dering salutation, with evident effect, from our guns on this side. I lost not a man killed on the expedition, and only a few slight wounds. The enemy's loss is not known, but Pelham's one gun compelled the enemy's battery to change its position three times.
The remainder of the march was destitute of interest. The conduct of the command and their behavior towards the inhabitants is worthy of the highest praise; a few individual cases only were exceptions in this particular. Brigadier-General Hampton and Colonels Lee, Jones, Wickham and Butler, and the officers and men under their command are entitled to my lasting gratitude for their coolness in danger and cheerful obedience to orders. Unoffending persons were treated with civility, and the inhabitants were generous in proffers of provisions on the march. We seized and brought over a large number of horses, the property of citizens of the United States. The valuable information obtained in this reconnoissance as to the distribution of the enemy's force was communicated orally to the Commanding General, and need not be here repeated. A number of public functionaries and prominent citizens were taken captives and brought over as hostages for our own unoffending citizens whom the enemy has torn from their homes and confined in dungeons in the North. One or two of my men lost their way, and are probably in the hands of the enemy.
I marched from Chambersburg to Leesburg (90 miles), with only an hour's halt, in thirty-six hours, including a forced passage of the Potomac—a march without a parallel in history.
The results of this expedition in a moral and political point of view can hardly be estimated, and the consternation among property holders in Pennsylvania beggars description.
I am specially indebted to Captain B. S. White (Confederate States cavalry), and to Messrs. Hugh Logan and Harbaugh, whose skillful guidance was of immense service to me. My staff are entitled to my thanks for untiring energy in the discharge of their duties.
I enclose a map of the expedition drawn by Captain W. W. Blackford to accompany this report; also a copy of orders enforced during the march.
Believing that the hand of God was clearly manifested in the signal deliverance of my command from danger, and the crowning success attending it, I ascribe to Him the praise, the honor and the glory, I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant,
Major-General Commanding Cavalry.
