videttes were rather thick on the road we were to travel, and if it were not asking too much, we should be greatly obliged if he would send an orderly with us, as I feared it might trouble the sentinels to read the pass in the dark. He replied that he did not think we needed an orderly; but if we thought we did, he would detail one, which he did, - the cavalry escort that came with us having disappeared with the lieutenant who was in arrest. I doubt if we should have ever reached Centreville without our orderly.

-

Before starting, a staff officer went with me through the train and reparoled all the inmates of the ambulances. It was done in the following manner: He asked each one if he belonged to Pope's or McClellan's army. If he said Pope's, he was paroled to report at Richmond as soon as he was able to travel; if he said McClellan's, he was paroled not to take up arms till he was duly exchanged. No reason was given for this discrimination; and I felt a natural delicacy about asking questions on the subject. In the first two or three ambulances, one or two men took the first parole; but somehow the news seemed to have got ahead of us, and all the rest of the ambulances contained only McClellan's men.

We reached Centreville by two or three o'clock in the morning. There we borrowed some of our nice hospital blankets which the Rebels had captured, to cover our poor fellows, for the night was very cool. We rested till sunrise, then made coffee and distributed it, returned the blankets, which were carefully counted by our hosts, and resumed our march. Arrived at Fairfax Court House, we made the acquaintance of Fitz-Hugh Lee, who was in command. He was a youthful-appearing officer, — I should not have taken him for more than twenty-four, rough, brusque in manner, and were it not for speaking lightly of Virginia's governor, I should say he appeared not unlike a "bummer." He seemed out of humor, inquiring gruffly who was in charge of this "menagerie."

I answered, "I, as much as anybody." "Who the h-1
are you?" said he. I replied meekly that I was a citizen
placed in the position of leader by the suffrages of my
accompanying fellow-citizens. He declared that he was
not transacting business with that kind of persons, and
demanded some officer clad with proper authority. We
brought out our surgeon. Lee spent but a moment with
him, then rudely dismissed him, and summoned me into
his august presence.
He said we must remain till he
could parol some fifteen hundred prisoners whom he
wished to send along with us. I protested, showing
General Jackson's pass, and declaring that it was of the
utmost importance that the wounded should receive treat-
ment in the hospitals as soon as they could get there.
He refused permission in language which will hardly
bear quoting. I then tried another tack, and remarked
that I considered myself fortunate in meeting him, as
after Stonewall Jackson, he was the Rebel officer (I
rather think I used "Confederate" instead of "Rebel ")
whom I most wished to see. He said, "I presume you
mean my uncle, General Robert E. Lee." I said, "No,
I mean Fitz-Hugh Lee the Raider. I've often heard
Colonel Ruggles speak of you as a gallant and dashing
cavalry leader." His swarthy features lighted up with a
grim smile, as he said, "The h-1! do you know Rug-
gles?" (They had been at West Point together, and I
think were classmates.) "Why, I captured his togs the
other night. You can go ahead as soon as you like.
Give my compliments to Ruggles, and tell him I will
dine with him in a few days at Washington; " and draw-
ing from his pocket an official envelope, he wrote on it
with a lead pencil, in a bold, clear hand, the following:

HEADQUARTERS SECOND CAVALRY BRIGADE,
September 3, 1862.

Pass these paroled prisoners and citizens who accompany them on their way rejoicing to Washington.

FITZ-HUGH LEE,

Brigadier-General Commanding.

We stayed not upon the order of our going, but started at once. We were not halfway through the straggling village, when an aid came dashing up, with General Lee's compliments, and desired to know if we had not got some "stolen niggers" among our ambulance drivers, as somebody had charged. I replied that we had no colored drivers that had not come from Washington with us, but that if he wanted to investigate any particular driver, I wished he would allow some prisoner to take his place and permit us to proceed. The aid reported to the General, and returned with the information that the explanation was satisfactory to General Lee; and we proceeded without further interruption. We entered our lines by way of Falls Church. The chaplain, who bore our flag of truce, had carelessly fallen back from the front, and as we approached our pickets, a friendly bullet whizzing over our heads reminded us that eternal vigilance was the price of safety. We soon came in sight of the old flag waving over General Doubleday's headquarters, and its stars and stripes never looked lovelier. The General kindly furnished me a horse, for which, in my footsore condition, I would cheerfully have given a kingdom; and turning over my charge to the surgeon whom I have before referred to, I soon found myself at my old quarters, a sadder and in some respects a wiser man for my brief sojourn in the Southern Confederacy.

THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.

BY HUNTINGTON W. JACKSON.

[Read April 5, 1882.]

ENERAL FITZ-HUGH LEE has said that "the

G Confederates at Gettysburg were within a stone's

throw of peace; and a little more marching, perhaps a little more fighting, on the first day would have given them the coveted position on Cemetery Hill, and in such an event the battle of Gettysburg would have had another name, and possibly another result." With equal confidence might Halleck, then the General-in-chief of the army, whose vigorous and spirited telegram to Meade reads, "You are strong enough to attack and defeat the enemy before he can effect a crossing; act upon your own judgment; make your generals execute your orders; call no council of war, it is proverbial that councils of war never fight; do not let the enemy escape," have said, when, with but slight loss, and after the council had been held, Lee on the following morning placed the Potomac River between his weary and defeated army and his victorious pursuers, that a golden opportunity, rarely presented to man, to make a great name in history had been lost, and the Confederate States had barely escaped being blotted from the face of the earth. So often does the success of a battle depend upon accident, chance, inspiration, or genius if you please, as well as upon the carefully matured plans, the untiring zeal and energy, of the ever-watchful commander.

At the present time, when almost nineteen years have passed by since the smoke of battle rolled away from the green fields and valleys and hills of Gettysburg, and the bald truths of history are laid before us, it is not difficult to detect the errors and mistakes of that

momentous struggle, — by many considered the turningpoint, the crisis, of the war. One cannot but feel that with a little more boldness, a little more of the spirit which characterized Stonewall Jackson, on the one side, perchance two governments would have been established where today one, powerful, respected, and honored, exists; and that on the other side, with a little more self-reliance, activity, and decision of character, the carnival of death, which continued thereafter for two long years, would have been unknown.

The invasion of the North by General Lee was undertaken at a most favorable time, and under the most favorable auspices. In the North a large party was proclaiming that the two years' struggle was a failure. In many homes affliction and mourning had entered. Money and blood had been poured out most lavishly. And for all the losses and sacrifices, what had been accomplished? With many, the draft and the Emancipation Proclamation were unpopular, and denounced, and riots had occurred in consequence. Many thought the nation not worth saving. At no time during the Rebellion was the weariness of the war more pronounced and evident. The Army of the Potomac that grand body of veterans, educated, intelligent, and possessed of as fine fighting qualities as were ever exhibited in any army — had been the victim of political ambition, incompetency, and unseemly jealousies, almost from its organization. We can see it now, that noble body of men on its onward, patient, and persistent march, keeping step to the music of the Union. Though led by many commanders, it was always obedient, brave, and true. Realizing the magnitude and formidable character of the Rebellion, it only asked for a man to lead it.

In December of 1862 the army was before Fredericksburg. "Orders they heard, and the river they crossed; orders arrived, and they scaled the heights," but under a murderous fire and with terrible slaughter. For the four