complishment of that cherished hope of the southern people--an
offensive campaign on the enemy's soil.

Jackson passed with his accustomed swiftness to the occupation of the
heights commanding Harper's Ferry and to the investment of that
position; while the other corps moved to the river at different points,
to cut off the re-enforcements the alarmed Federals might send to its
rescue. Great was the alarm and intense the excitement at Washington.
The sudden turn of the tables--the cold dash to hopes that the bragging
of their new hero had raised to fever heat, and the transformation of
the crushed rebel into an avenging invader, created equal surprise as
panic. Pope summarily dropped from the pinnacle of public favor into
disgrace; and McClellan was the only mainstay the Federal Government
could fall back on, to check the victorious Lee.

Meanwhile, equal excitement reigned in the Rebel Capital, but it was
joyous and triumphant. The people had long panted to see the theater of
blood and strife transferred to the prosperous and peaceful fields of
their enemy. They had a secure feeling that when these were torn with
shell and drenched with carnage; when barns were rifled and crops
trampled by hostile feet, the northern people would begin to appreciate
the realities of a war they had so far only seen by the roseate light
of a partial press. Secure and confident in the army that was to work
their oracle, the hope of the South already drew triumphant pictures of
defeated armies, harassed states, and a peace dictated from the Federal
Capital.

On the 14th of September, D. H. Hill, of Longstreet's corps--stationed
at Boonesboro to protect Jackson's flank--was attacked by a heavy
force. Heavily outnumbered, Hill fought a dogged and obstinate
battle--giving and taking terrific blows, only ceasing when night
stopped the fight. It was hard to tell which side had the best of the
actual fighting; but the great object was gained and the next day
Harper's Ferry, with its heavy garrison and immense supply of arms,
stores and munitions, was surrendered to Jackson.

Great was the joy in Richmond when the news of the brilliant fight at
Boonesboro--the first passage of arms on Maryland soil--and of the
capture of the great arsenal of the North reached her anxious people.
It was, they felt, but the presage of the great and substantial
triumphs that Lee and his veterans _must_ win. Higher rose their
confidence and more secure became their