When secession raised its treasonable head among his political associates, Governor Stevens denounced it, and broke with them at once and forever. He took an active part in urging President Buchanan to withdraw his confidence from the Southern members of his cabinet, and take a positive stand in defense of the government and country. He called on Mr. Buchanan repeatedly, and strongly urged this course. His recent position as chairman of the National Democratic Executive Committee added strength to the personal influence he already had, and aided much in bringing the President to the firmer attitude which distinguished the last days of his administration. The governor respected Mr. Buchanan, while he pitied his lack of firmness and moral courage. He said that for a time Mr. Buchanan presented a pitiable spectacle of indecision and lack of firmness and courage. He even feared personal violence, and had been threatened with it by some of the Southerners.

During the winter Washington was filled with alarming rumors that the secessionists were plotting to seize the capital, to assassinate the President-elect, to prevent his inauguration, and there was considerable foundation for them. To guard against such dangers, Governor Stevens aided in the organization of a regiment of District of Columbia militia, and was one of the chief advisers and supporters of Colonel C.P. Stone, who raised and commanded it, assisting him in procuring arms and equipments. Colonel Stone was the General Stone who was so unjustly persecuted for the disaster at Ball’s Bluff. The governor personally urged Mr. Buchanan to sustain Major Anderson in his bold move of occupying Fort Sumter, to give his entire confidence to General Scott, and approved and defended his bringing regular troops to Washington. In these matters Governor Stevens was intimately associated and acted with Holt, Stanton, Dix, and other Democrats, most of whom had been supporting Breckinridge and Lane, and who rescued Mr. Buchanan from the hands of his secessionist cabinet, and inspired him to assert the national authority.

CHAPTER XLVII
THE OFFER OF SWORD AND SERVICES

Immediately after the inauguration of President Lincoln, Governor Stevens hastened to return to the Territory. General Miller wrote:—

General Lane, however, had just been defeated in Oregon by a coalition of the Republicans and Douglas Democrats, and Colonel J.W. Nesmith was chosen his successor.

Breaking up the Twelfth Street establishment, and leaving Mrs. Stevens and the three girls in Newport and his son at Harvard, Governor Stevens sailed from New York on the steamer Northern Light, March 12, by the Isthmus route, and arrived in Olympia the last of April. There he denounced secession, took strong ground in favor of supporting the government, and recommended organizing and arming the territorial militia. Accordingly a company was raised in Olympia, known as the Puget Sound Rifles; he was elected captain, accepted the command without hesitation, and was duly commissioned and sworn in. This was before the news of the attack on Fort Sumter and the grand uprising of the nation had reached the Pacific slope, and the minds of many were still in doubt.

The Democratic convention was held at Vancouver in May. Untiring efforts had been made by the faction opposed to Governor Stevens to defeat his renomination, and the showy and oratorical Garfielde headed the opposition. The governor’s friends felt too secure in his well-earned and undiminished popularity, and the prestige of his successful career in Congress, just crowned by the payment of the war debt, and neglected the active work and support the occasion called for. Notwithstanding this, a clear majority of the delegates were elected as Stevens men; but when the convention met, the opposition were found well organized, active, and bitter; they won over a number of delegates, several of them by bribery, as was publicly charged, and rendered the governor’s nomination doubtful, and only to be made at the cost of a protracted contest. Indignant at such unworthy treatment at the hands of the party he had served so faithfully and well, and disdaining such a contest at such a time, for the news of the firing on Sumter had just been received, and he had resolved to tender his service to the country, Governor Stevens at once withdrew his name as a candidate before the convention. Garfielde was then nominated, and the governor accepted the situation in the following manly and magnanimous speech:—

But many of his friends were so indignant at the rascally methods employed to compass his defeat that they refused to support Garfielde, and he was badly defeated in the election.

The day the convention adjourned, Governor Stevens tendered his services to the government in the following letter:—

The same day, from Vancouver the governor wrote Senator Nesmith, requesting him to see the Secretary and—

The governor was anxious to reach Washington at the earliest possible moment in order to renew in person his tender of services, but was detained in Portland over the sailing of one steamer by a severe though brief fit of sickness. At this time he was obliged to borrow $600 of Judge Seth Catlin,—a warm personal and political friend,—for his expenses in Washington had been heavy and he had nothing laid up. He was always too much engrossed in public affairs to give due attention to his private interests, but he was always careful to meet his bills and expenses. He was able to take the next steamer down the coast, the Cortez, and on board of her he wrote General Totten as follows:—

General Totten forwarded this letter with the following indorsement:—

Governor Stevens also wrote Professor Bache, Colonel Stone, and others to present his merits to the new administration; for, confident in his own powers, he was most anxious to secure such a position as would enable him to render his best service to his country.

He reached New York early in July, and went straight to Washington, not even stopping to visit his family in Newport. His reception there was cold and discouraging. The very active part he had taken in the recent presidential campaign, and his intimate association during it with men who were now foremost in striving to destroy the country, prejudiced many against him, and Douglas Democrats even more than Republicans. Senator Nesmith rather turned the cold shoulder, alleging that he felt bound to reserve all his influence for the benefit of men from his own State. Governor Stevens called upon the new President, and made a good and lasting impression upon him, but no response was made to his tender; and while the whole country was aroused, and troops were flocking to Washington, and the great needs of the hour were military ability and experience, it seemed as though the services of one of her best qualified and most patriotic sons would be rejected, and he be denied the opportunity of serving his country in her extremity. He offered his services to General McDowell as aide, or in any capacity, for the movement which culminated in the defeat of Bull Run, but they were declined. The only bright spot in this time of disappointment and mortification was his meeting General Scott, and regaining the esteem and confidence of his old chief.

Meantime his friends and patriotic men of all parties, who were anxious that his services should not be lost to the country, were sending on recommendations in his behalf. Governor Sprague and the legislature of Rhode Island, Governor Andrew, Senator Wilson, Representatives Rice, Train, and others, of Massachusetts, Senator John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, Nesmith, of Oregon, Rice, of Minnesota, and many other members of Congress urged his appointment as brigadier-general. The “Springfield Republican” strongly set forth his qualifications, and urged the government to employ his services. As, contrary to expectations, it was not made, Governor Andrew offered him the colonelcy of a Massachusetts regiment, and Governor Sprague that of a Rhode Island regiment, both explaining that they would have made the offer before, had they not supposed he would be given the position of general. But just before these offers were received, the Secretary of War tendered him the colonelcy of the 79th Highlanders, a New York regiment, which had been badly cut up at Bull Run, and he had accepted it. A few days later a paragraph appeared in the papers to the effect that he had declined this position, and immediately Governor Andrew telegraphed, “Can you now accept regiment temporarily while we try for brigade?” and Governor Sprague telegraphed, “I hear you decline position in 79th. Will you accept my offer?” But having tendered his services to the government without qualification, Governor Stevens felt in duty bound to accept any position to which he might be assigned, and therefore was obliged to decline both offers.

Before entering upon the new duty he made a hasty visit of two days to his family in Newport, where he addressed a Union meeting with General Burnside.

At this time he was still reduced in health and strength from the overwork of the last year, and mortified and depressed in spirit, almost the only occasion his buoyant and self-reliant character was thus affected. To a personal friend he exclaimed, “I will show those men in Washington that I am worthy of something better than a regiment, or I will lay my bones on the battlefield.”

CHAPTER XLVIII
THE 79TH HIGHLANDERS.—THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC

For many years the Highland Guard was a crack New York city militia battalion, composed of Scots, or men of Scottish lineage. They wore the kilt as their uniform, and, for fatigue or undress, a blue jacket with red facings, and trousers of Cameronian tartan. At the breaking out of the rebellion, the battalion was raised to a full regiment by the addition of two companies and filling up the ranks, and on May 13, 1861, entered the United States service for three years as the 79th Highlanders, New York volunteers.

Few regiments even in those patriotic days contained a finer, braver, or more intelligent body of men. Nearly every walk of life was represented among them except common laborers; but business men, clerks, and mechanics, with some sailors and even a few veteran British soldiers, filled the ranks. One company contained so many bookkeepers and clerks that it was known as the clerks’ company. If a skilled man was wanted at headquarters for any purpose, from clerk to mule-driver, from manning a light battery to rowing a boat, the Highlanders were always called upon to furnish the detail, and their successive commanders had all they could do to prevent the regiment from being depleted by such calls.

At the battle of Bull Run the Highlanders were terribly cut up, losing one hundred and ninety-eight killed, wounded, and missing, including eleven officers. The colonel, James Cameron, brother to the Secretary of War, was killed gallantly leading his regiment, which was considerably scattered after the battle. It was collected together in a few days, and moved to a camp on Meridian Hill, at the head of Tenth Street, north of Washington, named Camp Ewen. The officers and non-commissioned officers now petitioned the secretary to order the regiment home to recruit and recuperate. The secretary, visiting the camps, repeatedly expressed great regard for the regiment, and promised to do anything in his power for it. When the petition reached him, he indorsed it as follows:—

The men were informed of the secretary’s order, and notified to prepare for the homeward trip, to which they looked forward with eager anticipations and longing. But the military authorities remonstrated so strenuously against the order, on the ground of the bad effect on other troops of allowing one regiment to go home, that the secretary allowed it to be set aside, yet no notice of the revocation was given the Highlanders. As day by day went by without the much-desired homeward orders, they became more and more dissatisfied; the officers, as much in the dark as the men, could not satisfy their doubts and misgivings, and the spirit of insubordination grew daily.

On August 7 Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel M. Elliott was directed from Headquarters First Division, New York State Militia, to convene the commissioned officers, after five days’ notice, for the purpose of electing a colonel, and accordingly notified them to meet on the 13th at four P.M. for such purpose. Apparently the state authorities ignored the action of the War Department in appointing a new colonel, and it does not appear that the appointment of Colonel Stevens was announced to the regiment, except by his own order assuming command.

On August 10 Colonel Stevens arrived at the camp, and at dress parade that evening the following order was read:—

The new colonel spent the next day in simply observing the officers and men and inspecting the camp, taking no active steps. On the following day, however, he summoned the major and several other officers to his tent, and demanded and exacted their resignations. On the 13th, the third day of his command, he issued an order at dress parade that the regiment should move camp on the morrow.

This brought matters to a climax. The men plainly saw that they were not to go to New York, and felt that they had been trifled with and deceived. They gathered in knots like angry bees to discuss their wrongs. Many of them went into the city that night and returned late, more or less intoxicated. Whiskey was smuggled into the camp, and some of the forced-to-resign officers had a hand in this, and by the eventful morning of the 14th the regiment was ripe for mutiny.

When, after an early breakfast, the order was given to strike tents, all flatly refused except two companies,—I and K,—which remained faithful and obedient during the trouble. These were the new companies recently organized, and probably were less infected with militia notions than the others. Colonel Stevens visited the refractory companies in turn, but the men, deaf to orders and expostulations, stubbornly refused obedience, and told how they had been deceived and disappointed. Lieutenant-Colonel Elliott attempted to explain his action, but without satisfying the colonel, who gave him half an hour in which to resign, on penalty of court-martial. Elliott resigned.

Colonel Stevens continued going freely and fearlessly among the men, remonstrating with them and urging them not to bring disgrace upon the regiment, but in vain. When the officers attempted to strike the tents themselves, they were forcibly prevented, and several of them roughly handled. Colonel Stevens, coming to a group where some officers had just been thus repulsed, the armed and angry mutineers threatening to shoot any one who touched a tent, at once exclaimed, “Then I will take it down myself,” and, disregarding threatening words and looks, laid hold of the tent to strike it. At this the men, struck with admiration at his intrepidity, exclaimed, “Dinna mind, colonel; we’ll take it doon for ye this ance.”

At length, finding all efforts to restore obedience fruitless, Colonel Stevens felt obliged to report the mutiny, and ask for troops to suppress it. In response the camp was surrounded late in the afternoon by an overpowering force of regular infantry, artillery, and cavalry, which, in presence of the refractory regiment, ostentatiously loaded muskets, drew sabres, and charged the guns with canister and trained them on the camp. Colonel Stevens then addressed them, standing in the midst of the camp:—

His voice rang out like a trumpet. The men, thoroughly cowed, made haste to fall into the ranks.

The regiment, guarded on both flanks by the regulars, was then marched into Fourteenth Street, the colors were taken away by order of General McClellan, and thirty-five men, reported by the officer of the guard as active in the disturbance, were marched off to prison. The regiment resumed its march for the Eastern Branch, crossed that stream, and bivouacked for the night near the Maryland Insane Asylum,—a suggestive coincidence, remarks the historian of the regiment. Soon after daylight the next morning the new camp was reached, named Camp Causten, after a resident of Washington, who had shown the Highlanders many kind attentions after Bull Run, tents were pitched, and the routine of camp life established.

Fourteen of the so-called ringleaders were soon afterwards released and returned to the regiment, and the remainder were sent to the Dry Tortugas on the Florida coast, where they were kept on fatigue duty until the 16th of the following February, when they were also released, and rejoined the regiment at Beaufort, S.C.

Colonel Stevens commanded his regiment with a firm and severe hand. He enforced early roll-calls, hard drilling, and strict cleanliness in person and camp. There were some men so demoralized, by homesickness or otherwise, that they could not be induced to keep themselves decent, or attend to their duties, and he made the guard take them daily to the river, and strip and scrub them with soap and brooms. Under such drastic treatment they speedily recovered their tone. He promptly and severely punished every neglect of duty. He selected a number of bright, efficient young sergeants, and promoted them to be officers of the companies. He daily sent out detachments on scouting expeditions, or marches of ten or twelve miles, and had sketches and measurements made for a topographical map. By these means he varied the monotony of camp life, and infused hope and spirit into the command. He obtained furloughs for a limited number of men, those with families having the preference, and thus assisted some forty to visit their homes for fifteen days each. He was especially strict with the officers, taught them to assert their authority, and broke up the time-honored habit, the curse of militia organizations, of deferring to, and hobnobbing with, the rank and file.

On the 26th the regiment broke camp, marched through Washington, the band playing the dead march, by order of the colonel, in token of their disgraced condition and loss of the colors, and went into camp on Kalorama Hill, beyond Georgetown, a mile from the Chain Bridge. Colonel Stevens named the new location Camp Hope, and in a brief address to the regiment bade them hope, and declared that together they would win back the colors and achieve a glorious career. With all his matter-of-fact judgment, he had a pronounced vein of enthusiasm and poetic feeling, and had a singular power of arousing them in others, and of appealing to the higher motives. It was Napoleon who declared that in war the moral is to the physical as three to one.

At this camp Colonel Stevens dispensed entirely with camp guards, which in all the new regiments were deemed indispensable, and appealed to the sense of honor and discipline of the Highlanders to refrain from wandering from camp, and from annoying, or pilfering from, the country people. The men responded nobly to this appeal, and took great pride in scrupulously obeying these orders, and in the confidence reposed in them. The inhabitants felt safe when they saw the uniform of the Highlanders, and frequently spoke of the difference between them and other troops. The Highlanders still wore the blue jacket with red facings, but the regulation uniform as to the remainder. Later, when the jackets were worn out, they were uniformed like other troops.

On the evening of the 6th of September a large force, including the Highlanders, crossed Chain Bridge to the southern side of the Potomac, and took up positions in front and extending to the left, connecting with troops from Arlington. At midnight, as the regiment was drawn up in line, Colonel Stevens addressed them as follows:—

It was an impressive scene,—the long line of silent soldiers dimly seen in the gloom of night, as they gained new courage and determination from the brief, brave, and soldierly words of their leader.

The troops in front of Chain Bridge constituted a division under General W.F. Smith (Baldy Smith), of the Army of the Potomac, forming under General George B. McClellan, and Colonel Stevens was placed in charge of the First Brigade, consisting of the 2d and 3d Vermont, the 6th Maine, and his own regiment, and was intrusted with building Fort Ethan Allen, a strong and extensive earthwork on the left of the Leesburg turnpike, and of felling the woods in the vicinity. The Maine men, all expert woodsmen, armed with axes and deployed in a long line at the foot of a wooded slope, worked upwards, chopping every tree nearly through, so that it stood by only a narrow chip, until they reached the top of the slope; then at the signal of the bugle the last few quick strokes of the axe resounded against the top row of trees, which fell crashing on those below, and they on the next lower, and so on, until the whole forest crashed down together in thundering ruin.

The troops were kept hard at work, thus felling forests and digging forts, and also in outpost duty, for a strong picket line to cover the front, posted nearly a mile in advance, had to be maintained. Alarms from this line were frequent, and on one occasion the enemy were reported as advancing in heavy force, and the troops were hastily gotten under arms. Every one expected to take post in the fort, but Colonel Stevens led his brigade out nearly to the picket line, deployed them on a commanding position on both sides of the road, and coolly awaited the attack. This movement, so promptly but deliberately made, visibly raised the confidence and morale of the troops; and when, the alarm proving unfounded, they marched back to camp, they felt able and eager to encounter the enemy on equal ground.

On the 11th, under orders from General Smith, but with strictest injunction not to bring on a general engagement under any circumstances, Colonel Stevens, with two thousand troops, made a reconnoissance in force of Lewinsville, a hamlet six miles in advance of Chain Bridge. His force comprised the Highlanders; the 3d Vermont, under Colonel Breed N. Hyde; two companies of the 2d Vermont, under Lieutenant-Colonel George J. Stannard; four companies of the 1st Chasseurs or 65th New York, under Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Shaler; five companies of the 19th Indiana, under Colonel Solomon Meredith; four guns of Griffin’s battery, 5th United States artillery, Captain Charles Griffin; a detachment of fifty of the 5th regular cavalry, under Lieutenant William McLean; and one of forty volunteer cavalry, under Captain Robinson.

With skirmishers in advance, and exploring the ground on both flanks to the distance of a mile, the command advanced steadily to Lewinsville, the enemy’s cavalry pickets falling back without resistance, and occupied the village at ten A.M. Cavalry pickets were thrown out on all the roads; three guns and some five hundred skirmishers were posted well out to command the approaches on all sides; and the position was held for five hours, during which Lieutenant Orlando M. Poe, of the engineers (afterwards General Poe), and Mr. West, of the Coast Survey, made a topographical map and sketch of the place and vicinity. Colonel Stevens, with Captain Griffin and Lieutenant Poe, thoroughly examined the whole position of Lewinsville, of which he reported, “It has great natural advantages, is easily defensible, and should be occupied without delay.” During this time small bodies of the enemy were seen observing the Union force at a safe distance, and a cavalry picket, or reconnoitring party of fifty men, was driven off by Lieutenant McLean.

The accompanying sketch shows the roads and dispositions of the force to cover the reconnoissance. Colonel Meredith, with three companies of his regiment and one gun, held the road leading north to the Leesburg pike. The same road, running south of the village to Falls Church, was guarded by one company of the same regiment with one gun. Colonel Hyde, with the 3d Vermont and one gun, held the road leading westward to Vienna, and also the new road to Vienna, which fell into the Falls Church road half a mile south of the hamlet. The remaining gun, with the two companies of the 2d Vermont, was kept in reserve at the cross-roads; while the Highlanders and Chasseurs were held in reserve a third of a mile back from the village, and two companies of the former were thrown out as skirmishers to cover the left flank and rear, and connected with the Indiana skirmishers on the Falls Church road.

About three in the afternoon the skirmishers were called in, and the column formed for the return march. Just as the bugle sounded “Forward!” a section of artillery, which the enemy, stealing up under cover of the woods as the Highlanders’ skirmishers retired, had adroitly planted on the left rear, opened a brisk fire of shells over the head of the column as it marched back; and simultaneously a considerable force of their skirmishers from the Vienna and Falls Church roads advanced on the village and commenced firing on the withdrawing troops, but were directly repulsed, and gave no further trouble. For a few minutes there was some flurry in the column under the shell fire at a turn in the road where it was most exposed. Some of the officers and men threw themselves flat on the ground at every missile that burst or hurtled overhead, and once twenty men ranged themselves in line behind a tree barely a foot in diameter. But this confusion was over in a few minutes; the excitable ones, under the jeers and laughter of their comrades, resumed their places in the ranks, and the column was not broken or delayed.

The action was over, and the Union troops were calmly marching down the road, when General Baldy Smith came galloping up it in hot haste, followed by his staff and a section of Mott’s battery, and manifesting considerable anxiety, for the artillery firing had been brisk and noisy while it lasted, and his orders from McClellan—the same he had impressed on Colonel Stevens—charged him not to bring on a general engagement. But perceiving the fine order and undaunted bearing of the troops, and learning how well they had all behaved, and that the enemy was keeping his distance, he resumed his wonted coolness, and heartily congratulated Colonel Stevens and his command on the well-conducted and successful reconnoissance. Half an hour later General McClellan, with a large following of staff and escort, came tearing up the road to the returning column, showing even greater excitement and anxiety. He, too, calmed down on learning that the affair was all over, congratulated General Smith, ostentatiously visited and commiserated the wounded, and returned to Washington without noticing Colonel Stevens.

A few days later the colors were restored to the Highlanders by General McClellan in person, in recognition of their soldierly conduct since recrossing the Potomac, especially in the affair at Lewinsville.

Colonel Stevens took great pains in disciplining and training the regiments under his command, one of which, the 6th Maine, was raised at Bucksport and vicinity, and some of whose officers he knew when building Fort Knox, and he looked forward with confidence and pride to forming and commanding in them a fine body of soldiers. They, too, were responding to and appreciating his efforts, and strong feelings of mutual esteem and devotion were fast growing up between the commander and command. Before moving from Camp Hope, President Lincoln had assured him of his appointment as brigadier-general within a week, and he was daily expecting it. He never doubted that the troops he was so carefully instructing would form his brigade when he became a general, nor did they. His surprise and chagrin, therefore, were great when the Maine and Vermont regiments were summarily taken from him to make up a brigade for General W.S. Hancock, who, a new brigadier, had just reported to Smith, and three newer and greener regiments were sent to replace them. They were the 33d and 49th New York and 47th Pennsylvania. Colonel Stevens was deeply hurt and disappointed at this action. With the unexplained delay in his promised appointment, and McClellan’s significant and averted demeanor, it seemed to indicate a fixed intention on the part of the authorities to deny him promotion, and to keep him down to his colonelcy indefinitely. But he uttered no word of remonstrance or repining at this unworthy treatment, and took the new regiments in hand with unabated care and vigor. He declared to his son, in strict confidence, that, if his appointment as general was not soon made, he would relinquish the command of a brigade and devote himself to the Highlanders; that he would make them the best-disciplined and the best-drilled regiment in the army, and would so infuse them with the spirit of devotion to the country and the cause that, like Cromwell’s Ironsides, nothing could resist their onset. He dwelt much at this time on Cromwell, and how he had formed and trained his invincible soldiers.

Before embracing the contemplated course, however, Colonel Stevens sent his son to see the President and deliver a brief message to the effect that, although several weeks had elapsed since the assurance was given of his appointment as a general officer within a week, he had heard nothing of it, and feared that the President, under the great weight of care and responsibilities, might have forgotten it. The young man accordingly rode into the city and presented himself at the White House. His card was taken; the ante-rooms were crowded with anxious applicants and callers, and among them he waited for hours, unable to get access to the President, or secure any attention. At last he accosted a colored messenger, who from time to time entered the President’s room with cards, and begged his assistance in obtaining an interview, stating that he had a message of great importance from his father, Colonel Isaac I. Stevens, who had sent him expressly to deliver it to the President. The messenger would scarcely listen, indeed, had to be almost forcibly detained, until the name struck his ear, when his whole manner changed. “Do you mean Governor Stevens?” he exclaimed. “Is Governor Stevens your father? I used to see him here often in Mr. Buchanan’s time, and I am glad to do anything in the world I can for him. I’ll take your name in the next time, and you shall see the President, if I can fix it.” He was as good as his word, and soon ushered the youth into the inner office.

Mr. Lincoln received him in a kindly and fatherly manner that at once placed him at ease, listened to the message, and said: “Tell your father that I have not forgotten my promise, nor him; that I should have had his appointment made before this, if it had not been for General McClellan; that General McClellan said Colonel Stevens had better remain in command of the Highlanders some time longer; that they were not yet reduced to proper discipline, and it would be unsafe to take away their colonel at present. But tell your father,” he added, “that it shall be no longer delayed.” He then took a small blank card and wrote a line upon it, directing that Colonel Stevens’s appointment as brigadier-general be made out, and handed it to his visitor, bidding him take it over to the War Department and deliver it to the adjutant-general. This was soon done, and the young man, plying the spur, joyfully galloped back to camp with the gratifying news.

Any military man knows perfectly well that as brigadier-general he could have as much oversight and control over a regiment in his brigade as though he remained its colonel. In fact, General Stevens retained personal and immediate command of the Highlanders, although he commanded a brigade, and long after he became a general.

On the 25th General Smith advanced to Lewinsville with five thousand troops on a foraging expedition. Colonel Stevens, with the Highlanders and the 2d Vermont, led the advance, and the skirmishers of the former captured an officer of Stuart’s regiment with his horse. The enemy made no resistance, and after loading ninety wagons with corn and grain, the expedition returned.