troops posted at
Baltimore, along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and in the Valley
of the Shenandoah. This request was reasonable and should have
been granted. Hooker's demands, however, were not considered
favorably. There was no very good feeling between General Halleck,
who was commander of the army, and himself; and as he felt that
his efforts were neither seconded nor approved at headquarters, he
soon after resigned the command.

The main body of the Union cavalry at this time was at Warrenton
and Catlett's Station. Hooker, having been dissatisfied with the
result of the cavalry operations during the Chancellorsville
campaign, had displaced Stoneman in favor of Major-General Alfred
Pleasonton.

CHAPTER X.
BATTLE OF BRANDY STATION (FLEETWOOD).

The 8th of June was a day of preparation on both sides. Pleasonton
was engaged in collecting his troops and getting everything in
readiness to beat up the enemy's quarters the next morning, and
Stuart was preparing to cross for the purpose of either making a
raid on the railroad, as Pleasonton states, or to take up a position
to guard the right flank of the invading force as it passed by our
army. Major McClellan, Stuart's adjutant-general, asserts the
latter. Pleasonton's information was founded on captured despatches,
and on interviews held by some of our officers with the Confederates
under a flag of truce.

The four batteries of Jones' cavalry brigade moved down near the
river opposite Beverly Ford on the 7th, to cover the proposed
crossing. They were imperfectly supported by the remainder of
Stuart's force. Jones' brigade was posted on the road to Beverly
Ford, that of Fitz Lee* on the other side of Hazel River; that of
Robertson along the Rappahannock below the railroad; that of W. H.
F. Lee on the road to Melford Ford, and that of Hampton in reserve,
near Fleetwood Hill--all too far off to be readily available. In
fact, the batteries were entirely unsuspicious of danger, although
they were a quarter of a mile from the nearest support and there
was only a thin line of pickets between their guns and the river.

[* A familiar abbreviation for Fitz Hugh Lee, adopted in the rebel
reports.]

In the meantime Pleasonton's three divisions, "stiffened"--to use
one of Hooker's expressions--by two brigades of infantry, stole
down to the fords and lay there during the night, quietly, and
without fires, ready at the first dawn of day to spring upon their
to