d now in the air at the head of the Southern army.

Instead of permitting this disgraceful oppression of non-combatants,
Lee issued, at Chambersburg, the following general order to his
troops:

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,

CHAMBERSBURG, PA., _June_ 27, 1863.

The commanding general has observed with much satisfaction the conduct
of the troops on the march, and confidently anticipates results
commensurate with the high spirit they have manifested. No troops
could have displayed greater fortitude, or better performed the
arduous marches of the past ten days. Their conduct in other respects
has, with few exceptions, been in keeping with their character as
soldiers, and entitles them to approbation and praise.

There have, however, been instances of forgetfulness, on the part of
some, that they have in keeping the yet unsullied reputation of
the army, and that the duties exacted of us by civilization and
Christianity are not less obligatory in the country of the enemy than
in our own.

The commanding general considers that no greater disgrace could befall
the army, and, through it, our whole people, than the perpetration of
the barbarous outrages on the innocent and defenceless, and the wanton
destruction of private property, that have marked the course of the
enemy in our own country. Such proceedings not only disgrace the
perpetrators, and all connected with them, but are subversive of the
discipline and efficiency of the army, and destructive of the ends of
our present movements. It must be remembered that we make war only
upon armed men, and that we cannot take vengeance for the wrongs our
people have suffered without lowering ourselves in the eyes of all
whose abhorrence has been excited by the atrocities of our enemy,
without offending against Him to whom vengeance belongeth, without
whose favor and support our efforts must all prove in vain.

The commanding general, therefore, earnestly exhorts the troops to
abstain, with most scrupulous care, from unnecessary or wanton injury
to private property; and he enjoins upon all officers to arrest and
bring to summary punishment all who shall in any way offend against
the orders on this subject.

R.E. LEE, _General_.

The noble maxims and truly Christian spirit of this paper will
remain the undying glory of Lee. Under what had been surely a bitter
provocation, he retained the calmness and forbearance of a great soul,
saying to his army: "The duties ex