were everywhere scattered over the ground, and the camp fires, probably prepared for the noon meal, were still brightly burning.

The main body had left with haste only about two hours before the arrival of the head of our column, leaving the grain bags from which the rebels' horses were fed, and the Federal horses ate their oats from the same for their morning's breakfast.

As the head of the division was approaching the intrenchment, a sharp firing was heard on the left, which afterwards proved to be a skirmish between the advance of Colonel Niles's division and some Alabamians who were in position there, about two miles from the court house. From the inside of this fortification the village. of Fairfax Court House was plainly seen, whither the command proceeded.

At the outskirts of the village a small American flag, used as a guide-mark by the Fourteenth New York regiment, had been planted. It was saluted with cheers by the passing regiments. The rebel flag was still flying at the court house when the advance of the division, with a band of the First Rhode Island regiment, playing the national airs, entered the village. It was taken down by some men of the Second Rhode Island, and handed to Governor Sprague. It was transmitted by him to General McDowell. Soon afterward the regi mental flag of the Second New Hampshire regiment was placed over the court house.

The advance column entered the village exactly at noon. At an early hour in the morning the rebel troops were drawn up on the west side of Fairfax, and the people there expected that a battle was certain, but about nine o'clock they made a precipitate retreat, leaving five quarters of fresh beef, shovels, spades, tools, and camp furniture behind them.

The column which occupied Fairfax was composed of

two brigades, under Colonels Porter and Burnside, and contained two batteries of flying artillery, two Rhode Island regiments, the New Hampshire Second, and the New York Eighth and Seventy-first, eight companies of regulars, five companies of cavalry, and perhaps one or two other regiments.

In the mean time, the First Division, under General Tyler, in camp at Falls Church, situated on the Leesburg turnpike, about seven miles from Fairfax Court House, had received orders to march, by the road from Falls Church and Vienna, with three days' rations and no baggage. Two hundred men were detailed as sappers and miners to open the way through the felled trees which the rebels had placed on all the approaches to Fairfax.

The Second Division, under Colonel Hunter, and the Fifth Division, under Colonel Miles, also took up the line of march, by two other routes, Little River turnpike and old Braddock road, it being so arranged that all. four divisions should move at the same hour, and on as many different roads, while General Patterson had been ordered to move steadily forward, to be in a position to reinforce them in case of emergency.

The division under General Tyler commenced moving at three o'clock on the afternoon of the 16th, the Connecticut boys taking the lead, their bands playing Hail Columbia.

The route was directly up the turnpike, toward Leesburg, about five miles; then leaving the turnpike and diverging toward Vienna. The right wing was commanded by Colonel Keyes, the left by Colonel Richardson of Michigan, the whole under the command of General Tyler.

The Second Maine regiment was drawn up in front of its encampment, and the "God of battles" invoked in a fervent prayer by the chaplain. Colonel Jameson then made a brief address, in which he told them he had

confidence in them that they would maintain the honor of the State that had sent them forth. They responded by three cheers, and fell into the column.

The head of the column reached Vienna at sunset, a straggling place of a dozen houses, a railroad station, and one store, and bivouacked for the night, the infantry turning into fields and meadows, the cannon taking positions on the hills. There were large piles of wood at hand, and the men helped themselves with a will, and soon had large fires burning in every direction. The men ate their suppers, rolled themselves in their blankets, and went to sleep. At eleven o'clock there was scarcely a sound to be heard, except from the horses at their tethers. The prostrate host lay motionless and silent, as if the destroying angel had passed over the place and set the seal of death on all.

With the first gray of the morning there was a bugle blast and a general roll of drums, followed by a sudden uprising of the multitude, reminding one of the resurrection morning, when, at a blast from the archangel's trumpet, the dead of earth shall rise to meet their Creator.

From Vienna to Fairfax is four miles. The road, immediately after emerging from Vienna, enters a heavy timber, about a mile from the village. About fifty large trees were discovered in the road. Captain Alexander, of the engineer corps, immediately put the pioneers to work with their axes. The down-east boys, who served their apprenticeship in the forests of Aroostook and Moosehead, showed themselves masters of their profession, and in less than twenty minutes the whole barricade was cleared away. Having reached the edge of the timber, two companies of each of the Connecticut regiments were deployed as skirmishers, on the right and left, under Colonel Spiedel.

The division marched a short distance further on,

when a reconnoissance by Colonel Keyes, commanding the First Brigade, resulted in discovering two, evidently mounted earthworks, protected by bodies of infantry and cavalry, to the left of the road.

Colonel Keyes immediately pushed the advance brigade along the road, with the view of getting in the rear of the enemy, while General Tyler ordered General Schenck's brigade to form in battle array in the fields to the left of the road. The Third and Fourth Brigades, under Colonel Sherman and Colonel Richardson, formed in the road, but the rebels abandoned their position. With a spy-glass the roads leading to Fairfax Court House could be seen covered with the retreating Confederates. The head of the First Brigade came within a few hundred yards of a body of the rebels. Colonel Keyes ordered a section of Captain Varian's Battery to throw a few shells among them.

"First and second pieces into position," shouted the captain of Varian's Battery. The horses leaped ahead as if inspirited by the command, and in a moment two pieces were in position, by a school-house, on a little knoll overlooking the distance to Fairfax, with a thick wood all along the right. "Load with shell," said the captain, and the cartridges went home in an instant. After a moment's sighting, a shell went whizzing through the air, and burst in a hollow on the left. The enemy ran as soon as the first shot was fired, casting away blankets, haversacks, canteens, and other equipments which impeded their progress.

A short distance further on was a house, the occupants of which had taken refuge in a potato cellar, a little way from the house, and had heard the shells as they whizzed past, one exploding near them. The women, with joyful countenances, brought out bread and pans of milk, which were passed around to the soldiers, "without money and without price," refusing to take

pay. Again the column moved on, and, having reached Hunt's Hill, two and a half miles west of Vienna, and the enemy evidently still retreating, General Schenck's brigade again fell into line, and the column continued to march in the order of the morning.

A short distance from the rebel camp two more abatis were discovered in the road, and removed by the pioneers in a few minutes. The column was about pushing on, when the scouts reported a battery of several pieces less than half a mile ahead. Colonel Keyes immediately ordered up Ayer's rifled cannon, and two pieces of the Parrott gun were put in position, to feel of the work. The shot went screaming through the embrasure. No response. Another. All silent. "Forward," said Colonel Spiedel, in command of the skirmishers; and they went over the open space at double quick; but the rebels had precipitately abandoned the battery, and were retreating in hot haste with their pieces. A large quantity of shovels, picks, bags of oats, baskets, etc., were found in the work, and the camp-fire was still burning.

Half a mile further on was Germantown, a place of six old tumble-down houses, almost deserted. On one a Confederate flag was flying. One of the Connecticut boys mounted the roof, tore it down, planted the stars and stripes in its place, when all hands gave three cheers. In the house were two white men, sick with the measles, attended by a negro, who said that the first shot went right over the house, and the rebels, with four pieces and fifteen hundred men, went "jus as fast as dey could go, right up de road, massa.”

Immediately upon the arrival of the central division, General McDowell sent word to the divisions under Colonels Miles and Heintzelman, on the left wing, to halt, and himself and staff, escorted by a squadron of United States Dragoons, proceeded to Germantown, where the division under General Tyler halted. They