Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Harvard Memorial Biographies

There now came a few weeks of rest on the bank of the Potomac. Here Temple was earnest to promote the efficiency of his command. He had become a favorite officer with the men. Always a strict disciplinarian, he had at first been greatly disliked; but none discern the true soldier more quickly than the enlisted men. They had found that, if he was an exacting officer, he was just; that, if he required of them, he required for them; that he was always mindful of their wants; and that no company fared better than his. He had never been absent from them in the time of danger. In their long and toilsome marches he had walked on foot with them. They trusted in his courage, in his caution, and in his skill. They felt that not only would he never send them where he would not go himself, but that he would not unnecessarily expose their lives; and they felt that which gives soldiers the greatest confidence,—that, should they be in a bad place, nobody could get them out better than he. They knew that he was at 1ll times temperate, and ever prepared for any duty. They saw with pride the position he took among other officers; they saw that he was listened to with respect, that his associates were able men, and they felt that among them all none was more able than he. With the better class of men there sprang up an attachment for him which lasted till they lost him.

Six weeks were passed in this camp. The army then crossed the Potomac, and soon the Rappahannock was the barrier between the hostile forces. During the march Mc-Clellan had been relieved by Burnside, who, after lying in the vicinity of Fredericksburg three weeks, crossed and attempted to carry the heights. The Regular Division, though moved up to the river-bank two days before, did not cross until the afternoon of the 13th of December. Temple was ill. He writes in his journal that morning: ‘I feel so ill with intermittent fever that I can scarcely stand. I don't know whether I can march from here to the battle-field or not. My head aches and swims fearfully.’ However, he did cross with his regiment, which just before dark was posted