a rebel the same who had been trying to kill the Major with his carbine from behind the shelter of a tree-now endeavoring to escape. They dashed after the man, and soon returned with him as a prisoner to camp. He was immediately brought to the presence of General Hancock, who recognized him, by his appearance, to be a dangerous spy. "Your name is Vollin, I believe?" said the General. Yes, sir;" replied the rebel, for a moment thrown off his guard. "Ah! Vollin-or Villain—I am glad to see you. We have been looking for you for some time past." Mr. Vollin, or Villain, was appropriately cared for. The General had dealt with secessionists before. "You are aware of the fate usually awarded to spies, Mr. Vollin ?" continued Hancock. "I suppose-I-am," stammered the guilty wretch. "Then you will please prepare for it at your earliest convenience, Mr. Vollin! Good morning, sir." The brigade of General Hancock was specially serviceable in the work of procuring supplies. On different occasions hay, corn, sheep, and beef cattle were brought in by his men, to the evident disgust of the rebels and to the satisfaction of all who had the right to share in the spoils of war. The enemy soon found that their foraging parties were not the only ones in the field. On the 21st of October he accompanied and took part in the reconnoissance made by the heavy detachment sent out from his camp to Flint Hill, Virginia. The party consisted of portions of Mott's and Ayres's batteries, and companies of the Fifth Regulars, and from Colonel Freeman's regiment of artillery attached to the Division of General W. F. SMITH. This timely movement resulted in discovering the position of the rebels, and the apparent number of his forces in the vicinity. It was one of the first reconnoitring parties in which Hancock participated in his new position of Brigadier General. The spirit that animated the Union troops under Hancock, at the time of which we are now writing, is well illustrated by an incident. It is one of many of a similar character then taking place. After the battle of Ball's Bluff, of the 21st of October, in which the gifted and gallant Senator EDWARD D. BAKER so nobly fell for his country and liberty, the brave soldiers who had borne themselves so steadily in that fight were publicly addressed: "Soldiers!" said the speaker, "these are terrible gaps that I see before me in your ranks. They remind me, and you all, of our dead on the field of battle; of our wounded comrades in the hospitals; of kindred and friends weeping at home for those who filled the vacant places that once knew them, but that shall now know them no more forever. Soldiers! I ask you now and here, in full view of all this, are you ready again to meet the traitorous foe? Are you willing again to peril your lives for the liberties of your country? Would you go with me to the field to-morrow? Would you go to-day? Would you go this moment?" There was but the pause of an instant, when the reply, "Yes!" "Yes!" "Yes!" came with a shout from the thousands of the line. The commander was answered. CHAPTER XIII. IN THE CAMPAIGN OF '6 2. "When we manage by a just foresight, Thomson. THE HE campaign of the Union forces in Virginia during the winter of 1862, with all its quiet, possessed a great relative importance. The public sentiment of the country, which had been almost wildly enthusiastic at the first outbreak of the rebellion, was now beginning to settle down on a calmer basis. There was as much real patriotism in the land, but it was not so demonstrative as it had been. Our contest was beginning to assume an overshadowing importance im the eyes of the European nations. The leaders of opinion there were evidently much surprised at the extent of the preparations so readily and continuously made by the United States. Our successes, notwithstanding the manifest disadvantages under which we fought, had more than equalled our own expectations. The sentiments of the masses of the most intelligent people of Europe were turning strongly in our favor, although the aristocracy and their allies endeavored, by the most infamous falsehoods, to mislead and silence it. The wicked hope was indulged by the rebels at home and their sympathizers here and abroad, that the vast multitude of the laboring classes, who were suffering so bitterly for want of work in consequence of the famine of American cotton, would rise in revolt against their own rulers, and thus, on the plea of domestic revolution and anarchy, compel foreign governments to intervene in American affairs. This would have exactly suited the rebels. It was their constant inspiration, their unfailing aspiration, by day and by night. Such an intervention as they thus hoped, prayed and plotted for, would have brought us into war with England and France, compelled the opening of our blockaded ports, supplied the rebels with money and munitions of war, divided the North, and secured an ignoble peace in the certain destruction of the Union. But the operations of this gigantic and nefarious plot were no sooner commenced than they were discovered and thwarted. By the special favor of that Divine Providence which, in the language of JEFFER |