is in our hands.

G. G. MEADE, _Major-General_.

These despatches were afterward denied by General Lee in a letter to his
authorities, as follows:

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
July ----, 1863.

_General S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector-General C. S. A._:

GENERAL: I have seen in the Northern papers what purports to
be an official despatch from General Meade, stating that he
had captured a brigade of infantry, two pieces of artillery,
two caissons, and a large number of small-arms, as this army
retired to the south bank of the Potomac on the thirteenth
and fourteenth instant. This despatch has been copied into
the Richmond papers; and, as its official character may cause
it to be believed, I desire to state that it is incorrect.
The enemy did not capture any organized body of men on that
occasion, but only stragglers, and such as were left asleep
on the road, exhausted by the fatigue and exposure of one of
the most inclement nights I have ever known at this season
of the year. It rained without cessation, rendering the road
by which, our troops marched toward the bridge at Falling
Waters very difficult to pass, and causing so much delay
that the last of the troops did not cross the river at the
until one A. M. on the morning of the fourteenth.

While the column was thus detained on the road a number of
men, worn down with fatigue, laid down in barns and by the
roadside, and though officers were sent back to arouse them
as the troops moved on, the darkness and rain prevented them
from finding all, and many were in this way left behind. Two
guns were left on the road; the horses that drew them became
exhausted, and the officers went back to procure others.
When they returned, the rear of the column had passed the
guns so far that it was deemed unsafe to send back for them,
and they were thus lost. No arms, cannon, or prisoners were
taken by the enemy in battle, but only such as were left
behind, as I have described, under the circumstances. The
number of stragglers thus lost I am unable to state with
accuracy, but it is greatly exaggerated in the despatch
referred to.

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,

R. E. LEE, _General_.

This was evidently an attempt, on