Provided with a pocket full of orders, the general mounted his horse
late on Saturday afternoon and set out for the front, over the
Fourteenth-street road. The corpulent engineer I have described in
the early part of this history was assigned to General McCook for
duty; and this officer, and two sorry-looking orderlies, were all
that bore him company. The corpulent engineer alone knew the
military roads, and the location of the forts, which was very
fortunate. As they advanced over the road beyond Meridian Hill, they
overtook several straggling generals, each proceeding to the front
with a pocket full of orders, and generally accompanied by a single
orderly. Two or three of these generals seemed quite at a loss as to
where they were going, or what they were to command. I have thus
explained this matter to you, my son, to show you what a nice way
our war authorities had of producing confusion.

When the general and his staff, which I have described above, were
well nigh Brightwood, he halted to inquire, of the alarmed negroes
and straggling citizens who were wending their way into the city,
what news they had of the enemy outside. But no trustworthy
information could he get from any of them. They all knew that
General Early was coming; and that they had left just before he had
got to where they lived. This sort of information was not exactly
the kind a general would consider it safe to base his plan of
operations on. Nor was the general any more fortunate in getting
information concerning the enemy from a number of squads of cavalry,
whose business it seemed to be to ride excitedly to the front and
then ride excitedly back again. Indeed, the whole business of these
doughty troopers, it seemed to me, was to increase the alarm and
confusion.