Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 08.djvu/460

448 prepared on the 24th to execute them. The three brigades of Hampton, Fitz Lee and W. H. F. Lee, the last under Colonel Chambliss, were ordered to rendezvous that night at Salem; and Robertson's and Jones' brigade, under command of Brigadier-General B. H. Robertson, "were left in observation of the enemy on the usual front, with full instructions as to following up the enemy in case of withdrawal, and joining our main army." (Stuart's report.)

This force added to Jenkins' brigade, which constituted the advance of Ewell's corps in Pennsylvania, was fully equal in numbers to the brigades which accompanied Stuart; and he was certainly justified in considering it sufficient to fulfill every duty which might be required by the commanding General from the cavalry.

Time would fail me in narrating the stirring incidents of the nine days and nights of marching and fighting which now ensued. After destroying the canal, railroads and telegraph in Maryland and Pennsylvania, interrupting for more than two days all communication between Washington and Meade's army, capturing a large number of prisoners and wagons, and destroying a great amount of public property, Stuart reached Hanover, Pennsylvania, on the 30th of June. Here he had an encounter with Kilpatrick's cavalry, which, though not serious in its nature, yet detained him until nightfall of the same day. He had now been separated from the army for six days, with no intelligence of Lee's movements save what he could gather from the northern newspapers. From these he learned that General Early was in York, Pennsylvania; and every other item of news which he could gain led him to think that General Lee's plans were being carried out as originally proposed, and that the concentration of our army would take place in the vicinity of York, Pennsylvania, or at some point north of it on the Susquehanna.

He was now within striking distance of York, and anxiously expected, in accordance with General Lee's letter of instructions, that he would receive some word from Early. But for some reason, which will probably never be explained, the order to endeavor to communicate with Stuart had never reached General Early, nor did he have any knowledge whatever of Stuart's proposed movement around the enemy's rear, and while Stuart was engaged with Kilpatrick's cavalry at Hanover, Early was moving from York to Heidlersburg by way of East Berlin, and White's battalion of cavalry, which had been detached from Jones' brigade to accompany his division, moved on the direct road from York toward Gettysburg. White's battalion must have passed within seven miles,