eat was the joy of the poor town when it once more welcomed the
gray-jackets. From the beginning it had been battle-ground and billet
of both armies a dozen times. Tossed from Federal to Confederate
possession--a very shuttlecock of war--it had been harassed, robbed and
pillaged by the one; drained of the very dregs by free gifts to the
other. But the people of Winchester never faltered in their faith; and
to-day her noble women go down the roll of heroism and steadfast truth,
hand in hand with the noblest ones of our history.

And the joy in Winchester was somewhat reflected at the harassed and
eager-watching Capital. Undiminished by the sorrows of the last fall,
undimmed by its reverses, still burned the southern desire to plant its
victorious flag on hostile soil. It was neither a thirst for vengeance
nor an empty boast; rather a yearning for relief--a craving for the
rest from blood and battle-shocks that such a campaign would give.

It was with deep satisfaction, then, that Richmond heard that Ewell had
crossed the Potomac at Williamsport, pushed on through Hagerstown and,
leaving Early at York, had passed to Carlisle; that Longstreet had
followed him at Williamsport; and that A. P. Hill had crossed at
Shepherdstown and pushed for Chambersburg, reaching there on the 27th
of June.

Hooker, falling rapidly back upon Washington--at which point he
believed the movement aimed--had been sacrificed, and with more justice
than usual, to popular clamor. General Geo. G. Meade replaced him in
command, and strained every nerve to collect numbers of men,
irrespective of quality--seeming to desire to crush the invasion by
weight alone.

Wild was the alarm in the North when the rebel advance had penetrated
the heart of Pennsylvania; when York was held by Early and laid under
contribution and Harrisburg was threatened by Ewell. The whole North
rose in its might. Governors Seymour, of New York, Andrew, of
Massachusetts, and Curtin, of Pennsylvania, put their whole militia at
the service of the President; the energy at Washington, momentarily
paralyzed, soon recovered; and by the last day of the month, Meade had
collected an army of near 200,000 men. Many of these were, of course,
new levies and raw militia; but near one-half were the veterans of the
armies of McClellan, Burnside and Hooker; men who had fought gallantly
on southern soil and might be expected to do so on their own.

It seems that Lee's intention was to flank Mea