vision commander, or to any
one!!! My opinion is that not a gun of ours was fired upon Stonewall
Jackson's force until he had passed nearly into the centre of my army.
Judge, if you can, of the consternation throughout that army caused by
this exhibition of negligence and cowardice. One word more, in regard to
the cavalry. I had to have, under the seniority rule of the service, a
wooden man for its commander. If you will turn to the first volume of
the Report of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, you will find my
instructions to General Stoneman, and then you will see the mistake that
I made in informing him of the strength and position of the enemy he
would be likely to encounter on his raid, as that officer only made use
of the information to avoid the foe. He traveled at night, made
extensive detours, and did not interrupt the traffic on the railroads
between Lee's army and Richmond for a single day. As he was charged to
make this duty his especial object of accomplishment over all others, he
had twelve thousand sabres, double the force the enemy could collect
from all quarters. I had men enough with me to have won Chancelorsville
without the cavalry and other corps, but of what use could a field of
battle have been to me when the enemy could fall back a few miles and
post himself on a field possessing still greater advantages to him?
General Grant did this, and is entitled to all the merit of his
soldiership from a grateful country. I believe if he had sacrificed
every officer and soldier of his command in the attainment of this
object, the country would have applauded him. When I crossed the
Rappahannock I aimed to capture General Lee's whole army and thus end
the war, by manoeuvring, and not by butchery."

While his superior in command did little that was practically useful
with the cavalry, Kilpatrick covered his little band with glory, and
gave the people of Richmond, a scare as great as Stuart administered to
our Quaker friends in Pennsylvania during his famous foray into the
border counties of the Keystone State.

Their return was almost immediately followed by the second grand cavalry
battle of Brandy Station, June ninth, 1863, a struggle as hotly
contested as any that occurred during the war. In this encounter
Sergeant Willard Glazier took part, leading the first platoon of the
first battalion that crossed the Rappahannock. Matters were now assuming
a warlike aspect. The Valley of the Shenandoah groan