In this extremity, he relied on his cavalry for aid. Both men and horses were by this time reduced in numbers and were worn out by hunger and fatigue. They, however, took promptly the position assigned by General Lee and guarded the army and its trains from the attacks of the Federal cavalry. General Stuart’s command guarded both wings of the army,—Stuart himself being on one side and Fitz Lee on the other. They, of course, were pursued by the Federal cavalry, and before they reached the fords of the Potomac, both Stuart and Fitz Lee had been engaged in several skirmishes.
The wagon train reached Williamsport on July 6, and found the river too much swollen to cross. The wagons were massed in a narrow space near the river and were guarded by a small force. Here they were attacked by General Buford. This engagement is called “the Teamsters’ Battle,” because the teamsters assisted the troopers so well in holding the Federals in check. Together they succeeded in resisting the attack of Buford until the arrival of Stuart who had been engaged in driving the Federal cavalry from Hagerstown. A little later, Fitz Lee came thundering down the Greencastle road. Buford then retired without having taken or destroyed the trains so important to Lee.
On July 7, when the infantry and artillery arrived at Hagerstown from which Stuart had driven the Federal cavalry the day before, General Lee was not able to cross the Potomac. He, therefore, selected a strong position and fortified it while waiting for the waters to fall. From July 8 to 12, Stuart protected the front of Lee’s army, fighting a number of battles. Then, all the Federal forces having come up, Stuart retired to the main body of the army and General Lee prepared for battle. But Meade, who was very cautious, thought Lee’s position too strong to attack.
Major McClellan, General Stuart’s adjutant general, says in his Life of Stuart that those days will be remembered by the cavalry leader’s staff as days of great hardship. The country had been swept bare of provisions and nothing could be purchased. Scanty rations had been issued to the men, but none to the officers. For four or five days, they received all the food that they had from a young lady in Hagerstown, whose father, a Southerner, loved the Confederacy. After a day of incessant fighting, Stuart and his officers reached the house of this friend about nine o’clock at night. While food was being prepared, Stuart fell asleep on the sofa in the parlor. When supper was announced, he refused to rise. Knowing that he had eaten nothing for twenty-four hours, Major McClellan took him by the arm and compelled him to take his place at the table. He ate sparingly and without relish.
Thinking that the supper did not suit him, their kind hostess inquired: “General, perhaps you would like to have a hard-boiled egg?”
“Yes,” he replied, “I’ll take four or five.”
This singular reply caused a good deal of astonishment, but nothing was said at the time. The eggs were brought in; Stuart broke one and ate it, and rose from the table.
When they returned to the parlor, Major McClellan sat down at the piano and commenced singing,
“If you want to have a good time
Jine the cavalry.”