demanded the greatest coolness, decision,
and courage, implicit obedience to orders, and the strictest order and
sobriety. While the full purpose of the expedition must still be kept
secret, he said, it was one in which success would reflect the highest
credit on their arms. The seizure of private property in the State of
Maryland was strictly prohibited, and it was to be done in Pennsylvania
only under orders from the brigade commanders, individual plundering
being strongly forbidden.

These preliminaries adjusted, the march northward began, the command
being divided into three detachments of six hundred men each, under the
direction of General Wade Hampton, Colonel W. H. F. Lee, and Colonel W.
E. Jones. A battery of four guns accompanied the expedition. It was with
high expectations that the men rode forward, the secrecy of the
enterprise giving it an added zest. Most of them had followed Stuart in
daring rides in the earlier months of that year, and all were ready to
follow wherever he chose to lead.

Darkness had fallen when they reached Hedgesville, the point on the
Potomac where it was designed to cross. Here they bivouacked for the
night, a select party of some thirty men being sent across the river,
their purpose being to capture the Federal picket on the Maryland side.
In this they failed, but the picket was cut off from its reserve, so
that the fugitives were not able to report the attack. Day had not
dawned when all the men were in their saddles, and as soon as word of
the result of the night's enterprise was received, the foremost troops
plunged into the river and the crossing began. It was completed without
difficulty, and Colonel Butler, leading the advance, rode briskly
forward to the National turnpike which joins Hancock and Hagerstown.

Along this road, a few hours before, General Cox's division of Federal
infantry had passed, Butler coming so close to his rear that the
stragglers were captured. But a heavy fog covered the valley and hid all
things from sight, so that Cox continued his march in ignorance that a
strong body of Confederate cavalry was so close upon his track. On
Fairview Heights, near the road, was a Federal signal-station, which a
squad was sent to capture. The two officers in charge of it escaped, but
two privates and all its equipments were taken.

Yet, despite all efforts at secrecy, the march had not gone on unseen. A
citizen had observed the crossing and reported it to Captain L