Fitzhugh Lee, General Lee

[201] of his men left behind in Virginia, from bare feet and other causes, and fill up his supply trains. He knew his enemy occupied Harper's Ferry in large force, and Martinsburg in his rear, and that his proposed line of communication could not be opened so long as these places were garrisoned, and that sound military principles required that they should be evacuated when his army passed beyond them. So did McClellan, and urged it more than once. Halleck, the strategist of the Federal administration, differed from both Generals Lee and McClellan. Harper's Ferry was in his opinion the key to the upper door of the Federal capital, and should be held till the wings of the Peace Angel were spread over the republic. General Lee promptly planned to show that McClellan was right and Halleck wrong, though it involved a change of his original designs. His cavalry, under the vigilant Stuart, was at Urbana and Hyattstown, and well advanced on the road from Frederick to Washington, and every mile of McClellan's march was duly recorded and reported. The progress of this officer was so slow, his movements so cautious, that Lee determined to detach sufficient troops from his army to capture Harper's Ferry and Martinsburg, and bring them back in time to present a united front to McClellan. Daring, skill, celerity, and confidence were the qualifications of an officer to execute the movement. In Jackson they were all combined. He moved on September 10th from Frederick with three divisions; crossed the Potomac into Virginia; marched on Martinsburg, which was evacuated on his approach; and then to Harper's Ferry, which he reached on the 13th. McLaws, with his own and Anderson's division, was directed to seize the Maryland heights overlooking Harper's Ferry, while Brigadier-General Walker was instructed to cross the Potomac below Harper's Ferry and seize the Loudoun heights in Virginia. These movements were successfully accomplished, and on the 14th Harper's Ferry was closely invested. The heights were crowned with artillery ready to open at command on the doomed garrison. The little village of Harper's Ferry lies in an angle formed by the Shenandoah and Potomac where their united waters break through the