the Army of Virginia. Such union, indeed, was considered essential to the safety of the capital, and to the further successful prosecution of the operations against Richmond. therefore arranged that McClellan should retire down the Peninsula to Fortress Monroe, and that, for the purpose of covering this movement, Pope should demonstrate boldly towards and beyond the Rapidan, as if about to commence an aggressive campaign against Richmond. From Fortress Monroe the Army of the Potomac was to proceed with all possible expedition by water, either to Aquia Creek or to Alexandria, and thence march to form the junction with Pope. Should the enemy move with rapidity and in large force upon the latter, he was directed to delay their advance by every means in his power, so as to gain time for the arrival of the troops from the James. On the 29th of July, Pope left Washington and repaired to the head-quarters of General Banks, in the neighborhood of Sperryville, where, as has been previously stated, the great body of his troops were encamped. After some days spent in preparation, the army was, on August 7th and 8th, pushed forward on the road to Culpepper CourtHouse-the cavalry, under Generals Buford and Bayard, being distributed along the front towards the Rapidan, to cover the advance. This was the commencement of the movement which was to enable McClellan to retire unmolested from his position at Harrison's Landing; and according to the orders of General Halleck, he ought now to have been on the march. Pope's available force, after deducting the division of King at Fredericksburg-and troops left at Winchester, Front Royal, and other places-amounted to twenty-eight thousand infantry and artillery, and about five thousand cavalry.

As early as the middle of July, the movements of Pope's forces had induced Lee to send Stonewall Jackson, with his own corps_and Ewell's Division, to watch the line of the Rapidan, and when Pope moved to Culpepper Court-House the enemy were at Gordonsville in full strength. On August 7th, Jackson, learning that Pope's advance

was at the former place, marched rapidly thither with his whole force, with the expectation of cutting off the Federals before the arrival of their main body. On the 8th, Pope was notified by General Bayard that the enemy had crossed the Rapidan, and were pushing for Culpepper Court-House. Accordingly, to support Bayard, Crawford's Brigade of Banks's Corps was hurried forward, and Banks himself ordered to move up to Cedar Mountain, a wooded eminence of a sugar-loaf shape, about midway between Culpepper Court-House and the Rapidan, and join Crawford. On the morning of the 9th, Banks drew up his corps, consisting of less than eight thousand men, about a mile to the north of Cedar Mountain, along the slopes of which the enemy were stationed under cover of the woods. Three miles to the rear of Banks, on the road to Culpepper Court-House, was Ricketts's Division of McDowell's Corps, ready to support Banks, or to check an advance of the enemy from Madison Court-House, where they were reported by Buford to be concentrated in heavy force. Pope himself was at Culpepper, where, according to his orders, Sigel should have been on the 8th, although he did not arrive until the next evening.

At daylight on the 9th, it was discovered that the enemy had advanced as far as Cedar Mountain, holding its wooded sides and cleared slopes. Only a small portion of their strength, however, was visible. They also held a range of elevations and ravines westward of the mountain. An elevated spot, a mile distant from the mountain, and a mile long east and west, was selected by General Banks as the best place to receive their attack. At three o'clock in the afternoon, a battery on our front, at a mile and a half range, opened on us, and the rebel infantry drove in our pickets in the woods on our right wing. Afterwards, battery after battery was unmasked on the mountain slopes and on every hill, making a crescent of batteries of nearly three miles, commanding our position for two hours. Our batteries were exposed to cross-fires and flank-fires at every point. The rebels evidently outnumbered us in guns and weight of metal. We replied shot for shot till five o'clock, when the rebels opened an enfilade battery on our right. General Banks here gave orders to cease firing and charge this battery. The duty was assigned to Crawford's Brigade, of Williams's Division, and the Forty-sixth Pennsylvania Regiment led the charge. Behind the battery was a thicket of shrub oak, and before the men could reach the rebel guns they were mowed down by a terrific fire from the thicket. The rest of the brigade was quickly brought up, and subsequently Williams's and Augur's commands, but the rebels were found at every point.

Finding that he was confronting an enemy numerically much superior, who had also the advantage of position, and that his own losses had been heavy, General Banks gradually fell back, between six and seven P. M., to meet the supports under Pope, which were close at hand. The latter general at once ordered Ricketts to the front, where the Federal artillery played with such effect upon the rebel infantry, who had ventured forth from their woody cover to follow up Banks, as to drive them back, in confusion and with considerable loss, to their original position.