General Lee was not remarkable for his tenacity in pursuit after his opponent had once been brought to bay and had delivered battle. His energy for offensive operations seemed to expend itself in the crisis of a great combat. Indeed, there were no instances on either side on which a pursuit of the defeated army was pressed with vigor and persistency, looking to the capture or destruction of the fleeing foe, except in Grant's pursuit of Lee, after the evacuation of Petersburg.

To check this flank movement, and to protect his communications, Pope threw a portion of his troops into Fairfax Court House, and Patrick's Brigade was ordered out on the Little River Turnpike, towards Germantown, about two miles northwest of Fairfax Court House, and near the road running from the Little River Pike to Flint Hill.

The brigade marched from Centreville at three o'clock on the morning of September 1st. It had rained the preceding day and night, and the roads were heavy. We reached Fairfax Court House, seven miles from Centreville, soon after daylight, and halted for breakfast. This over, we were ordered to return to Centreville, and had marched two miles in that direction, when the head of the column encountered General Joe Hooker, who had been assigned to the command in that locality, and who ordered the brigade to face about and return to Fairfax Court House; reaching which place once more, we were directed to the position, on the Pike, above mentioned.

We found the point of intersection of the Flint Hill Road with the Little River Turnpike very well fortified by earth-works, thrown up by the Confederates during their occupation of the place the preceding winter, and Patrick's Brigade took possession of them, and remained in them until about three o'clock in the afternoon. At that hour General Patrick said to LieutenantColonel Gates, "General Hooker has sent an order for

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one of my best regiments to report to him, at once, on the Little River Turnpike, and I am going to send you." The Twentieth fell în and marched up the Turnpike about a mile, where General Hooker and staff and a squadron of cavalry were found watching the movements of the enemy, who had appeared on the road and in the fields, at the edge of a piece of woods, a mile farther up the pike, and who were planting a battery behind a ridge, near the woods. The ground they occupied was considerably higher than that where General Hooker was, and from thence fell away in their rear, enabling them, by the aid of the woods, to conceal their strength. Opposite Hooker, on the south side of the pike, was an open woods extending westwardly, in the direction of this Confederate force, a half mile, and beyond that the country was cleared up to the woods occupied by the enemy. General Hooker directed Colonel Gates to enter the woods near him and march rapidly to the west edge and take position there, and "hold it at all hazards."

The regiment was certainly not formidable in point of numbers, and Colonel Gates' countenance must have expressed as much, for General Hooker remarked, in answer to a look, "Oh, I will support you; I will support you." The regiment moved as fast as possible through the woods, and approaching the farther side, found the enemy's skirmishers advancing rapidly, and within 150 yards of the woods, the cover of which they wished to gain. The Twentieth, with the exception of a small reserve from each company, was at once deployed as skirmishers, and extended, as far as practicable, along the edge of the woods, giving the appearance of a large force. They opened fire at once on the approaching enemy, and compelled them to fall back. But taking advantage of the inequalities of the ground, and seeking cover wherever they could, they kept up a steady fire for two hours. Meantime, a mountain

howitzer was brought forward, supported by a body of cavalry, to within range of the woods, and opened a vigorous fire with grape and canister. A small party of sharpshooters from the regiment was sent across the pike into a corn-field, from whence they picked off some of the gunners and its supports, and the piece was with. drawn. Soon, however, the enemy opened upon the regiment with shot and shell from their guns on top of the hill spoken of above, and thoroughly shelled the woods, but their infantry found, whenever they essayed to advance, that the fire from the woods was as vigorous as ever; and about five o'clock they fell back out of range, and their artillery fire ceased. Almost immediately thereafter heavy artillery and musketry firing opened in the woods in front of us, and apparently well over towards the Centreville Road. This combat was very severe, and continued until dark. The Union troops engaged were the forces of Generals Hooker, McDowell, Reno, Stevens and Kearney, the two latter of whom were killed. In the midst of this fight a furious thunderstorm took place, and earth and heaven seemed engaged in a fearful Titanic battle. Darkness put an end to this engagement-the storm in the heavens passed away, and the fierce human struggle in the dense woods ceased; quiet reigned on the earth, and the stars glimmered in the blue vault above, invoking peace and good among men.

At ten o'clock we were relieved by the Ninetieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel Lislie, and returned to the brigade, whither a report had preceded us that the regiment was nearly annihilated, the commanding and most of the other officers killed. Colonel Gates aroused General Patrick's Adjutant-General from a sound sleep to report his return and to inquire for orders. Rubbing his eyes a minute, and staring at his interlocutor as though he would assure himself of the identity of the person, he finally ejaculated: "Why,

T

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Colonel, is it really you? I was never more surprised in my life. We had a positive report of your death four hours ago, and we had all given you up as lost. I am very glad to see you alive." "Well, Captain, the report did not seem to have made you very unhappy, for I must confess you were the soundest asleep man I have seen in three months. One would not have supposed you had the slightest concern about anything or anybody from the childlike slumber in which I found you five minutes ago." "Colonel, the fact is one can't afford to make himself sleeplessly miserable over the casualties that befall his friends in such scenes as we are passing through. Friends and acquaintances are dropping all around us, and we have come to regard it as the natural and inevitable fate of soldiers. We murmur a regret, and in the hurry and excitement of the next hour almost forget that they ever lived." This was not very consoling, but it was a true expression of the effect produced upon the emotional part of ones' nature by participating in scenes of carnage and savage warfare.

Lee's turning movement proved abortive, and his forces were driven back with heavy loss. But Pope considered it advisable, for the reasons mentioned in the foregoing extract from his letter to General Halleck, that the army should be drawn back to the entrenchments in front of Washington, and at twelve o'clock of the second of September the movement began. The Twentieth left Fairfax Court House at two o'clock P.M., and bivouacked at ten, a few miles from Upton's Hill. The next morning we marched into our old camp, on the Hill, and settled down like a family who had made a long, fatiguing and disastrous journey, and had once more arrived at home, with numbers so greatly diminished that they found their old quarters too large for them, and two hundred and three names on the roll against which was written "killed" or "wounded."

CHAPTER XXI.

A DAY AT THE FRONT-FAREWELL TO UPTON'S HILL-AT LEESBORO-A

TERRIBLE MARCH-UNEXPECTED MARCH-DISAPPOINTED HUSBANDS, FATHERS, WIVES AND CHILDREN-LEE'S STRATEGY-INVADES MARYLAND -MARYLANDERS DISAPPOINT THE CONFEDERATES-DECEIVED BY BALTIMORE SECESSIONISTS-A RAGGED, BARE-FOOTED AND UNWASHED ARMY -CONFEDERATES ENCAMP AT FREDERICK-UNION FORCES ON THEIR LINE OF COMMUNICATIONS-LEE'S ORDER TO DISPERSE THEM-CHARACTERISTIC AND INSTRUCTIVE-CONSOLIDATION OF UNION ARMIESMCCLELLAN IN COMMAND-ORGANIZATION OF ARMY-ADVANCE TO THE MONOCACY-THE SCENERY-CITY OF FREDERICK-"ROUND ABOUT THE ORCHARDS SWEEP"-PLEASONTON STRIKES REBEL REAR-FORWARDSOUTH MOUNTAIN-PLEASANT VALLEY-TURNER'S GAP-AN ARTILLERY DUEL THE BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN-WHAT IT AND OTHER LIKE BATTLES PROVE-WASTED AMMUNITION-LOADING WITHOUT FIRING— WHAT WAS FOUND ON THE GETTYSBURG BATTLE-FIELD-HILL AND LONGSTREET IN POSSESSION OF TURNER'S GAP-FEDERALS CARRY THE MOUNTAIN CRESTS-A COLD NIGHT-RELATIVE STRENGTH OF CONTENDING FORCES-PRISONERS-KILLED AND WOUNDED-PRESIDENT'S TELEGRAM-A BRILLIANT VICTORY.

OUR sojourn in the old quarters was restless and brief. On the day following our return to them, we were ordered to the front to repel a party of rebels who had appeared at Bassett's Hill, and whose artillery had driven in our cavalry out-posts. The enemy withdrew without hazarding a brush with our infantry, and the "Twentieth" remained out on the picket-line during the night and part of the next day.

At ten o'clock on Saturday night, the sixth of September, we received orders to march forthwith, and the regiment was soon in line awaiting the final command to move. Not receiving it for half an hour, arms were stacked, and the men lay down beside their muskets, while the officers sauntered along the line, wondering how long they were to wait and where they were to go. At two o'clock in the morning the order came, and the familiar