most desirable route for passing around the enemy's flank and reaching Warrenton. I advised that the corps should march from its encampment, just west of Toddsburg, through Orange Court-House; thence down the Fredericksburg plank road to Dr. Terrill's; then turn to the left, pass Pisgah Church, and cross the Rapidan at Somerville Ford; thence by Lime Church, Stevensburg, Brandy Station, and Beverly Ford to Warrenton. This route being approved, the march was commenced on the evening of the 15th, and on the 16th the three divisions of Taliaferro, Ewell, and A. P. Hill encamped near Pisgah Church, where they remained for three days awaiting the arrival of a portion of General Longstreet's command until the morning of the 20th.

On the morning of the 18th a body of the enemy drove our pickets from Clark's Mountain and found out the position of our troops, and on the 19th they commanded their retreat toward the Rappahannock. I was on Clark's Mountain at the time that the retreat commenced, and immediately gave the information to General Jackson.

At dawn on the following morning (20th) the corps moved forward in the following order: Generals A. P. Hill, Ewell, and Taliaferro. I was ordered by General Jackson to remain at somerville Frod, where the corps crossed the Rapidan, until all the divisions had crossed, to see that there was no delay in fording the stream. This being accomplished, I rejoined General Jackson about 2 miles beyond Stevensburg, on the Brandy Station road, where the corps bivouacked for the night. I here found that General Stuart, with Robertson's brigade of cavalry, had engaged the cavalry of the retreating enemy near Stevensburg and driven them across the Rappahannock at the railroad bridge.

Early on the morning of the 21st the command resumed its march in the following order: Taliaferro, A. P. Hill, and Ewell. Passing Brandy Station, the front of Taliaferro's division emerged from the wood one-fourth of a mile south of Beverly Ford about 10 a. m. Finding the ford guarded by a body of the enemy's cavalry, General Taliaferro brought up two pieces of Poague's battery and drove them off. General Stuart then crossed the river with the First Virginia Cavalry and two pieces of Poague's battery and drove them off. General Stuart then crossed the river with the First Virginia Cavalry and two pieces of Pague's battery, but the enemy advanced a heavy force and compelled him to retire. A desultory artillery fight was kept up during the entire day between the batteries of General Taliaferro and those of the enemy on the opposite side of the river. I was ordered by General Jackson Station, and to report to him any movement on the part of the enemy. I stationed myself on a high point a little of the right of the railroad and about three-fourths of a mile from the river. From this point I could see that the enemy were in heavy force around Rappahannock Station, and that a small body of infantry occupied two very high bluffs on the south side of the river and a few hundred yards above the railroad bridge. I communicated these facts to General Jackson, and suggested that the enemy might be driven from those bluffs, though they were somewhat higher than any point on either side of the river, by placing a large amount of artillery on the ridge east of Glassell's house and on the hill which I then occupied. Colonel Crutchfield was sent by General Jackson to examine the position with me, but we did not meet until it was so late that nothing could be done.

On the following morning (22nd) the three divisions (in order, Ewell, Hill, and Taliaferro) left their encampments near Beverly Ford, marching by farm roads and across fields to Welford's Mill, where they crossed Eastham River, thence to Freeman's Ford; but finding this ford strongly guarded by the enemy, General Trimble's brigade was left to preserve