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was not voluntarily offered, burning bridges and destroying railroads.

General McClellan not feeling it prudent to cross the river in pursuit of the enemy, stationed his army along the north bank in position to cover and guard the fords, and commenced the work of reorganizing, re-equipping and drilling.

On the 1st of October His Excellency the President visited the army and remained several days, during which he went through the different encampments, reviewed the troops, visited the hospitals, and went over the battle-fields of South Mountain and Antietam.

On the 10th, General Stuart crossed the upper Potomac at McCoy's Ferry, with two thousand cavalry and a. battery of horse-artillery, on a raid into Maryland and Pennsylvania, and although immediate disposition of troops were made to intercept him, from the orders not being carried out, he was enabled to escape, recrossing the river at White's Ford below the Monocacy.

CHAPTER XX.

CROSSING THE POTOMAC. MARCH THROUGH VIRGINIA. WARRENTON. GENERAL MCCLELLAN SUPERCEDED. REMOVAL OF GENERAL FITZ JOHN PORTER. OUR VIRGINIA FRIENDS. BOMBARDMENT OF FREDERICKSBURG. LAYING PONTOONS.

ON the 6th General McClellan received orders to "cross the Potomac, and give battle to the enemy, or drive him south." The order stated, that if he crossed between the enemy and Washington, he could be reinforced to the extent of thirty thousand men; but if he moved up the valley of the Shenandoah, not, more than twelve or fifteen thousand could be sent to him. It was not, however, until the 26th, that the advance guard of

the army crossed the Potomac. On that day, two divisions of the Ninth corps, and Pleasanton's brigade of cavalry, crossed at Berlin. The First, Sixth and Ninth corps, the cavalry, and the reserve artillery, also crossed there between the 26th of October and the 2d of November. The Second and Fifth corps crossed at Harper's Ferry, between the 29th of October and the 1st of November.

The plan of campaign adopted by General McClellan was to move the army, well in hand, parallel to the Blue Ridge, taking Warrenton as the point of direction for the main army; seizing each pass on the Blue Ridge by detachments, as we approached it, and guarding them after we had passed, as long as they would enable the enemy to trouble our connections with the Potomac.

Upon the death of Adjutant Cross, Lieutenant John J. Ross, who was the only officer with the regiment, excepting Captain Byrnes, was appointed Acting Adjutant, until the return of Sergeant-Major E. M. Woodward, who had been promoted Adjutant. About the same time, Colonǝl McCandless, with a number of officers and men, who had recovered from their wounds, also returned.

Our regiment broke camp on the 26th, and marched, during a heavy rain-storm, to Berlin, which we reached on the 27th, the rain continuing all night. On the 29th, we crossed the river on the pontoons, and encamped near Lovettsville, Virginia, where we were inspected by General Seymour, and mustered for pay on the 31st.

On the first of November, we marched through Waterford, and encamped about a mile from Hamilton, where we laid the next day. While here, Lieutenant H. P. Kennedy, Sergeant James McCormick and Corporal A. McK. Storrie were detailed to proceed to Harrisburg to bring on drafted men, which they did not get.

The next day, at noon, the division marched, and before dark we passed through Philomont and bivouacked about a mile beyond, near Snicker's Gap, on a field where there had been an artillery skirmish in the morn

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ing, the ground being strewed with dead horses, shells, 'etc. The next morning early, we moved about a mile to Uniontown, and halted there until three P. M., when we marched on, passing Franklin's corps and Couch's division at their bivouacs, and laid for the night on a high table land. That night, a number of the officers and men of the One-hundred and-nineteenth, Colonel Ellmaker's, and the Twenty-third, Birney's old regiment, visited us, all being from Philadelphia.

The next morning, (the 5th,) we moved at seven o'clock, in a southeasterly direction, fording the Pantherskin, a deep, broad creek, and, passing through Middleburg, halted on its confines for dinner. In the town, we found quite a large number of wounded "Greybacks" from Bull Run, with whom the boys conversed freely. At four in the afternoon, we took up our march again, moving slowly and tediously, halting continually, sometimes every few hundred yards, as there was a long wagon-train ahead of us, and the roads were exceedingly bad. At last, long after dark, we passed through White Plains, on the Manassas Gap Railroad, and moving two miles beyond, were halted, and then countermarched nearly a mile and put into a heavy woods to bivouac. Hardly had the boys built their fires, before orders came for our regiment to go on picket. It was then about midnight, and all were weary, for we had been fourteen hours marching sixteen miles, but as orders are given to be obeyed, we consoled ourselves with the thought, that "there is no rest for the wicked," and moved off about a mile to the front, and spent the balance of the night watching for the foe, who did not appear.

The next morning we marched into camp, and immediately took our position in the line, and moved off towards Warrenton, the infantry keeping on the fields to leave the road clear for the artillery. When we arrived within three miles of the town, at the gap between Water and Pig-Nut Mountains, through which the road passed, our regiment being in advance, we were deployed as

skirmishers, General Reynolds supposing the enemy would make some show of resistance there. Companies A, B, and H, under the command of Captain McDonough, were deployed to the right of the road to feel the woods for the enemy; and companies D, E and G, under Major Neidé, to the left for the same purpose, the reserve, consisting of C and K, following close in the rear. The whole, under McCandless, advanced rapidly through the dense underbrush over the crest of the mountains, which being found clear of the enemy, they reunited beyond the Gap, our regiment then advancing upon the road, with the "Bucktails" on our right and the First on our left, until we came to the clear ground, when the flanking regiments filed into the road, and we entered the town of Warrenton at four P. M. Of course, our entrance was not received by the inhabitants with the joy that the entrance of their friends, the "Greybacks," would have been, the female portion of the community remaining in their houses, and those of the men who showed themselves, looking on in silence. Our eyes, however, were gladdened by the sight of sundry Confederates who were captured, and who, perhaps, remained behind for that purpose. Moving on about a mile, we encamped near the ground we occupied in August last, a few days preceding the second battle of Bull Run.

Warrenton, like all other towns we occupied, we found completely stripped of everything in the way of food, clothing, etc.: the chivalry having completely cleaned it out. The stores were all closed for want of goods, and business of all kinds was suspended. We found it impossible to obtain bread, or any other article of food, at any price, and although our occupation proved a great relief to the inhabitants, and those of the surrounding country, in obtaining supplies, we were not welcomed.

With the exception of a violent snow-storm, nothing of note occurred while we laid at this camp, until the morning of the 10th, when we were called out to bid farewell to General McClellan, the then love and idol of

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the Army of the Potomac, who had been relieved of his command, and superceded by General Burnside. His departure from the army was a scene never to be for gotten; the deafening shouts of the columns he had so often led to honor; the caps tossed high in the air; the tears, those true tests of affection, stealing their courses down the weather-beaten cheeks of the veterans of the Peninsula, truly told the deep hold he had upon the hearts of the men. The officers of some of the regiments sent in their resignations in a body, but their generals returned them, with a gentle admonition.

General Fitz John Porter soon after was relieved of bis command and was subsequently dishonourably dis missed the service, by sentence of a court-martial, for his conduct at Bull Run, and forever prohibited from occupying any position of honor or trust under the Government, but we are not aware of there being any particular amount of "weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth" at the event.

It is not clearly known to the author what plan of campaign General McClellan would have pursued if he had continued in command of the army, though it is certain he at one time contemplated an advance on Richmond, via Culpeper and Gordonsville. It is also known that he gave preparatory orders for the rebuilding of the wharves and the Aquia Creek Railroad, which clearly indicated an advance via Fredericksburg.

The plan of operations proposed by General Burnside was to throw a considerable body of troops across the river at Rappahannock Station, and make a feint as if to advance by way of Culpeper, and then by a rapid movement down the north bank of the Rappahannock to cross the river, seize and fortify the heights in the rear of Fredericksburg, and advance on Richmond, holding the railroad as his line of communication. This plan was approved by the authorities at Washington and carried out to a certain extent by General Burnside.

At eleven o'clock on the morning of the 11th, our