familiar, more or less, with the country, and united under one command.  It is instructive to notice how the necessity for a numerous cavalry grew on the Federal commanders.  In 1864 the Army of the Potomac was accompanied by a cavalry corps over 13,000 strong, with 32 guns.  It is generally the case in war, even in a close country, that if the cavalry is allowed to fall below the usual proportion of one trooper to every six men of the other arms the army suffers.) Lee, on the other hand, had found means to ascertain the disposition of his adversary’s troops, and had acquired ample information of the measures which had been taken to protect the right wing, north of the Chickahominy, the point he had determined to attack.

June 12.

Early on June 12, with 1200 horsemen and a section of artillery, Stuart rode out on an enterprise of a kind which at that time was absolutely unique, and which will keep his memory green so long as cavalry is used in war.  Carefully concealing his march, be encamped that night near Taylorsville, twenty-two miles north of Richmond, and far beyond the flank of the Federal intrenchments.

June 13.

The next morning he turned eastward towards Hanover Court House.  Here he drove back a picket, and his advanced guard, with the loss of one officer, soon afterwards charged down a squadron of regulars.  A few miles to the south-east, near Old Church, the enemy’s outposts were finally dispersed; and then, instead of halting, the column pushed on into the very heart of the district occupied by the Federals, and soon found itself in rear of their encampments.  Stuart had already gained important information.  He had learned that McClellan’s right flank extended but a short way north of the Chickahominy, that it was not fortified, and that it rested on neither swamp nor stream, and this was what Lee had instructed him to discover.  But it was one thing to obtain the information, another to bring it back.  If he returned by the road he had come, it was probable he would be cut off, for the enemy was thoroughly roused, and the South Anna River, unfordable from recent rains, rendered a detour to the north impracticable.  To the mouth and west of him lay the Federal army, some of the infantry camps not five miles distant.  It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.  He could hardly reach Hanover Court House before dark, and he might find it held by the enemy.  To escape from the dilemma he determined on a plan of extraordinary daring, which involved nothing less than the passage of the Chickahominy in rear of the enemy, and a circuit of the entire Federal army.