them battle for twenty-four hours-leaving nothing in their hands, and driving them with heavy loss across the Potomac again when they attempted to harass his rear.

Such a retreat, after such successes, was a victory; and there were many persons at the North even candid enough to concede the fact. "He leaves us," growled the New York "Tribune," "the débris of his late camps, two disabled pieces of artillery, a few hundred of his stragglers, perhaps two thousand of his wounded, and as many more of his unburied dead. Not a sound field-piece, caisson, ambulance, or wagon; not a tent, box of stores, or a pound of ammunition. He takes with him the supplies gathered in Maryland, and the rich spoils of Harper's Ferry."

General Lee's address to his army upon their return to Virginia will appropriately conclude our account of the great campaign to which he refers:

General Orders No. 116.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA, October 2d, 1862.

In reviewing the achievements of the army during the present campaign, the Commanding General cannot withhold the expression of his admiration of the indomitable courage it has displayed in battle, and its cheerful endurance of privation and hardship on the march.

Since your great victories around Richmond you have defeated the enemy at Cedar Mountain, expelled him from the Rappahannock, and, after a conflict of three days, utterly repulsed him on the plains of Manassas, and forced him to take shelter within the fortifications around his capital.

Without halting for repose you crossed the Potomac, stormed the heights of Harper's Ferry, made prisoners of more than 11,000 men, and captured upwards of seventy pieces of artillery, all their small-arms, and other munitions of war.

While one corps of the army was thus engaged, the other insured its success by arresting at Boonsboro' the combined armies of the enemy, advancing under their favorite General to the relief of their beleaguered comrades.

On the field of Sharpsburg, with less than one-third his numbers, you resisted, from daylight until dark, the whole army of the enemy, and repulsed every attack along his entire front, of more than four miles in extent.

The whole of the following day you stood prepared to resume the conflict on the same ground, and retired next morning, without molestation, across the Potomac.

Two attempts, subsequently made by the enemy, to follow you across the river, have resulted in his complete discomfiture, and being driven back with loss.

Achievements such as these demanded much valor and patriotism. History records few examples of greater fortitude and endurance than this army has exhibited; and I am commissioned by the President to thank you in the name of the Confederate States for the undying fame you have won for their

arms.

Much as you have done, much more remains to be accomplished. The enemy again threatens us with invasion, and to your tried valor and patriotism the country looks with confidence for deliverance and safety. Your past exploits give assurance that this confidence is not misplaced.

R. E. LEE, General Commanding.

CHAPTER XXIV.

JACKSON AND HIS VETERANS RESTING.

JACKSON'S Corps passed the beautiful month of October in the picturesque Valley of the Shenandoah-that region which their leader had already made so famous.

There, in the bright October days, the army rested and recovered its strength and spirits. The bracing mountain breeze, the beautiful skies, the liberty to engage in every species of fun and frolic, within the limits of military discipline, seemed to pour new life-blood into the frames of the men, exhausted and worn down by the immense marches which they had made from Cedar Run to Sharpsburg, and the toils, privations, hardships, and excitements which they had undergone.

That region must have aroused many memories in the hearts of Jackson's men-especially in the members of the "Old Stonewall Brigade," which had fought the enemy all along from Falling Waters to the sources of the Shenandoah. They had encountered General Patterson in one of the earliest engagements of the war near Martinsburg, but a few miles distant; on the road by the side of which they were now encamped, they had retreated

before the columns of the same General; and along that road they had pressed after General Banks when, routed at Winchester, he had hastened to recross the Potomac. Since those old days they had fought at Cross Keys, Port Republic, Cold Harbor, Malvern Hill, Cedar Run, Bristoe, Manassas, Oxhill, Harper's Ferry, Sharpsburg, Shepherdstown, and Kearneysville. Comrade after comrade had lain down to die upon those bloody fields-face after face had " gone into the darkness," amid the war smoke hovering above the swamps of the lowland, the pines of Manassas, the Valley of the Antietam. They were still alive, and after all their wanderings had returned to the land where they first learned the art of war under their now illustrious chief -returned to it, too, at a season when the face of Nature is glorious with that beauty which seems to reach perfection just when it is passing-when the fields and forest, with their tints of gold, and red, and yellow, are more lovely than the dreams of poets. Here, in the fine and beautiful Valley of the Shenandoah, on the banks of the Opequon, which murmurs under its tall trees, as it lapses gently toward the Potomac, the weary soldiers of the Stonewall Corps found rest and refreshment; and the bracing air, as we have said, made them boys again, filling every pulse with health and joy. The jest, the practical joke, the ready laugh passed round; and for a time the whole army of Northern Virginia was in extravagant spirits, cheering upon the least provocation like a party of boys, and permitting no occasion for indulging in laughter to escape them. We have a letter written by one of the corps about this time, which conveys a very accurate idea of the manner in which Jackson's men amused themselves; and its careless style and homely details may serve to interest the stay-at-home reader who is not familiar with the goings on" of an army. Here it is:

"Cock-a-doodle-doo-oo!' sounded the shrill clarion' of a neighboring henroost before day this morning; a wakeful soldier caught up the strain, and he and a hundred others forthwith repeated bogus cock-a-doodle-doos, until they had effectually murdered sleep' throughout the entire regiment. To pass the time

until breakfast (!)-i. e., till some solid-shot biscuit' and leather steaks of lean kine be cooked-I will retaliate' on you and your readers.

"The campaign having apparently ended, there are no 'moving accidents by flood or field' of interest, and therefore nothing left to record but the routine of daily camp life; this shall be true to history, however, to let the old folks at home know how we live sure enough' while here. At this particular season, though, it is particularly dull

'No mail, no post,

No news from any foreign coast;

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,

No comfortable feel in any member,

No shade, no sunshine, no butterflies, no bees,
November!'

"Our camps not being regulated by military rule, for want of material in tents, etc., are left to illustrate the variegated, architectural, and domestic tastes of the thousand different individuals concerned. Hence, although a wall tent or Sibley graces an occasional locality, the most of the men ensconce themselves in bush-built shelters of various shapes, in fence-corners, under gum-blankets, eked out by cedar boughs, or burrow semi-subterraneously like Esquimaux. If, as is said, the several styles of architecture took their origin from natural circumstances and climate, etc., as the curving Oriental roofs from the long reeds originally in use-the slanting Egyptians from the necessity of baking their unburnt bricks in the hot sun-the Corinthian from its own flowery clime, etc., etc.—an architectural genius might find enough original designs in this camp to supply a century to come.

6

"The only useful occupation' of this brigade for some time past has been to destroy all the railroads in reach; apparently, too, for no better reason than the fellow had for killing the splendid anaconda in the museum, because it was his rule to kill snakes wherever found.' A soldier just said, 'Old Jack intends us to tear up all the railroads in the State, and with no

tools but our pocket-knives.' They have so far destroyed the Baltimore and Ohio, from Hedgesville to near Harper's Ferry, the Winchester and Potomac almost entirely, and now the Manassas Gap from Piedmont to Strasburg.

6

"It is when idle in camp that the soldier is a great institution, yet one that must be seen to be appreciated. Pen cannot fully paint the air of cheerful content, care-hilarity, irresponsible loungings, and practical spirit of jesting that obtains' ready to seize on any odd circumstance in its licensed levity. A cavalryman' comes rejoicing in immense top-boots, for which in fond pride he had invested full forty dollars of pay; at once the cry from a hundred voices follows him along the line: Come up out o' them boots!-come out!-too soon to go into winter quarters! I know you're in thar !-see your arms stickin' out!' A bumpkin rides by in an uncommonly big hat, and is frightened at the shout: Come down out o' that hat! Come down! "Taint no use to say you ain't up there; I see your legs hanging out!' A fancy staff officer was horrified at the irreverent reception of his nicely-twisted mustache, as he heard from behind innumerable trees: Take them mice out o' your mouth!—take 'em out!—no use to say they ain't thar; see their tails hanging out!' Another, sporting immense whiskers, was urged to come out of that bunch of har! I know you're in thar; I see your ears a working!' Sometimes a rousing cheer is heard in the distance—it is explained: Boys, look out!-here comes "Old Stonewall" or an old hare, one or t'other'-they being about the only individuals who invariably bring down the house.

6

"But the whole day of camp life is not yet described; the night remains, and latterly it is no unusual scene, as the gloaming gathers, to see a group quietly collect beneath the dusky shadows of the forest trees-' God's first temples'—whence soon arise the notes of some familiar hymn, awaking memories of childhood and of home. The youthful chaplain in earnest tones tells his holy mission; another hymn is heard, and by the waning light of the pine torches the weird-like figures of the grouped soldiers are seen reverently moving to the night's repose. The