Chapter 5:
- The Maryland campaign of 1862 -- along the route -- Pleasant Valley -- south Mountain -- Antietam -- reminiscences of the sojourn in Maryland after the battle of Antietam
The Sixth Corps moved to Fairfax, C. H., where a brief halt was made. On the afternoon of the first of September, we passed Fairfax Seminary on the edge of the county, four miles from Alexandria, and a few minutes later crossed the field to the Leesburg pike, through our last winter's camp. We noticed a tiny Union flag flying from a pole nailed to John Going's gable. As it was alleged that John had said he would rot in Fort Ellsworth before he would raise the Union colors, and as John was not at home, it would seem that some one had kindly planted the flag for him. We crossed Cameron Run, and marched across the country at though making for Arlington Heights; but when in sight of Fort Albany we moved east, along the line of the Alexandria and Loudon Railroad, struck the Washington road, and crossed Long Bridge into the capital. We moved through the ‘city of magnificent distances,’ over Georgetown Heights to Tennallytown. How many times and on how many different errands, did we, during our career as an element either of the Army of the Potomac or of the Army of the Shenandoah, pass through or rest at this little village? The turnpike gate on the west side is one of the landmarks figured in memory. It was now evident that there was or was about to be an invasion of Maryland. Our course the next day led us through Rockville, in the midst of a thrifty agricultural region in harvest time, when the fruit, cereals, and cattle were a sight to tempt to desperation the Confederates, if, as was often affirmed, their subsistence store sorely needed replenishment. We halted beyond Rockville. The several divisions of infantry, and the batteries belonging to
