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On they went, mile after mile, others joining them, as they passed onward, the party steadily increasing in numbers until it reached a place called Germanna, on the Rapid Ann now the Rapidan River, on the edge of the Spotsylvania Wilderness. No doubt you will wish to know who these men were and what was the object of their journey.
Meade is tall, thin, a little stooping in the shoulders, quick, comprehending the situation of affairs in an instant, energetic, an officer of excellent executive ability. At the old Wilderness tavern the Stevensburg plank-road leading southeast from Germanna Ford crosses the Orange and Fredericksburg turnpike.
To return to the movements of the main Federal force, under the personal command of General Hooker. This advanced rapidly across the angle between the two rivers, with no obstruction but that offered by the cavalry under Stuart, and on Thursday, April 30th, had crossed the Rapidan at Germanna and Ely's Fords, and was steadily concentrating around Chancellorsville.
On Tuesday afternoon, May 3d, the cavalry broke camp on the Orange and Alexandria railroad, and moved eastward, General Gregg's division toward Ely's Ford, and General Wilson's division towards Germanna Ford, each having pontoons. At midnight the Second Corps, which had been encamped east of Culpepper, followed General Gregg.
In the afternoon we walked in a meadow by the river side, which winds in the form of a horseshoe about Germanna, making it a peninsula containing about four hundred acres. Rappahannock forks about fourteen miles below this place, the northern branch being the larger, and consequently must be the river that bounds my Lord Fairfax's grant of the northern neck.
Mohun saluted with drawn sabre, and galloped to the front. A moment afterward the bugle sounded, and the column advanced toward the Rapidan, within a mile of which it halted Mohun and myself riding forward to reconnoitre at Germanna Ford, directly in our front. The pickets were engaged, firing at each other across the river.
Then he built iron-furnaces and began to smelt iron for the use of the people. Those were the first iron-furnaces in the colonies, and the people called him the "Tubal Cain of Virginia," after a famous worker in iron mentioned in the Bible. His furnaces were at the settlement of Germanna, where the expedition made its first stop.
Was it best to push on to Germanna, or was it best to wait down there in the valley for the return of the Governor and his party? They would come that way, that was certain, and would look to find him there. If they found only the ruined cabin, they might think him dead or taken by the Indians, and an attempt to seek him, as dangerous, perhaps, as fruitless, might be made.
Although the movement of the troops was well timed, and the march made with great rapidity, the trains were delayed, and it was not possible for General Grant to swing past the enemy advancing upon his flank. Early in the morning of the 5th, Generals Meade and Grant, with their staffs, after riding five miles from Germanna Ford, halted near the old mill in the Wilderness.
Mohun caught at his throat the spy recoiled when suddenly a quick firing was heard coming rapidly from the direction of Germanna Ford. "The enemy have crossed, Mohun!" I cried. Mohun started, and turned his head in the direction of the sound. "They are advancing!" I said, "but look out! the spy! Mohun wheeled, drawing his pistol.
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