War Diary and Letters of Stephen Minot Weld.

June 26.—We got up and breakfasted at daylight. It was a most dismal morning, being drizzly and thoroughly uncomfortable. General Reynolds and staff rode down to the ferry, where General Hooker and General Slocum soon came up. We then rode back to Poolesville, and from there General R. went to Barnesville, about 6 miles, passing near Sugar Loaf. Barnesville is a small, old-fashioned town, with one or two neat little cottages in it, with pretty flower-gardens in front; quite a contrast to anything we had seen in Virginia. Some of the houses had overhanging eaves, others piazzas all round, and on the main street there was a well with windlass and wheel, quite different from anything I ever saw in New England. It seemed more like my idea of a European town than an American one. Like almost all Maryland towns the houses were all on one main street. From Barnesville we went on to Adamstown, a small way-station on the Baltimore & Ohio R. R. From here we went to Jefferson, lying on the other side, and at the foot of the Little Catoctin range. The scenery all along the route was very beautiful. We passed neat farmhouses with whitewashed palings, and through fields of wheat, rye, etc., almost ready to be gathered. From the top of Little Catoctin the view was splendid. The fertile valley lying between the Little Catoctin and South Mountain ranges presented an appearance truly delightful to our eyes, which had been disgusted and wearied by the monotonous and uncultivated soil of the Old Dominion. Here acres upon acres of clover, wheat, oats, etc., were spread out to our view, seeming like a perfect paradise. We found that Jefferson was a strong Union town, with many pretty houses, and some three or four churches. We pitched, or rather established, our headquarters in a house at the west end of the town, and here I slept in a bed, for the first time since I have been in the field. Our wagons did not get up with us. We travelled about 27 miles to-day, and most of the time in a drenching rain. I ate some cherries, the first I had tasted this season, in Jefferson. General Reynolds still has command of three corps.