III.

A RACE BETWEEN TWO ARMIES.

The game of hide-and-seek—­to change the figure—­was now in full progress, and nothing more dramatic could be conceived of than the relative positions of the two armies.

At midnight, on Monday, October 12th, Lee’s army was near Warrenton Springs, ready to advance in the morning upon Warrenton, while three of the four corps under General Meade were half-way between the Rappahannock and Culpepper Court-House, expecting battle there.  Thus a choice of two courses was presented to the Federal commander:  to order back his main force, and rapidly retreat toward Manassas, or move the Fourth Corps to support it, and place his whole army directly in Lee’s rear.  The occasion demanded instant decision.  Every hour now counted.  But, unfortunately for General Meade, he was still in the dark as to the actual amount of Lee’s force in Culpepper.  The movement toward Warrenton might be a mere ruse.  The great master of the art of war to whom he was opposed might have laid this trap for him—­have counted upon his falling into the snare—­and, while a portion of the Southern force was engaged in Culpepper, might design an attack with the rest upon the Federal right flank or rear.  In fact, the situation of affairs was so anomalous and puzzling that Lee might design almost any thing, and succeed in crushing his adversary.

The real state of the case was, that Lee designed nothing of this description, having had no intimation whatever of General Meade’s new movement back toward Culpepper.  He was advancing toward Warrenton, under the impression that his adversary was retreating, and aimed to come up with him somewhere near that place and bring him to battle.  Upon this theory his opponent now acted by promptly ordering back his three corps to the north bank of the Rappahannock.  They began to march soon after midnight; recrossed the river near the railroad; and on the morning of the 13th hastened forward by rapid marches to pass the dangerous point near Warrenton, toward which Lee was also moving with his infantry.

In this race every advantage seemed to be on the side of Lee.  The three Federal corps had fully twice as far to march as the Southern forces.  Lee was concentrating near Warrenton, while they were far in the rear; and, if the Confederates moved with only half the rapidity of their adversaries, they were certain to intercept them, and compel them either to surrender or cut their way through.

These comments—­tedious, perhaps—­are necessary to the comprehension of the singular “situation.”  We proceed now with the narrative.  Stuart had pushed on past Warrenton with his cavalry, toward the Orange Railroad, when, on the night of the 13th, he met with one of those adventures which were thickly strewed throughout his romantic career.  He was near Auburn, just at nightfall, when, as his rear-guard closed up, information reached him from that quarter that the Federal army was passing directly in his rear.  Nearly at the same moment intelligence arrived that another column of the enemy, consisting, like the first, of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, was moving across his front.