. The battle of Gettysburg, from the History of the civil war in America . ese instructions formally directed him to cover Washingtonand Harpers Ferry. Washington, surrounded by formidablefortifications perfectly armed, had a numerous garrison, whileStahels cavalry division, by clearing the approaches for a consid-erable distance, did not permit the enemy to attempt a surpriseagainst the place. Harpers Ferry, we have already shown, hadno strategic importance whatever; nevertheless, if it was desiredto preserve this position, which had been very unnecessarily forti-fied, there could have been b
. The battle of Gettysburg, from the History of the civil war in America . ese instructions formally directed him to cover Washingtonand Harpers Ferry. Washington, surrounded by formidablefortifications perfectly armed, had a numerous garrison, whileStahels cavalry division, by clearing the approaches for a consid-erable distance, did not permit the enemy to attempt a surpriseagainst the place. Harpers Ferry, we have already shown, hadno strategic importance whatever; nevertheless, if it was desiredto preserve this position, which had been very unnecessarily forti-fied, there could have been brought to the place five or six thou-sand men who under Milroy occupied Winchester and the lowerpart of the Valley of Virginia. But the requirements of GeneralHal leek for the defence of these two points, after having fetteredthe movements of McClellan on the Chickahominy and in theAntietam campaign, were not likely to yield to Hookers repre-sentations. On the 5th of June the latter had asked for permis-sion to act independently of these instructions, and to manoeuvre B. 8 THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. his army as he thought proper, in order to be able to strike theenemy wherever he could fiud the occasion to fight him to advan-tage were he to let him advance northward, while he himselfshould menace the Confederate capital. This permission was re-fused. Halleck tried to prove to him that it would be better tofollow in the wake of Lees heads of column, whose direction noone could as yet exactly foresee; while Mr. Lincoln, recapitulatingthe scientific demonstration of his military director by a homelycomparison, gave the form of an apologue to a telegram addressedto the commander of the Army of the Potomac: I would nottake any risk of being entangled upon the river, like an oxjum^jed half over a fence, and liable to be torn by dogs frontand rear, without a fair chance to gore one way or to kick theother. These instructions were positive and formal. Hooker had noother alternative than
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