med very near and the Army
of the Potomac far away.

On the same day Stuart succeeded with great difficulty in crossing
the Potomac in the vicinity of Drainsville. He found our troops
were now all north of this river, so that one object of his expedition
--to detain them on the south side--had failed.

On the 28th he resumed his march, and as he passed close to Washington
and Baltimore, he created considerable excitement in those cities.
At Rockville he came upon a large train full of supplies, on its
way to Frederick, Maryland, and captured it with its slender escort,
after which he kept on in a northerly direction through Brookeville
and Cookesville, travelling all night.

On this day the Adjutant-General at Richmond telegraphed for troops
to be sent there at once from the Carolinas and elsewhere, for he
estimated the Union forces at the White House at thirty thousand
men, and considered the capital to be in great danger. Neither
Davis nor his cabinet had the slightest desire to have any successes
Lee might obtain at the North supplemented by their own execution
at the South, a result they felt was not wholly improbable, in the
excited state of public feeling at that time, if the city should
be taken.

Lee, ignorant that Hooker was following him up, continued his
aggressive advance. Early took prompt measures to seize the bridge
over the Susquehanna at Wrightsville. If successful, he intended
to cross over and amuse himself by destroying all direct connection
between Philadelphia and the West, by railroad and telegraph. This
done, he proposed to march along the north side of the river,
capture Harrisburg and rejoin Ewell at Carlisle. As Gordon's
brigade approached the bridge, after driving away some militia,
they found it in flames, the Union commander at Columbia, Colonel
Frick, having given orders for its destruction. Early gained some
compensation for his failure in this respect by levying a contribution
on York of one-hundred thousand dollars in cash; two hundred barrels
of flour; thirty thousand bushels of corn; one thousand pairs of
shoes, etc.

The Union army still remained in Frederick, with the left wing
(three corps) under Reynolds thrown out toward the enemy, the
Eleventh Corps under Howard at Boonsborough, the First Corps under
my command at Middletown, supported by the Third Corps under Birney,
two or three miles in rear, with Buford's division of cavalry
holding the passes of South Mountai