The advance of Lee with a part of his army was harassed moreover by the
Northern cavalry, which continued to show the activity and energy that
it had displayed so freely at Pleasanton's battle with Stuart. Harry,
besides bearing messages for troops to come up, often saw, as he rode
back and forth, the flame of firing on the skyline, and he heard the
distant mutter of both rifle and cannon fire. Some of these engagements
were fierce and sanguinary. In one, more than a thousand men fell,
a half to either side.

Harry was shot at several times on his perilous errands, and once he
had a long gallop for safety. Then Lee stopped a while at the Potomac,
with his army on both sides of the river. He was waiting to gather all
his men together before entering Pennsylvania. Already they were in
a country that was largely hostile to them, and now Harry saw the
difficulty of getting accurate information. The farmers merely regarded
them with lowering brows and refused to say anything about Union troops.

Harry had parted company for the time with his friends of the
Invincibles. They were far ahead with Ewell, while he and Dalton
remained with Lee on the banks of the Potomac. Yet the delay was not as
long as it seemed to him. Soon they took up their march and advanced on
a long line across the neck of Maryland into Pennsylvania, here a region
of fertile soil, but with many stony outcrops. The little streams were
numerous, flowing down to the rivers, and horses and men alike drank
thirstily at them, because the weather was now growing hot and the
marching was bad.

It was near the close of the month when Harry learned that Hooker had
been relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac at his own
request, and that he had been succeeded by Meade.