Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 2.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[549] in the depots for want of time to distribute them. Cavalry horses were still wanting. Most of the new regiments which were to be brigaded with the old organizations had not arrived. But a regard for higher orders did not admit of any further delay in taking the field. The waters of the Potomac having risen, Mc-Clellan had nothing more to fear for the safety of Maryland, and he intended to follow the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge, so as to menace the communications of his adversary while covering the capital, and receiving the reinforcements which had been promised him in case he should adopt this plan. It was the one that Mr. Lincoln had recommended to him three weeks before, so that it was approved at the White House without any difficulty.

On the 25th of October a bridge of boats was thrown across the Potomac at Berlin. Higher up, at Harper's Ferry, there were two others, one over the Potomac, the other over the Shenandoah. The crossing of the river began the day following. The organization of the army was the same as at the battle of Antietam, but the bullets of the enemy had caused many changes in the personnel of the generals. Burnside was still in command of the First and Ninth corps; Reynolds had superseded Hooker, wounded, and Wilcox occupied the post in which Reno had met his death. The Second and Twelfth, under the orders of Sumner, had seen their two commanders, Richardson and Mansfield, fall on the borders of Antietam; they had been replaced by Couch and Slocum. The Fifth and Sixth corps, each reinforced by a new division, had remained under the orders of Franklin and Porter, and two divisions, commanded by Stoneman and Whipple, were not incorporated into any army corps. The movable portion of the garrison of Washington was composed of the two corps of Heintzelman and Siegel, with a division of cavalry commanded by Bayard.

McClellan left the Twelfth corps on the borders of the Potomac; Slocum, who commanded it, was ordered to occupy Harper's Ferry and its environs with the largest portion of that corps, about ten thousand men. Morrell, with detachments drawn from various points, forming three brigades of infantry and one of cavalry, was charged to guard the Upper Potomac from Cumberland to the mouth of the Antietam.