pecting the land with
the view of a purchase.

Whether it was the presence of Gen. Lee himself, or the fear that he had
his army with him, I know not, but simultaneously with the appearance of
Gen. Lee the enemy began to move back and recross the river. We did not
press them, but gave them their own time.

We re-established our picket line along the river, and everything was
quiet for a day or two.

We went down the next day to the spot where the first fight took place,
and found our two men lying dead by the side of a tree, and several dead
horses. The enemy had removed their dead (if they had any). It was too
dark when we were fighting for us to see whether we did any execution or
not at this particular point. We buried our two men where they fell and
went back to camp. Total losses as reported by each side--Confederate,
485; Federal, 907.

The next day we were quietly resting in the woods, watching the infantry
as they tramped by all day long, moving in a northeasterly direction.
The question was asked 10,000 times perhaps that day, "What is Marse
Robert up to now? Where is he taking us?" (Gen. Lee was called Marse
Robert by his soldiers.)

In the afternoon we noticed a long string of wagons of a peculiar
construction, each drawn by six horses, and loaded with something
covered with white canvas. Of course, we were all curious to know what
these wagons contained. The secret soon leaked out. They were pontoon
bridges. And then we began to speculate as to what rivers we were to
cross. Some said we were destined for the Ohio, others for the Potomac.

Just before sunset the bugle sounded "saddle up," and soon Stuart's
cavalry was in the saddle and on the march.

Everything was trending one way, namely, northeast.

The infantry went into camp at night, but the cavalry marched through
most of the night, crossing the Rappahannock several miles above where
we had been fighting.

Lee's entire army was en route for Pennsylvania, as we afterward
learned, the cavalry keeping in between the two armies, protecting the
wagon trains and concealing, as far as possible, our army's
destination.[2]

The infantry, artillery and baggage train crossed the Blue Ridge at the
various gaps, fording the Shenandoah river, and moved down the valley of
Virginia toward the Potomac.

Lee's cavalry kept on the east side of the mountain, holding the enemy
back as much as possible.

When we reached Fauquier and Loudoun counties the Unio