which was attended by ladies from all the country around. Stuart, on his iron-gray horse, nearly covered with flowers by his fair admirers, watched the squadrons as they charged, amid the thunder of cannon and the music of bugles. At night there were festivities at the Court-house, and the cavalry officers entertained the ladies with a dance. Early the next morning (June 9), the Union cavalry, then under General Pleasonton, crossed the Rappahannock to see what Stuart was doing in that neighborhood. A cavalry fight took place, which lasted nearly all day. Both sides fought with great gallantry, and several prominent officers on both sides were killed. Among

GEORGE GORDON MEADE.

the badly wounded was General Lee's son, General W. H. F. Lee. Pleasonton, satisfied that the main part of the Confederate army was near Culpepper, fell back to the river and recrossed about dusk, But Hooker was still uncertain whether Lee was moving against Washington or to cross into Maryland, so he moved northward from Fredericksburg to keep between Lee and Washington. Hill then hastened to join Lee.

In the meantime Ewell marched into the Shenandoah Valley to Winchester, where he surprised a Union force under General Milroy, and captured four thousand prisoners, twentynine guns, many wagons, and a large quantity of stores. Milroy and the rest of his men escaped to Harper's Ferry, and thence across the Potomac. Ewell pushed on to the river and took possession of the fords. A cavalry force of fifteen hundred crossed over, rode up the Cumberland Valley as far as Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and carried off many cattle and sheep and other supplies. Maryland and Pennsylvania were now in a state of great alarm. Horses, cattle, and sheep were hurried away to places of safety, and valuables hidden to save them from the enemy. Even Philadelphia was in a panic, and money from

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the banks and merchandise and household treasures were sent northward. President Lincoln called for one hundred and twenty thousand volunteers, but they were slow in coming from the States most threatened, while the regiments from New York City were hurried so promptly to the field by Governor Seymour that the Secretary of War publicly thanked him.

Ewell's corps crossed the Potomac (June 21 and 22) and marched up the Cumberland Valley to within a few miles of Harrisburg, the State capital. Lee followed with the other corps, and by the 26th of June the whole Confederate army was over the river. Hooker, who had then about one hundred thousand men, also crossed the Potomac at Edward's Ferry and marched to Frederick. There were eleven thousand men on Maryland Heights, opposite Harper's Ferry. General Hooker asked to have these men, who, he said, were of no use there, added to his army; but Halleck, as before in the case of McClellan, refused and said the post must be held. Hooker then asked to be relieved from the command of the army. His request was at once granted, for Halleck did not like him, and General George Gordon Meade, commander of the Fifth Corps, was appointed in his place.

General Meade was then forty-eight years old. He had been educated at West Point, and had served in the Florida war and in the war with Mexico. In 1861 he was made a brigadier-general, fought through the Peninsula campaign under McClellan, was wounded at Antietam, and afterward commanded under Pope, Burnside, and Hooker. He was greatly surprised when he was appointed to succeed Hooker, for he had spoken so plainly about that officer's conduct at Chancellorsville that he expected to be arrested. When the order came he was asleep in his tent, for it was late in the night. Supposing that the messenger had the order for his arrest, he asked him if he had brought it. "Strike a light and see," said General Hardie, handing him his commission. He was utterly astonished when he found that not only the command of the army had been given to him, but also that he had been entrusted with power to do as he thought best in the emergency.

In moving northward Lee had to keep open his communications with Virginia; for, although he could draw food enough for his army from the country he passed through, all his mili

He

tary supplies had to be brought from across the Potomac. was therefore alarmed when he heard that the Army of the Potomac had crossed the river and was marching toward him, for Meade might easily pass through the South Mountains and cut off his communications. But Meade, who wished to cover Washington and Baltimore, marched northward up the east side of the mountains, and on the same day (June 29) Lee, who was about to cross the Susquehanna and move toward Philadelphia, turned his march eastward toward Gettysburg. Lee did not know as much as he ought to have known about the movements of the Union army. It is the business of the cavalry of an army to spy out the movements of the enemy, and for this reason this arm of the service has been called the "eyes of the army.” But the Confederate commander had left Stuart and his horsemen behind to watch the Union army and harass it as much as possible while crossing the river. On the day when Lee turned toward Gettysburg, Stuart crossed the Potomac, and riding northward between the Union army and Washington, destroying much public property as he went, swept around Meade's front to Carlisle and then turned toward Gettysburg. But his men were nearly worn out with fatigue and want of sleep, and he did not reach the battle-field until the evening of the second day.

Meanwhile the Union army was moving toward the same point. Neither Meade nor Lee expected to fight just at that place, but each knew that a battle must soon take place, and each was moving to get a good position. The advance of Meade's army, under General Reynolds, was near Gettysburg, but the rear was twenty or thirty miles south of that place. Meade chose a place on Pipe Creek as a good position to await the attack of the Confederate army, and he expected Reynolds to fall back and join him at that place.

To get a good understanding of the situation, let us look a moment at the map, in which the observer is supposed to be standing on the east side of Gettysburg and looking toward the west. The town, a borough of about three thousand inhabitants, stands in a kind of plain among several ridges of hills running nearly north and south. The ridge south of the town, which bends round somewhat like a fish-hook, is commonly called Cemetery Ridge, because the burial-place of the town,

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Evergreen Cemetery, is on its crest. Several small hills rise from it, among them Round Top and Little Round Top at its south end, Cemetery Hill at the bend of the fish-hook, and Culp's Hill near the barb or point. Half a mile west of the town is another ridge, generally called, from the Lutheran Theological Seminary on it, Seminary Ridge, but sometimes Oak Ridge. Still further west, about a mile distant, are other ridges

separated from Seminary Ridge by a little stream named Willoughby's Run. Many roads leading in nearly all directions meet at Gettysburg, so that it is much like the hub of a wheel with many spokes.

In the morning of July 1st, the Union cavalry, under General Buford, were west of the town on the Chambersburg road, watching for Lee, when it was attacked by the advance of Hill's corps. Buford, knowing that Reynolds's corps of infantry was

in the town, held the enemy back as well as he could. Reynolds came up about ten o'clock and attacked the enemy, sending back orders for General Howard of the Eleventh Corps to come up as soon as possible. He had scarcely made these arrangements when he was mortally wounded by a shot through the neck. Howard arrived about noon and took command, and the Confederates were driven back little by little, losing many prisoners. But they were soon reinforced by more of Hill's troops from Chambersburg and by some of Ewell's, who were seen advancing in a long gray column on the Carlisle road. The Union troops were now outnumbered, and being attacked fiercely on the right flank by Ewell, fell back in much

JOHN F. REYNOLDS.

disorder through the town. The Confederates pushed them hard and captured about five thousand prisoners and sixteen guns. The whole Union loss in the fight was nearly ten thousand thousand men. Howard, thus pressed back, took a strong position on Cemetery Hill, while the enemy took possession of the town. The Confederates did not follow up their success, and so the battle ended

for the day, in the defeat of the Union army.

General Meade, who was at Taneytown, about thirteen miles south of Gettysburg, sent General Hancock forward, as soon as he heard of the death of Reynolds, to take command and to decide whether it would be better to fall back to Pipe's Creek or to fight at Gettysburg. Hancock, in whom the troops had great confidence, soon restored order in the Union lines and aided in strengthening the position on Cemetery Ridge. He saw at once that this was the proper place for the battle, and advised General Meade to bring forward the whole army as soon as possible. Meade arrived soon after midnight, and before morning all of the Union army excepting the Sixth Corps of General