THE MARCH INTO PENNSYLVANIA CONTINUED.
These operations had cleared the valley of the Federal forces, those
at Harpers Ferry having withdrawn to Maryland Heights; and now the
great movement of the war, prefaced by this brilliant introduction, was
fairly begun.
Ewell's corps was the first to cross the Potomac. On the 24th it was
followed by that of General A. P. Hill, which crossed at Shepherdstown.
General Longstreet's corps had previously reached the Maryland shore
by the Williamsport ford. The latter was composed of the divisions of
McLaws, Pickett, and Hood, while the corps of Hill consisted of those
of Pender, Heth, and Anderson, and that of Ewell of the divisions of
Rodes, Early, and Johnson. The several columns re-united at Hagerstown,
from which place the entire army crossed into Pennsylvania,
and on the evening of the 27th encamped near Chambersburg.
Throughout the North this movement produced the wildest excitement.
The public records were removed from Harrisburg, and New
York and Philadelphia prepared to receive the daring invaders.
On the 15th of June, President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling
for 120,000 militia, of which Pennsylvania was to furnish 50,000, Ohio
30,000, Maryland 10,000, West Virginia 10,000, and New York 20,000.
In addition, Governor Andrews tendered the entire military strength
of Massachusetts in the terrible crisis.
But it was not the rapidly forming battalions of raw militia that
claimed the attention of the daring invader, General Lee. He was
watching with the gravest interest the movements of that mighty army,
a third greater than his own, which he had left on the banks of the
Rappahannock, and which along the Potomac had for three years been
drilled in the science of war.
Hooker lingered for a short time on the shore of Virginia, unable
to determine whether Lee's advance was an invasion of the Northern
States or a movement on Washington. Believing it to be the latter, he,
on the 13th of June, put his army in motion northward, so as to coverthe
National Capital, marching along the east side of the Blue Ridge,
while the Confederates moved along the west side. He reached the
Potomac, and crossing at Edwards' Ferry, moved on to Frederick City.
There he yielded to the pressure of public opinion at the North and resigned
the command of the army, which was at once given to General
Meade. That officer made only such changes as were imperatively necessary.
Sykes took the 5th corps, which had been Meade's; Hancock
the 2d, in place of Couch, who had been assigned to the department of
the Susquehanna; Reynolds retained the 1st, Sickles the 3d, Sedgwick
the 6th, Howard the 11th, and Slocum the 12th. The entire cavalry
force was placed under Pleasanton. Thus the two armies were constituted
on the 27th of June; the Confederate at Chambersburg and the
Federal at Frederick — thirty-five miles apart.
