Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 33.djvu/143

 General Lee at Gettysburg. 139

in the uniform of a Confederate captain, with side arms rather orna- mental than useful. About sunset I reached the town of Greencastle, in Pennsylvania, and rode slowly through the long street. About the corners were groups of farmers, with their horses at the store racks. I had gone half through the town before the thought came that these men, well mounted, could so easily capture my small force. But riding slowly through the middle of the way, I had the presumption to bow to the young farmers and to lift my cap to the astonished ladies, until I had reached the northern end, when I put spurs to my steed, and for a mile or two let the space grow rapidly behind me. Through the night, I rode alone to Chambersburg, en- tering the Confederate lines with some difficulty and a large assump- tion of authority, before the day broke on the morning of the 2Qth of June. From the town, turning east, about a mile away I found the camp of army headquarters, and as I rode into a grove, Gen- eral Lee was pulling on his gauntlets, and preparing to mount Trav- eller, brought to him by an orderly. Beckoning me to him, the General received me in his grave and kindly way. He asked me where I came from, expressing his great loss by the death of Gen- eral Jackson, and spoke with affectionate sympathy of Mrs. Jackson. Quite properly he asked whether I had any knowledge of General Stuart. I told him that I had forded the Potomac the evening be- fore with two cavalryman, whom I left at Williamsport, who said they had left General Stuart the day before in Prince William county, Va., with dispatches for cavalry detachments, and orders to join the cavalry train in Pennsylvania. The General was evidently sur- prised and disturbed. He asked me to repeat my statement. When I turned away and joined the staff, Colonel Walter Taylor, his Adjutant-General, asked me aside the same question about General Stuart's whereabouts, and I told him what I had said to General Lee. I asked Colonel Taylor why General Lee was con- cerned about General Stuart, and whether they were not informed about his movements, and he replied that General Lee expected General Stuart to report before that time in Pennsylvania, and that he was much disturbed by his absence, having no means of informa- tion about the movements of the enemy's forces.

EASTWARD FROM CHAMBERSBURG.

General Lee was now moving eastward for the concentration of his army at Cashtown. Ewell that morning left Carlisle, and Hill left Chambersburg, Longstreet following the next day, leaving Pickett's