J. KILPATRICK, _Brigadier-General_. In his official report of operations from the twenty-eighth of June, when he assumed command of the Third division, Kilpatrick says: "In this campaign my command has captured forty-five hundred prisoners, nine guns, and eleven battle-flags." Never before, in the history of warfare, has it been permitted to any man commanding a division to include, in a report of about forty-five days' operations, such magnificent results. As the last foot of the invaders disappeared from the soil where they had never been successful, our gallant boys built their bivouac fires and rested themselves and their weary animals near the scene of their recent victory. The telegraph lines, which had so often been burdened with news of disaster, now sang with joyful intelligence from all departments of our vast armies. Gettysburg was soon followed by Vicksburg, then Port Hudson, the names being emblazoned upon many a glowing transparency, to the honor of the heroes who had planned, and the braves who had fought, so successfully and well. The news was welcomed with salutes of artillery and bonfires in most of the Northern cities and villages, while the whole mass of our people was jubilant and rejoicing. On the fifteenth the President issued a proclamation of Thanksgiving, in which he recognized the hand of God in our victories, and called upon the people to "render the homage due to the Divine Majesty for the wonderful things He has done in the nation's behalf, and to invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger which has produced, and so long sustained, a needless and cruel rebellion." In the midst of these rejoicings we end our chapter. CHAPTER XIV. KILPATRICK'S GUNBOAT EXPEDITION. 1863.--Escape of Lee into Virginia.--Reasons.--Cavalry Advance into the Valley _via_ Harper's Ferry, and Fight.--Riot in New York and other Northern Cities.--Again Across the Potomac on "Sacred Soil." --Blackberries and Discipline.--Mails.--Battle of Manassas Gap.-- Mosby Again, and His Bands.--Author's Birthday.--Kilpatrick's Gunboat Expedition on the Rappahannock.--Cavalry Captures Navy.--Complimented by Superiors.--General Advance of the Army.--Third Cavalry Battle at Brandy Station.--Stuart's Cavalry Worsted at Culpepper Court House. --Sharp Artillery Practice at Raccoon Ford, on the Rapidan.--Special Duties and Special Dangers.--Good Living Along the Hazel and Robertson Rivers.--Important Reconnoissance and Raid.--Hard Fighting and Narrow Escape.--Needed Rest Received.--The Paymaster.--Rebel Plan of Attack Foiled by a Citizen Informer.--Suspicious Activity on Our Front.