t had gone. A reconnoissance developed the
direction taken by the two missing corps. Unsuspicious of the grand
project that was in the mind of the Confederate commander, Hooker moved
down the Shenandoah Valley, taking the same course as Lee, but with the
Blue Ridge Mountains between them.

LEE'S PRELIMINARY MOVEMENTS.

Passing through the defiles in this range, Lee dropped down on Milroy at
Winchester before he dreamed of danger. Most of his 7,000 men were
captured, but Milroy and a few escaped by a hurried flight at night. All
doubt now had vanished as to the intentions of Lee; he was aiming for
Pennsylvania, at the head of a powerful, well-organized army; Washington
and probably Philadelphia were in peril. The only check that could block
its way was the Army of the Potomac, and Hooker lost no time in moving.
He reached Fairfax Court-House on the night of the 14th, thus placing
himself on the flank of Ewell. The Confederates, however, held the
mountain passes securely and nothing effective could be done.

[Illustration: ROBERT E. LEE.

Confederate Commander-in-chief at Gettysburg.

(1807-1870).]

On the 22d the headquarters of Lee were at Beverly, ten miles from
Winchester, with which Lee kept up communication through A.P. Hill's
corps, which was between Culpeper and Front Royal. Ewell, without
hesitation, forded the Potomac into Maryland, while his cavalry pushed
on into Pennsylvania.

By this time the government was so alarmed that President Lincoln, on
the 15th of June, called by proclamation on the governors of Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia to furnish 100,000 militia
for the protection of those States. Pennsylvania, the one in greatest
danger, was so laggard that she asked New Jersey to come to her help,
and that little State gallantly did so.

GENERAL MEADE APPOINTED TO THE COMMAND OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

Hooker deserved credit for appreciating his own unfitness for the
command of the army that was again to fight Lee. He crossed the Potomac
June 26th, making a movement which threatened Lee's communications, and
resigned the next day. At Frederick, on the 28th, he published an order
to the effect that the army had been placed in charge of Major-General
George G. Meade.

This was an excellent appointment. Although Meade was born, in 1815, in
Cadiz, Spain, he was an American, because his father was the United
States naval agent at the time. Meade was graduated from West Point in