en, but a stern reality, an
actual and glorious victory to our arms, and a sure exposure of the
waning strength of the ill-fated Confederacy. Charleston and Mobile
must soon follow the example of the West, and then the Army of the
Potomac will strike the final blow in Virginia.

Kilpatrick's cavalry is now watching the movements of the enemy on
the Rappahannock--his head-quarters being near Hartwood Church. I
have seen nothing that would interest you much, save a few
expeditions among the bushwhackers of Stafford County.

It may not be uninteresting to you to learn that I have just been
promoted to a lieutenancy, my commission to date from the
seventeenth of June. I have received four successive promotions
since my enlistment. Your son can boast that his Colonel says he
has earned his commission. Political or moneyed influence has had
nothing to do with it. I have been in command of a platoon or
company ever since the thirteenth of last April, and have very
frequently been in charge of a squadron. I conclude by asking you
to remember me kindly to all my friends,

And believe me, as ever, your dutiful son,
Willard.

It will be remembered that the greater part of the spring of this year
(1863), that is, from the time the Federal army moved from its
winter-quarters in Stafford and King George counties, and all the early
summer, were passed by the belligerent forces in efforts to compel their
adversaries to fall back on their respective capitals. The people and
the press on both sides were clamoring for the accomplishment of
_something definite_, and when Vicksburg fell, and on the stricken field
of Gettysburg, victory perched upon the Union banners, our hopes seemed
on the point of realization, but the fall of the leaf found the hostile
armies still confronting each other. Lee's force, though fearfully
shattered, maintained its organization, and to all appearance had lost
little of its former self-confidence. General Meade, perhaps the most
scientific strategist of all the generals who had held the chief command
of the Army of the Potomac, was severely criticised, simply because he
declined by "raw Haste, half-sister to Delay," to hazard the ultimate
fruition of his well-laid plans; and Captain Glazier, it must be
admitted, was one of his adverse c