everely cold, for winter had set in in earnest; but
General Lee, always robust and careless of weather, walked down,
without wrapping, and wearing only his plain gray uniform, to Stuart's
_impromptu_ headquarters under the pines, where, beside a great fire,
and without other covering than his army-blanket, the commander of the
cavalry had slept since midnight.

As Lee approached, Stuart came forward, and Lee said, admiringly,
"What a hardy soldier!"

They consulted, Stuart walking back with General Lee, and receiving
his orders. He then promptly mounted, and hastened to the front,
where, taking command of his cavalry, he formed it in front of the
advancing enemy, and with artillery and dismounted sharp-shooters,
offered every possible impediment to their advance.

General Meade made the passage of the Rapidan without difficulty; and,
as his expedition was unencumbered with wagons, advanced rapidly. The
only serious obstruction to his march was made by Johnson's division
of Ewell's corps, which had been thrown out beyond the run, toward the
river. Upon this force the Federal Third Corps, under General French,
suddenly blundered, by taking the wrong road, it is said, and
an active engagement followed, which resulted in favor of the
Southerners. The verdict of Lee's troops afterward was, that the enemy
fought badly; but General French probably desired nothing better than
to shake off this hornets'-nest into which he had stumbled, and to
reach, in the time prescribed by General Meade, the point of Federal
concentration near Robertson's Tavern.

Toward that point the Northern forces now converged from the various
crossings of the river; and Stuart continued to reconnoitre and feel
them along the entire front, fighting obstinately, and falling back
only when compelled to do so. Every step was thus contested with
sharp-shooters and the Horse-Artillery, from far below to above
New-Hope Church. The Federal infantry, however, continued steadily to
press forward, forcing back the cavalry, and on the 27th General Meade
was in face of Mine Run.

Lee was ready. Hill had promptly marched, and his corps was coming
into position on the right of Ewell. Receiving intelligence of the
enemy's movement only upon the preceding day, Lee had seemed to move
the divisions of Hill, far back toward Charlottesville, as by the wave
of his hand. The army was concentrated; the line of defence occupied;
and General Meade's attempt to surprise his