Hooker saw itself about to be depleted by the return home of men who had served sufficient time to have learned their duties.

The anxiety of Hooker to gain information of the movements of the enemy, finally induced him to order a cavalry reconnoissance in force on the 9th of June, on which day Pleasonton's command crossed the Rappahannock at Beverly's and Kelly's Fords and at intermediate places, the two main columns pushing forward towards Brandy Station, five miles below Culpepper Court-House, with the design of getting in the rear of the enemy, who was between the Court-House and the Station. They captured his pickets, and thus prevented early intelligence of their movement being reported to the enemy. At seven o'clock in the morning the enemy were encountered, under General Stuart. After a severe fight, the rebels were driven with loss from their camp; but, having been largely re-enforced, they returned, when, his objects being attained, General Pleasonton recalled his troops across the Rappahannock, at Beverly's Ford. In this battle the reputation of the cavalry arm, as compared with that of the enemy, was well sustained. The chief duty of the Army of the Potomac, as in former years, seemed to be to remain as a curtain between the enemy and the national capital. Fortress Monroe was held by General Dix, General Wool having been transferred to the military district of New York and the East; and General Schenck was in command at Baltimore, where he had been since the breaking up of Fremont's Corps. General Milroy, who was under his orders, held Winchester with about seven thousand men. As far back as the previous November, General Cullum, chief of General Halleck's staff, was sent to examine and report upon the condition of the works at Winchester, and his report was, not merely that the works were indefensible from bad location per se; but the place itself required no works, and ought to have no heavy garrison, it being merely, in General Cullum's own phrase," an eye of the National army looking down the Shenandoah Valley;" an advanced outpost, from which information could be communicated at an early moment to Harper's Ferry of any advance of the enemy in this direction. It was upon this report General Halleck advised General Schenck to withdraw all forces from Winchester, leaving there merely strong cavalry pickets to act as scouts and vedettes.

This being the position of the Federal forces, General Lee, who had recruited and supplied his army, was ready to execute his long-cherished project of a second invasion of the North. This movement was commenced about the 9th June, by the corps of Ewell, which moved off towards the valley of the Shenandoah Right across the State of Virginia, starting from the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, and running in a southwesterly direction to the southern limit of the State, stretches the Blue Ridge of mountains, intersected by infrequent roads or gaps," through which alone it is possible for armies to penetrate. Upon the possession of these gaps depended the mastery of the situation. If Lee had moved off prematurely from Culpepper Court-House and seized them, Ewell's mission against the force of Milroy at Winchester would have been frustrated, since the latter would have heard that the whole army was moving, and would have slipped off to Har

per's Ferry. If, after Ewell had struck his blow at Winchester, Lee had been slow about seizing the gaps, he might have exposed himself and Ewell to great danger, if Hooker, acting promptly, had seized the gaps, and interposed between Lee and Ewell. As it was, the march of Ewell against Winchester was swift, silent, and successful; the occupation of the three great gaps in the mountain range was timed to a minute.

When Hooker at last became aware of a movement of the enemy, he started off a body of his cavalry to race for the possession of the northernmost road through Snicker's Gap. They found Fitzhugh Lee already in possession, and behind him one of the finest infantry divisions in the Confederate army. In vain did the Federal cavalry, under Pleasonton, race for possession of the next, or Ashby's Gap, supported by a large body of artillery and infantry. There they found Stuart and his cavalry thrown out in advance of the gap at Aldie, and here, on the 17th and 19th instant, there were fierce skirmishes, in which the Union cavalry acquitted themselves with great credit, and if they did not drive the enemy away, at least prevented him from penetrating east of the Blue Ridge and flanking Hooker.

But the blow had been struck at Milroy, and Lee was anxious to draw a Union force into the gap, in which, however, he did not succeed. At Chester's Gap, the road which traverses the mountain near Front Royal was seized by General A. P. Hill, and with these three gaps in his possession, General Lee could hold them with insignificant bodies of men, and behind the screen of the mountains manœuvre, unseen by and beyond the reach of General Hooker.

Meantime, Ewell had come upon Milroy, and surrounded Winchester before the Union general had been warned of the approach of an enemy. On the 13th the Union pickets were driven into the town, and considerable skirmishing ensued. But in the night, ascertaining that an overwhelming force was confronting him, Milroy, with his troops, retired into two large forts in the rear of the town. Skirmishing continued all through the morning of the 14th, and at four o'clock in the afternoon the enemy assaulted and carried the outworks of the forts, but all his efforts against the forts themselves proved futile. So hot was the Union fire that the rebels were compelled to retire with loss at dusk. At a council of Union officers held in the evening, it was determined that under the circumstances nothing was left to the garrison but to retreat upon the Potomac. Early on the morning of the 15th, the guns having been spiked, and all the surplus ammunition rendered useless, the troops marched quietly out, but had proceeded only four or five miles when they were attacked by the enemy. The rear-guard, facing about, kept the rebels at bay until the advance could get well on its way, when it also retreated. This manœuvre was repeated several times, and eventually about five thousand of Milroy's command succeeded in crossing the Potomac. His loss in men exceeded twentyfive hundred, besides twenty-nine pieces of artillery, numerous wagons, and several hundred horses.

Hooker, on becoming convinced that the enemy in his front were moving towards the valley, sent forward the Sixth Corps, which had

occupied the river below Fredericksburg. Belle Plain and Aquia Creek, by which supplies were brought to the army from Washington, were evacuated and the property destroyed. The wounded and sick were sent to Washington. The Sixth Corps arrived at Dumfries on the night of the 14th, and the main body of the army held the Rappahannock from Banks's to Kelly's Ford. The Union commander was still somewhat in doubt in respect to the movements of Lee's army. The day Ewell occupied Boonesborough, Hooker's head-quarters left Falmouth. When the news reached him that the advance of the enemy had actually crossed the Potomac, he put his columns in rapid motion for the north, and with as much secrecy as possible.

On the 27th of June, the Union head-quarters, by a long and forced march in the most intense heat, reached Frederick, Maryland, which had just been abandoned by the enemy. During the march, the thermometer ranged from 92° to 98° in the shade, and the soldiers suffered severely, there being reported more than one thousand cases of sun-stroke. Marching along the Blue Ridge, the rebels, on the other hand, found abundant springs of cool and excellent water, whereas the march of the Union troops was over one of the thirstiest plains in Virginia-a district which, in the previous year, retarded the troops of Stonewall Jackson for several days, and delayed the discomfiture of General Pope, and which took ample toll from the host of General Hooker. Accordingly, the two armies moving north attained their destinations in different condition. That of Lee crossed the Potomac on the 24th, in better condition than it had been for months, and two days afterwards the attenuated army of Hooker reached Frederick, almost exhausted with fatigue.

On the advance of the enemy up the valley, great consternation prevailed at Washington as well as at Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, and at Philadelphia. There had been some steps taken towards obtaining men under the Conscription Law passed at the previous session of Congress, but the exigency of an invasion of Pennsylvania was too pressing to allow of the slow progress of conscription. The President, therefore, on the 15th, issued the following proclamation:

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

"A PROCLAMATION.

"WASHINGTON, June 15, 1863. "Whereas the armed insurrectionary combinations now existing in several of the States are threatening to make inroads into the States of Maryland, Western Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, requiring immediately an additional military force for the service of the United States:

"Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy thereof, and of the militia of the several States when called into actual service, do hereby call into the service of the United States one hundred thousand militia, from the States following, namely:

"From the State of Maryland, ten thousand.

"From the State of Pennsylvania, fifty thousand.

"From the State of Ohio, thirty thousand.

"From the State of Western Virginia, ten thousand.

"To be mustered into the service of the United States forthwith, and to serve for the period of six months from the date of such muster into said service, unless sooner

discharged; to be mustered in as infantry, artillery, and cavalry, in proportions which will be made known through the War Department, which department will also designate the several places of rendezvous.

"These militia are to be organized according to the rules and regulations of the volunteer service, and such orders as may hereafter be issued.

"The States aforesaid will be respectively credited under the Enrolment Act for the militia service rendered under this proclamation.

"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

"Done at the City of Washington, this 15th day June, in the year of our Lord 1863, and of the United States the eighty-seventh.

"By the President:

(Signed)

"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

On the same day, the Governor of Pennsylvania issued a proclamation, calling upon all citizens "capable of bearing arms to enroll themselves in military organizations, and to encourage all others to give aid and assistance to the efforts which will be put forth for the protection of the State and the salvation of our common country; who love liberty and are mindful of the history and traditions of their Revolutionary fathers, and who feel that it is a sacred duty to guard and maintain the free institutions of our country." The State of New York was called upon for twenty thousand troops, and immediately the Seventh, Eighth, and Seventy-first Regiments of militia left for Pennsylvania, followed promptly by troops from other States. At the call of the President in the regular way for men, the troops crowded to the front with an enthusiasm nowise diminished from the first burst of popular fervor on the outbreak of the war. The greatest exertions were made to remove the public property from Harrisburg, which seemed to be the point of attack. The State property was packed up and means taken to remove the archives. The same fears were entertained for Baltimore and Washington, and measures were at once taken to strengthen the former city by earthworks at Federal Hill and elsewhere in the vicinity.

The plans of the enemy in the mean time were matters of great doubt and mystery, and the alarm was in proportion to the mystery. His army was composed of three corps of some thirty thousand men each, under Hill, Longstreet, and Ewell respectively, with a cavalry force under Stuart. In throwing this force across the Potomac, it became necessary to depend upon the country for supplies, and upon victory for ammunition, since with each mile of advance the difficulty of communication became greater. Accordingly, General Lee left Winchester with one hundred and twenty rounds for each man. The actual crossing of the Potomac, which was effected by Lee with the corps of Hill and Longstreet at Williamsport and Shepherdstown on the 24th, had in it much of the enthusiasm which accompanied the entrance of the Confederates into Maryland before the battle of Sharpsburg. It was then the impression of the Southern army that they were entering into the friendly State of Maryland, ground down under the iron heel of a despotic government, and anxious and willing, upon the first opportunity, to arise and burst its bonds. But the unmistakable sympathy of Hagerstown, Boonesborough, Sharpsburg, and other small towns in Western Maryland with the Union, the jeers and taunts of the women

at the expense of the rebels, taught the latter to expect in the western counties of Maryland no more aid and comfort.

The march continued with celerity, and the advance reached Chambersburg June 27, when the following proclamation was issued:

"L GENERAL ORDER, NO. 73.

"HEAD-QUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, · CHAMBERSBURG, PA., June 27.

66

"The Commanding General has observed with marked satisfaction the conduct of the troops on the march, and confidently anticipates results commensurate with the high spirit they have manifested. No troops could have displayed greater fortitude or better performed the arduous marches of the past ten days. Their conduct in other respects has, with few exceptions, been in keeping with their character as soldiers, and entitles them to approbation and praise.

"There have, however, been instances of forgetfulness on the part of some, that they have in keeping the yet unsullied reputation of the army, and that the duties exacted of us by civilization and Christianity are not less obligatory in the country of the enemy than our own.

"The Commanding General considers that no greater disgrace could befall the army, and through it our whole people, than the perpetration of the barbarous outrages upon the innocent and defenceless, and the wanton destruction of private property, that have marked the course of the enemy in our own country. Such proceedings not only disgrace the perpetrators, and all connected with them, but are subversive of the discipline and efficiency of the army, and destructive of the ends of our present movement. It must be remembered that we make war only upon armed men, and that we cannot take vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered without lowering ourselves in the eyes of all whose abhorrence has been excited by the atrocities of our enemy, and offending against Him to whom vengeance belongeth, without whose favor and support our efforts must all prove in vain.

"The Commanding General, therefore, carnestly exhorts the troops to abstain, with the most scrupulous care, from unnecessary or wanton injury to private property; and he enjoins upon all officers to arrest and bring to summary punishment all who shall in any way offend against the orders on this subject. R. E. LEE, General."

On the same day on which General Lee thus inaugurated his entry into Pennsylvania, Hooker's army entered Frederick, which had been held by the enemy's pickets; and on the following day Colonel Hardie arrived at the head-quarters of the Army of the Potomac by special train from Washington, as a bearer of dispatches, relieving General Hooker from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and appointing MajorGeneral Meade, commanding the Fifth Corps, his successor. Soon after the reception of the orders at head-quarters, General Hooker issued the following address:

"HEAD-QUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
"FREDERICK, MD., June 28, 1863.

"In conformity with the orders of the War Department, dated June 27, 1863, I relinquish the command of the Army of the Potomac. It is transferred to Major-General George G. Meade, a brave and accomplished officer, who has nobly earned the confidence and esteem of the army on many a well-fought field. Impressed with the belief that my usefulness as the commander of the Army of the Potomac is impaired, I part from it, yet not without the deepest emotion. The sorrow of parting with the comrades of so many battles is relieved by the conviction that the courage and devotion of this army will never cease; that it will yield to my successor, as it has to me, a willing and hearty support. With the earnest prayer that the triumph of its armas may bring successes worthy of it and the nation, I bid it farewell.

"S. F. BARSTOW, Acting Adjutant-General."

"JOSEPH HOOKER, Major-General.