ome time we had been pressing hard upon the heels of Lee's retreating
army, and at every step new signs of the rapidity of his movements were to
be seen. He moved in three columns, the cavalry and artillery taking the
road, and the infantry the fields on each side, through which their
trampling had cut a path as wide as a city street, destroying the crops
they encountered, in a way fit to bring tears into a farmer's eyes; and
throughout the whole route, numbers of wounded men were found, left in the
houses by the roadside, and deserters without end were encountered, while
broken wagons, abandoned ammunition, canteens, &c., &c., were strewed on
every side. Yet, notwithstanding these appearances of demoralization, it
was evident, from the accounts of the country people, that, though much
dispirited by their late defeat, the rebel army was far from being the
mere mob that it was believed by some to be.

It is true that the mountains were full of stragglers, and our cavalry
were constantly passing us with crowds of prisoners in their charge; yet
the main army had a good deal of fight left in it still, and when it
turned on its pursuers, as it frequently did, like a stag at bay, it was
not to be despised.

From the formation of the ground, in that section of country, the
retreating army derived a great advantage over their pursuers, and were
constantly enabled to take positions too strong to be attacked with less
than the whole Union army, and where a mere show of strength would check
our advance; and then before Meade could concentrate his forces, Lee would
be off. At Funkstown in particular, with the simplest materials, a steep
slope, fronted by the Antietam, had been converted by the rebels into a
second Fredericksburgh. This was all that saved them, for General Meade
pressed the pursuit fast and furious.

On the morning of Sunday, the 14th of July, we found ourselves at
Cavetown, almost used up. We had had no breakfast; and, from a variety of
causes, the march had been one of the most wearisome we had yet
experienced. The morning was sultry and exhausting beyond expression; the
atmosphere heavy, with that peculiar feeling which precedes a
thunder-storm--and, in addition, our shoes were so nearly worn out that
the sharp stones, which covered and almost paved a most abominable
wheat-field, through which we had passed on the route, had disabled many
whose feet were just recovering from the blisters of previous marches.