elicited the severest criticism and censure of
the public press. The commanding officer of these forces was placed in
arrest by the General-in-chief of the army. No charges were made against
him; but he himself demanded a court of inquiry, which was ordered by
the President. That court has recently concluded its labors, and the
testimony taken has been submitted to the President as the
Commander-in-chief of the army, for his examination and decision.

* * * * *

Although this particular affair was one of subordinate importance, it
was, nevertheless, somewhat connected with the great invasion of
Pennsylvania by the rebel army last summer; and on that account, as well
as from its own intrinsic interest, it is well worth the brief notice
which we now propose to give it. In the general history of the war, the
minute detail of such operations will necessarily be overlooked; but the
interest of truth requires that the principal features and the actual
result, even in these cases, should be fairly stated, and especially
that the actors should receive impartial judgment at the hands of the
public, with such just censure or applause as may be due to their
conduct. In the tremendous operations of the war now raging around us,
minor events may escape present attention; but no part of the great and
bloody drama can fail to be of importance to the future student of this
momentous period in our national history.

At the time of the occurrences that form the subject of the inquiry
recently instituted, from which we chiefly derive the materials for this
sketch, General Milroy was in the department and under the immediate
command of Major-General R. C. Schenck, whose headquarters were at
Baltimore. The force at Winchester consisted in all of about nine
thousand men, and this body had occupied that position for six months
previous to the evacuation. The particular work assigned to General
Milroy and his command, was to assist in guarding that important link of
communication, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, against the incursions
of a considerable rebel force in the valley, under the notorious leaders
Imboden, Jones, and Jenkins. The forces at Winchester constituted but a
part of those employed in this service. There was, of course, a
considerable body of men at Harper's Ferry, with smaller bodies at
Martinsburg, Romney, and New Creek, all intended to cooeperate in the
protection of the railroad.

A que