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.” The circumstances hardly made the song appropriate, but the chorus roused the general and he joined in it with a right good will. During all that time, he had been unconscious of his surroundings, and when told of his seeming rudeness to his hostess he hastened to make apologies. This little incident shows how greatly Stuart was exhausted by the strain and fatigue of sleepless days and nights during this unfortunate campaign. For more than two weeks, he had been almost constantly in the saddle, using both mind and body in the effort to save his command and to bring the Confederate army back to Virginia without serious disaster. On July 13, the waters had subsided so much that General Lee gave orders for the army to cross the river that night. By one o’clock the next afternoon, the southern army was again in Virginia, General Stuart’s command bringing up the rear.