connoissance several miles south, without finding any force of
the enemy.

Nothing of importance occurred until the Fourth of July, when the Troy
company of the Harris Light, commanded by Lieutenant Robert Loudon, was
sent out to celebrate this national holiday by a reconnoissance on the
Telegraph Road, south of Fredericksburg. We left camp at eight o'clock
in the morning, and soon came in sight of a detachment of Bath Cavalry,
doing patrol duty. After following them for some time, though not
rapidly, we halted a few moments, and they lost sight of us, concluding
doubtless that we had retired. This was just what we wanted.

ATTACK AT FLIPPER'S ORCHARD.

On the south bank of the Po river, about twenty miles from
Fredericksburg, was a beautiful orchard, owned by a Dr. Flipper. This
lovely spot had been chosen by our Bath friends for their outpost, their
main reserve being a few miles farther south. On arriving at the
orchard, with its luscious fruit and inviting shade, the squad we were
still pursuing unsuspectingly unsaddled their horses, began to arrange
preparations for their dinner, and to make themselves generally
comfortable. Of this state of things we were informed by a contraband we
chanced to meet. We then resolved either to share or spoil their coffee;
so, moving forward at a trot until in sight of them, we swooped down
upon the orchard like eagles. The surprised and frightened cavaliers
fired but a few shots, and we captured twelve men and nine horses, and
escaped with our lawful prey without having received a scratch. It was
my good fortune to take prisoner Lieutenant Powell, the officer in
command, and to receive as my own a fine silver-mounted revolver, which
he reluctantly placed in my hand. It will be a fine souvenir of the war
and of this Fourth of July.

SHENANDOAH VALLEY.

Sometime in May Colonel Bayard with his regiment and a large portion of
General McDowell's division were sent to the Shenandoah Valley to share
in the shifting military panorama which was there displayed. With the
removal of the Army of the Potomac to the Peninsula the Confederate
authorities despatched General Jackson to the Valley, to threaten the
upper Potomac and Maryland, thus making it necessary for a large Federal
force to remain in these parts. General Banks was in command of that
department.

After the battle of Kernstown, in which Jackson received the sobriquet
of "Stonewall" and a sound thrashing, General Banks,