ter, a fourth carrying
away the legs of a chair in which an officer was seated; others
severing and splintering the posts in front of the house, howling
through the trees by which the dwelling was surrounded, and raising
deep furrows in the soft earth. One officer, and another, and another
were wounded. Strange to say, amid all this iron hail, no one of the
staff was killed.

"Once more at the cemetery, I crossed the Baltimore turnpike to the
hill that forms the extremity of the ridge, on which the main portion
of our line of battle was located. I followed this ridge to the point
held by our extreme right. About midway along the ridge was the scene
of the fiercest attack upon that portion of the field. Tree after
tree was scarred from base to limbs so thickly that it would have been
impossible to place one's hand upon the trunk without covering the
marks of a bullet. One tree was stripped of more than half its leaves;
many of its twigs were partially severed, and hanging wilted and
nearly ready to drop to the ground. The trunk of the tree, about ten
inches in diameter, was cut and scarred in every part. The fire
which struck these trees was that from our muskets upon the advancing
Rebels. Every tree and bush for the distance of half a mile along
these works was nearly as badly marked. The rocks, wherever they faced
our breast-works, were thickly stippled with dots like snow-flakes.
The missiles, flattened by contact with the rock, were lying among the
leaves, giving little indication of their former character.

"Our sharp-shooters occupied novel positions. One of them found half
a hollow log, standing upright, with a hole left by the removal of a
knot, which gave him an excellent embrasure. Some were in tree-tops,
others in nooks among the rocks, and others behind temporary
barricades of their own construction. Owing to the excellence of our
defenses, the Rebels lost heavily."

A few days after visiting this field, I joined the army in Western
Maryland. The Rebels were between us and the Potomac. We were steadily
pressing them, rather with a design of driving them across the Potomac
without further fighting, than of bringing on an engagement. Lee
effected his crossing in safety, only a few hundred men of his
rear-guard being captured on the left bank of the Potomac.

The Maryland campaign was ended when Lee was driven out. Our army
crossed the Potomac further down that stream, but made no vigorous
pursuit. I re