ashington
another scare, in the hope, also, of compelling Grant to withdraw a
considerable body of troops from before Richmond. General Early was sent
thither with 8,000 men by General Lee, with orders to attack the
Federals in the valley. Sigel, whose great forte was that of retreating,
fell back before the advance of Early, crossed the Potomac, and took
position on Maryland Heights. Early moved up the Monocacy into Maryland,
causing great alarm in Washington. The President called upon
Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts for militia with which to
repel the invasion. They were placed under the command of General Lew
Wallace, who was defeated at Monocacy Junction, July 9th. Early attacked
Rockville, fourteen miles west of Washington, and Colonel Harry Gilmor,
himself a citizen of Baltimore, cut the communications between that city
and Philadelphia. He captured a railway train, and among his prisoners
was General Franklin, who was wounded and on his way north. The loose
watch kept over the captives allowed them to escape.

Early was in high feather over his success, and his cavalry appeared in
front of Washington, July 11th, and exchanged shots with Fort Stevens;
but a spirited attack drove them off, and they crossed the Potomac at
Edward's Ferry, and passed to the western side of the Shenandoah. Early
made his headquarters at Winchester and repelled several assaults upon
him.

The Confederate leader had been so successful that he soon made a second
raid. He crossed the Potomac, July 29th, and, entering Pennsylvania,
reached Chambersburg, from which a ransom of $200,000 in gold was
demanded. It not being forthcoming, the city was fired, and the
invaders, after some hard fighting, succeeded in getting back to the
southern shore of the Potomac.

SHERIDAN IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.

These raids were so exasperating that Grant, who could not give them his
personal attention, determined to put an effectual stop to them. The
government united the departments of western Virginia, Washington, and
the Susquehanna, and placed them under the charge of General Sheridan,
who had 40,000 men at his disposal. Sheridan, whose force was three
times as numerous as Early's, was anxious to move against him, and Grant
finally gave his consent on the condition that he would desolate the
Shenandoah Valley to that extent that nothing would be left to invite
invasion.

[Illustration: GENERAL PHILIP H. SHERIDAN.]

In the first encoun