WASHINGTON UNDER BANKS

ambulances, urged on by uncontrollable teamsters,--- which presently poured into Washington, overflowed it, took possession of its streets and public places, and held high orgie. Disorder reigned unchecked and confusion was everywhere. The clerks in the departments, many of whom had been hurried toward the front to do service as nurses, were now hastily formed into companies and battalions for defense; the Government ordered the arms and ammunition at the arsenal and the money in the Treasury to be slipped to New York, and the banks followed the example; a gun-boat, with steam up, lay in the river off the White House, as if to announce to the army and the inhabitants the impending flight of the Administration. It was at this juncture that the Pres- ident, on his own responsibility, once more charged General McClellan with the defense of the capital.

The next day, the 3d of September, the President further confided to General Halleck ^ the duty of preparing an army to take the field; but since Lee did not wait for this, McClellan could not; even before the President's order reached General Halleck the Confederate army had disappeared from the front of Washington and General McClellan was putting his troops in march to meet it.

On the afternoon of the 7th, 87,000 men were in motion, and General McClellan set out for Rockville to put himself at their head. Almost at the last moment I was directed to remain in charge of the adjutant-general's department at his headquarters in Washington, to issue orders in his name and "to prevent the tail of the army from being cut off," and Lieutenant-Colonel Sawtelle was left in charge of the Quartermaster's Department, also with plenary authority, to see that the transportation and supplies went forward. On the same day, General Banks, who was reported confined to his bed, and unable to join his corps, was assigned to the immediate command of the defenses of Washington during McClellan's absence. The next day, General Banks assumed this command, having first General McClellan's consent to my assignment as Assistant Adjutant- General, at the Headquarters of the Defenses, in addition to my other duties. * I thought then that this was a difficult position for a young captain of twenty-two; I think now that it would have been difficult for a field-marshal of sixty-two; certainly the arrangement could not have lasted an hour, but for the determination of all concerned to make it work, and to be deaf, blind, and dumb to everything not distinctly in front of us.

Everything was at once put in motion to carry out General McClellan's orders, of which the first point was to restore order.

The forces included the Third, Fifth, and Eleventh Army Corps, commanded respectively by Heintzelman, Fitz John Porter, and Sigel, covering the fortified line on the Virginia side and numbering about 47,000 for duty; the garrisons of the works, 15,000; Casey's provisional brigades of newly arriving regiments and the town guards, 11,000'---in all, 73,000,^^^ with 120 field-pieces and about 500 heavy guns in position; in brief, nearly one half of McClellan's entire army; a force a fourth or a third larger than Lee's; indeed, to all appearance, the identical command designed for General McClellan himself, before the defense of the capital had made it necessary for him to resume operations in the field by the pursuit of Lee.

The improvised staff-officers were at once sent out to establish the picket lines, so broken and disconnected that virtually there were none. The troops were rapidly inspected, and their numbers, positions, and wants ascertained. With the three corps and the organized divisions this was simple enough, since their commanders had them in hand. For a few days the discoveries of scattered de- tachments were numerous and surprising; some only turned up after a check had been put on the commissary issues, and about ten days later, in the

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^ General McClellan seems never to have known of this order. ---B. B. I.

*At this time General Banks was without a staff-officer. Colonel John S. Clark, A. D. C., Lieutenant-Colonel D. H. Strother, A. D. C. (the genial "Porte Crayon"), and others of his staff joined him presently. General Halleck also sent down many officers, as they happened to report to him for orders, and thus a curious yet very useful staff was soon collected, including several officers who afterward won deserved distinction : among them I recall Captains (afterward Major-General) Wesley Merritt and A. J. Alexander (afterward Brigadier-General) of the Cavalry; Captain (afterward Brevet Major-General) George W. Mindil, who had been Kearny's adjutant-general, one of the most gallant and accomplished officers of our (or any) branch of the volunteer service: Lieutenant (now Colonel) G. Norman Lieber, at present Acting Judge Advocate- General, and Drake DeKay, from Pope's staff.--- R. B. I.

^^^ Rapidly augmented by new levies, these forces must have exceeded 80,000 before the dispatch of Porter's corps to Antietam, September 12th. The return for October 10th shows 79,535; for November 10th, 80,989. The lowest point was about 60,000 after Whipple's division left. October 17th. The actual effective strength would, as always, be a fifth or a sixth less.
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