They left their dead and wounded upon the field; of the
former I saw upward of twenty.

We also took a large number of carbines, pistols, and
sabres. In fact, it was a most disastrous day to the Rebel
cavalry.

Our loss has been very small both in men and horses.

I never saw the troops behave better, or under more
difficult circumstances.

Very heavy charges were made, and the sabre used freely, but
always with great advantage to us.

A. PLEASONTON,
_Brigadier-General_.

The day following this decided victory by force of arms, and by the
stratagem of scouts, who obtained all needful information as to the
intentions of the enemy, the Cavalry Corps retired from Ashby's Gap and
established its headquarters at Aldie. Our outposts are near Middleburg.
We are now receiving some exciting news from Maryland and the North. It
appears that Rebel cavalry was raiding through Maryland, destroying
railroads and bridges, telegraph lines and depots, and making havoc on
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal as early as the fifteenth instant; and
that General Ewell, with a corps of infantry, crossed the Potomac at
Williamsport on the sixteenth, and advanced _via_ Hagerstown towards
Pennsylvania.

A sad and distressing alarm seems to have aroused the North. General
Lee's advance thus far, excepting the repulses of his cavalry on his
right flank, has been a perfect success. It is true that Washington, the
glittering prize before him, has been protected by General Hooker's
cautious movements. But this protection of the Capital has consumed time
and given the enemy a decided advantage in other quarters. He had
already entered the Free States before we fairly understood his
intentions.

Winchester, an important post in the Shenandoah Valley, guarded by
General Milroy, was nearly surrounded by the advancing Rebel hordes,
before our general even dreamed that he was in jeopardy. The few of our
men who escaped from that garrison, were greatly demoralized, while
about four thousand were made prisoners, and many heavy guns, small
arms, wagons, horses, and stores of all kinds fell into the enemy's
hands.

These blunders on our part and losses, together with the prowess and
boast of the Rebel legions, gave the malcontents of the North, and
political tricksters, a coveted opportunity to rail against the
Administration, and to weaken, as far as their influence could be fe