Lieutenant-Colonel White, of the cavalry, has also cut the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, east of the Point of Rocks.
General Milroy has abandoned the south side of the Potomac, occupying Harper’s Ferry with a picket, and holds the Maryland Heights with about eight thousand men.
General Ewell’s corps is north of the Potomac, occupying Sharpsburg, Boonsborough, and Hagerstown. His advance cavalry is at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
The First Division of General A.P. Hill’s corps will reach this vicinity to-day; the rest follow.
General Longstreet’s corps with Stuart’s cavalry still occupy the Blue Ridge between the roads leading through Ashby’s and Snicker’s Gaps, holding in check a large force of the enemy, consisting of cavalry, infantry, and artillery.
The movement of the main body of the enemy is still toward the Potomac, but its real destination is not yet discovered....
If any of the brigades that I have left behind for the protection of Richmond can, in your opinion, be spared, I should like them to be sent to me.
I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,
R.E. Lee, General.
Several days later, Ewell being now so advanced that support for him was absolutely necessary, Longstreet was withdrawn from the edge of the Blue Ridge. With the First Corps he crossed the Potomac at Williamsport. A.P. Hill and the Third followed, crossing at Shepherdstown. At Hagerstown the two corps united and the resulting column moved northward into Pennsylvania.