Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 12.djvu/514

 504 Southern Historical Society Papers.

quired me to give him a detailed description of the country in Mary- land on the other side of the Potomac, of which I was a native, and with the topography, resources, and political condition of which I was familiar. I impressed upon him emphatically the fact that a large portion of the people were ardent Unionists ; that perhaps an equal number were equally ardent sympathizers with the Confederate cause, still, they had been since June, 1861, so crushed beneath the over- whelming military force, that they could not be expected to afford us material aid until we gave them assurance of an opportunity for re- lief, by an occupation promising at least some permanence. That night General Jackson invited me to accompany him to General Lee's headquarters in Leesburg, and there requested me to repeat our con- versation of the day to the latter. I did so at length.

General Lee particularly required information as to the topography of the banks of the Potomac between Loudoun county, Virginia, and Frederick county, Maryland, and those about Harpers Ferry and Williamsport. After several hours the conversation ceased.

Jackson sat bolt upright asleep.

Lee sat straight, solemn, and stern, and at last said, as if in solil- oquy : " When I left Richmond, I told the President that I would, if possible, relieve Virginia of the pressure of these two armies. If I cross here, I may do so at the cost of men, but with a saving of time. If I cross at Williamsport, I can do so with saving of men, but at cost of time. I wish Walker were up," or words expressing a desire or anxiety about Walker. This incident I relate to prove what, in my judgment, was the real objective of General Lee in the Maryland campaign. It was not as the Count of Paris states in his history of the civil war, or as General Palfrey, in his well-considered and elab- orate memoir of Antietam says, that by the transfer of the seat of war to the north banks of the Potomac the secessionists of Maryland would be afforded an opportunity to rise, and by revolution, sup- ported by Lee's army, transfer Maryland to the Confederation of States.

General Lee knew perfectly well that a people who had been under military rule for fifteen months, who had been subjugated by every method known to military and relentless force, could not organize resistance or revolution until confidence in themselves and their cause was restored by the presence of an abiding and permanent power. Therefore it seems beyond dispute that the first Maryland campaign was undertaken by General Lee solely and entirely as part of his defensive operation for the protection of Virginia. It was an