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16 “Stuart Has Euchered Us Again” So long as [I heard Pelham’s cannon] in action, I knew the way was still open. W. W. Blackford — On into Maryland rode Stuart’s raiders. Ahead lay another ten miles before reaching the Pennsylvania border. The troopers galloped on to the old National Road, which connected Hagerstown to Hancock. Near this location an important Federal signal station atop Fairview Heights was seized by Wade Hampton and twenty of his men. From a few captured bluecoats Jeb learned that six regiments of enemy infantry with two batteries of artillery, under General Jacob Cox, had passed by this same road only an hour before. With the cover of fog still hovering on the ground and the near miss by this larger Federal force, Jeb realized his good fortune and wisely decided to ignore Cox’s army. Stuart’s column, now stretching four miles in length, proceeded quickly on a remote road toward Pennsylvania. Good luck held as the morning fog shrouded the troopers from any enemy observation posts. Hampton’s brigade, accompanied by Pelham and two guns of Hart’s battery, took the lead. Next came the brigade of Rooney Lee followed by “Grumble” Jones with two guns under James Breathed. Anxiously, the troopers anticipated the approach of the Pennsylvania line. “The men were wild with enthusiasm,” noted Blackford, “and eagerly watched for the line across which the fun would begin.”1 Crossing into Pennsylvania at 10:00 a.m., Stuart halted the men and read an order of his expectations for his troopers’ behavior “in enemy country.” Mercersburg lay less than ten miles ahead, and the march hastily resumed. Once inside Pennsylvania, the raiders began taking horses from the farmers. This task fell to the six hundred men of Rooney Lee’s brigade, who fanned out from the middle of the main column in individual parties numbering six each and approached the farmhouses. Again the weather played into the hands of the Confederates as an occasional rain shower reduced the telltale sign of the column’s dust to a minimum. Furthermore, the wet fields kept the farmers inside their barns threshing wheat, unaware of the sudden advance of the troopers. Scores of horses, tethered together in threesomes, were brought back, led by an individual rider. Most of the horses, however, were of the Belgian or Norman breed, too large and cumber- “Stuart Has Euchered Us Again” / 195 some for cavalry, more suitable for pulling cannon. Henry McClellan observed, “as far as scouts could extend the country was denuded of its horses.”2 Often the Rebels amused themselves by pretending to be Federals from Geroge McClellan’s army impressing horses for the Federal government.This sham usually elicited storms of rage from the farmers who cursed “the Government, the army and the war in general.” Although forbidden to seize private property, many took the liberty of pilfering food from the pantries and kitchens of the various homesteads . Blackford stated that the local custom of baking bread once or twice a week “was a godsend to us.” He further claimed that men returned from some homes with “a vista of roasted turkeys, hams and . . . beef strapped to the saddles, [with] brown rolls peeping out from haversacks and crocks of cream and rolls of butter.”3 Shortly before noon on October 10, the vanguard of the column reached the outskirts of Mercersburg. Pelham placed two guns in the town square while frightened townspeople scampered indoors. Many of the inhabitants, however, remained blithely unaware of the identity of the intruders. The first of Stuart’s troopers to enter the town rushed to a merchant’s establishment, where they purchased shoes and boots.They were met with initial congeniality, and it wasn’t until they paid in Confederate script that the surprised store owner realized their true loyalty. One Rebel remembered “the astonishment depicted on the faces of the natives to see live rebels in their midst.”4 Refusing to tarry in Mercersburg for long, Stuart gave the order to leave, and the column departed by 2:00 p.m. Five miles outside Mercersburg the column halted briefly to feed the horses directly from the corn in the Pennsylvania fields. Heavy rain began to fall as Stuart steered the troopers toward Chambersburg, less than twenty miles to the northeast . The roads turned muddy now, and the going became rougher, but the raiders pushed on. Whenever a horse appeared to tire, one of the stolen mounts replaced it...

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