r 18, Hampton
marched his brigade as far as the village of Occoquan, bringing off
150 prisoners and capturing a convoy.

Dec. 26.

And on December 26 Stuart closed his record for 1862 by leading 1800
troopers far to the Federal rear. After doing much damage in the
district about Occoquan and Dumfries, twenty miles from Burnside's
headquarters, he marched northward in the direction of Washington,
and penetrated as far as Burke's Station, fifteen miles from
Alexandria. Sending a telegraphic message to General Meigs,
Quartermaster-General at Washington, to the effect that the mules
furnished to Burnside's army were of such bad quality that he was
embarrassed in taking the waggons he had captured into the
Confederate lines, and requesting that a better class of animal might
be supplied in future, he returned by long marches through Warrenton
to Culpeper Court House, escaping pursuit, and bringing with him a
large amount of plunder and many prisoners. From the afternoon of
December 26 to nightfall on December 31 he rode one hundred and fifty
miles, losing 28 officers and men in skirmishes with detachments of
the Federal cavalry. He had contrived to throw a great part of the
troops sent to meet him into utter confusion by intercepting their
telegrams, and answering them himself in a manner that scattered his
pursuers and broke down their horses.

Near the end of January, Burnside made a futile attempt to march his
army round Lee's flank by way of Ely's and Germanna Fords. The
weather, however, was inclement; the roads were in a fearful
condition, and the troops experienced such difficulty in movement,
that the operation, which goes by the name of the Mud Campaign, was
soon abandoned.

1863. January 26.

On January 26, Burnside, in consequence of the strong representations
made by his lieutenants to the President, was superseded. General
Hooker, the dashing fighter of the Antietam, replaced him in command
of the Army of the Potomac, and the Federal troops went into winter
quarters about Falmouth, where, on the opposite shore of the
Rappahannock, within full view of the sentries, stood a row of
finger-posts, on which the Confederate soldiers had painted the
taunting legend, "This way to Richmond!"

CHAPTER 2.21. THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA.

"In war men are nothing; it is the man who is everything. The general
is the head, the whole of an army. It was not the Roman army that
conquered Gaul, but Caesar; it was not