as "Fighting Joe Hooker." Haggerstown, Boonsboro',
Williamsport and Falling Waters, all attested the great efficiency of
the cavalry arm, and at the end of the month it was an assured,
confident and capable body of dragoons, that, according to Captain
Glazier, "crossed the Rapidan for, as they believed, the purpose of a
continued advance movement against the enemy."

And here, parenthetically, we may observe, that he, and other recent
writers (Mr. Lossing being an exception), are scarcely accurate in so
designating the river crossed by them as the Rapidan. It was the _chief
tributary of the Rappahannock_, while two sister streams, which together
form the Pamunkey, are known to local topography as the North and South
Rapid Anna rivers.

It was a pleasant locality, and the "Harris Light" encamped there for
several weeks, having no occupation more exciting or belligerent than
picket duty. Duties of a more stirring character, were, however,
awaiting them, and as these are intimately associated with the career of
the subject of this biography, the delineation of whose life is the
purpose of the writer, we will give them something more than a cursory
notice.

We will first, however, take the opportunity of introducing a letter
from our young cavalryman to his parents, illustrative in some measure
of his intelligence and soldierly qualities, while it is no less so of
his sense of filial duty:

Headquarters Harris Lgt. Cavalry,
Near Hartwood Church, Virginia,
_August 22d, 1863_.

Dear Father and Mother:

Another birthday has rolled around, and finds me still in the army.
Two years have passed since we were lying quietly in camp near
Washington. Little did I think at that time that the insurrection,
which was then in process of organization, was of such mighty
magnitude as to be able to continue in its treacherous designs
until now. Newspaper quacks and mercenary correspondents kept facts
from the public, and published falsehoods in their stead.
Experience has at last taught us the true state of things, and we
now feel that the great work of putting down the rebellion is to be
accomplished only by energy, perseverance and unity. Our cause
never looked more favorable than to-day. It is no longer a rumor
that Vicksburg and Port Hudson have fall