In June 1863, Federal troops marched through Jefferson as the Army of the Potomac pursued Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia to the west. Fearing that Lee would push through the gaps in South Mountain west of Jefferson, Gen. Joseph Hooker sent Union I, III, and XI Corps to the Catoctin Valley to watch them, and many of the men passed through Jefferson June 24-28 on their way to Burkittsville at the foot of Crampton’s Gap and Middletown below Turner’s Gap and near Fox’s Gap. For many Federals, tiny Jefferson was one of the first towns they encountered after crossing the Potomac River. Numerous regiments unfurled their flags and marched through to the beat of drums, while residents welcomed them and some fed the dusty men free of charge. Maj. Charles Mattocks later recalled the fine little village of Jefferson as the first place in nine months where his entrance was greeted with the red, white, and blue and where his eyes were feasted upon pretty girls and well-dressed citizens, and a Union private grumbled that his regiment had marched far enough beyond Jefferson that the men would not go back to bask in the sunlight of the smiling females. Part of the army later passed through the town again while pursuing Lee’s army after the Battle of Gettysburg.