Johnson moved his whole force to Cockeysville, and after destroying the bridges there he detached the First and Second Maryland Cavalry under Gilmor, and directed that officer to burn the railroad bridges over the Bush and Gunpowder Rivers. At Texas, Baltimore Co., on the line of the Northern Central Railway, the telegraph wires were cut and poles pulled down; the bridge above Cockeysville was destroyed and a portion of the track torn up; the Hanover bridge was destroyed, and two others south of the junction; the bridge at Ashland was burnt and the telegraph wires cut. After operating with the greatest boldness on the north of Baltimore, the Confederates pushed across the country, cutting the telegraph wires on the Harford and Philadelphia turnpikes. A small detachment came down Charles Street Avenue and burned the country house of Governor Bradford, five miles from Baltimore, with all his household furniture, valuable library, paintings. etc. This was done in retaliation for Gen. Hunter's destruction of Governor Letcher's residence at Lexington, Va., in his movement upon Lynchburg. The main body of the Confederate cavalry passed on by the Joppa road, and struck the Philadelphia Railroad at Magnolia Station, eighteen miles from Baltimore. Here they captured the morning express-train from Baltimore, turned the passengers out, and setting fire to the cars ran the train back upon the bridge over the Gunpowder River. The burning train set fire to the bridge, which was much damaged. In one of the cars Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin, who was going North from Baltimore, was recognized and taken prisoner; but he afterwards escaped. The Confederates captured a way train, which they also destroyed. In their movements in the neighborhood of Baltimore, they visited Towsontown, Reisterstown, Relay House, Mount Washington, Texas, Randallstown, Union Bridge, and other points, helping themselves to whatever they fancied, especially horses.
In a recent narrative of the Maryland campaign of 1864, Gen. Johnson gives the following account of his subsequent operations:
" While these events were taking place I was pressing in hot haste through Howard and Montgomery Counties. I readied Triadelphia about nine o'clock that night, and unsaddled and fed my horses and let the men get a little sleep. By twelve o'clock I received information that a large force of Federal cavalry had gone into camp since my arrival at Brookeville, only a few miles out. I at once got ready and started to attack them, but on reaching the point found that they, too, had information of their unwelcome neighbors and had left. Thence f moved to Beltsville, on the railroad between Baltimore and Washington. There I found about one thousand cavalry of Wilson's division. which had been dismounted in a recent raid in lower Virginia and sent North to recuperate. They were mounted on green horses, and we drove them, after a short affair, down the road towards Bladensburg. It was now the morning of Tuesday, the 12th. I was due that night at Point Lookout, the extreme southeast point of Maryland, in St. Mary's County. It was physically impossible for men to make the ride in the time designated. I determined, however, to come as near it as possible. I sent an officer with a detachment to ride at speed through the country, impressing fresh horses all the way, and inform the people along the route that I was coming. They were unanimously my friends, and I requested them to have their horses on the roadside, so I could exchange my broken-down animals for their fresh ones, and thus borrow them for the occasion. During the preceding day I had been taking horses by flankers on each side of my column, and kept a supply of fresh ones at the rear of each regiment. As soon as a man's horse broke down he fell out of the ranks, walked until the rear of his regiment came up, got a fresh horse, left his old one, and resumed his place. By this means I was enabled to march at a trot, which with a cavalry column is impossible for any length of time without breaking down horses, and broken-down horses speedily break down men. With fresh horses, however, I hoped to make a rapid march and get to Point Lookout early on the morning of the 13th.
"After returning from the pursuit of Wilson's cavalry, I turned the head of the column towards Upper Marlboro', and had proceeded only a short time when I was overtaken by a courier from Gen. Early. He brought me orders to report at once to headquarters at Silver Spring, on the Seventh Street road. I moved down the Washington road to the Agricultural College, and thence along the line of the Federal pickets, marching all night, occasionally driving in a picket, and expecting at any moment to be fired upon from the works, within range of which I was moving. I reported to Gen. Early after midnight and found the whole army in retreat. I was directed to close up the rear, with Jackson's cavalry brigade behind me. We reached Rockville during the day, where Jackson was pushed by the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, who hung on his rear and rendered things very uncomfortable generally. Finding matters getting disagreeable, I put in a squadron of the First Maryland, under Capt. Wilson G. Nicholas and Lieut. Thomas Grew, and charged into the town, scattering our pursuers, who got out of the way with expedition. Their dismounted men, however, stuck to the houses and fences and poured in a galling lire. The dust was so thick that the men in their charge could not see the houses in front of them. The horses of Nicholas and Grew were killed, and their riders wounded and taken prisoners. As soon as this loss was discovered, I put in another charge and recaptured Grew, but was unable to retake Nicholas, whom they had mounted on a spare horse and run off the field.
"During the rest of the 13th our pursuers treated us with more respect. All night long we marched and stopped, and stopped and marched, with that terrible tedious delay and iteration so wearing to men and horses, and it was not until Thursday, the 14th, we reached Poolesville. Here we were obliged to stand and keep back the pursuit while the infantry and artillery were passing over the Potomac. I got my artillery in position and deployed a strong skirmish-line in front of Poolesville, and cheeked the enemy for several hours. At last, in the afternoon, a wide line of skirmishers could be seen stretching far beyond each end of those we had been engaged with, and which moved steadily forward with a steady alignment very unusual for dismounted cavalry. I sent for Gen. Ransom to come up to my position, that the infantry had arrived, and that it was about time for the cavalry to leave. He soon joined me, and while we were looking at the advancing line through our glasses, which showed their cartridge-boxes and canteens plainly, puff! puff! puff! went their fire all along the line. There was no mistaking the sound. The swish of the minie-ball was so clear and so evident that it could not possibly come from carbines. We held on nevertheless, making a great show with the artillery and repeated attempts to charge them with cavalry, so that we delayed them until supports could deploy.
" By this time, however, the enemy had become far advanced, and having been notified that everything, including my own ordnance and baggage-train, had crossed, I withdrew comfortably and got into Virginia about sundown. We had been marching, working, and fighting from daylight, July 9th, until sundown, July 14th, four days and a half, or about one hundred and eight hours. We had unsaddled only twice during that time, with a halt of from four to five hours each time, making nearly one hundred hours of marching. We had isolated Baltimore from the North. and cut off Washington from the United States, having made a circuit from Frederick to Cockeysville to the east, to Beltsville on the south, and through Rockville and Poolesville towards the west. We had failed in the main object of the expedition, which was to relieve the prisoners at Point Lookout, convert them into a new army, capture Washington, establish our communications across the Potomac by Manassas Junction with Gordonsville and Richmond, and by making this a new base of operations force Grant to let go his hold and come to the rescue of Pennsylvania. I have always considered the movement one the audacity of which was its safety, and that no higher military skill was displayed on either side than that shown by Gen. Early in this daring attempt to surprise the capital of his enemy with so small a force."
Early had arranged all his plans for an assault upon the defenses of Washington at daylight on the 12th, but during the night received a dispatch from Gen. Johnson informing him that the Sixth and Nineteenth Federal Corps had reached Baltimore some time before and were moving to the defense of Washington. This caused Gen. Early to defer his contemplated assault, and as soon as it was light he rode to the front and found the fortifications lined with troops in every direction. He therefore abandoned his design, and, as has already been stated, immediately sent an order to Gen. Johnson to join him without delay, which he did early the next morning at the house of Francis P. Blair, Sr., Silver Springs, Montgomery Co.
During Gen. Early's absence from Virginia, Gen. Hunter had been plundering, burning, and laying waste, in his usual style of warfare, without check.