and many new Lieutenants were chosen from the ranks, so much so that the rolls of the various companies were very materially changed, since the reorganization in April last.  Many of the wounded had returned, and large bodies of men had come in from the conscript camps since the reorganization.  The Seventh Regiment had lost heavier, in officers and men, than any of the regiments.  Colonel Aiken was wounded at Sharpsburg, and never returned only for a short time, but the regiment was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Bland until the resignation of Colonel Aiken, except when the former was himself disabled by wounds.

Camp guards were kept up around the brigade, and regimental pickets, some two or three miles distant, about every two weeks.  We had company and regimental drills about four times per week, and, in fact, we drilled almost every day, now that we were not on the actual march.  The turn-pike road from Winchester to Staunton, ninety miles, for weeks was perfectly lined with soldiers returning at the expiration of their furloughs, or discharged from hospital, and our convalescent sick and wounded from the Maryland campaign going homeward.

On the 27th or 28th of October orders came to move.  Longstreet took the lead, with McLaws’ and Anderson’s Divisions in front.  General Lee had divided his army into two corps; the Department of Richmond having created the rank of Lieutenant General, raised Longstreet and Jackson to that grade in Lee’s Army.  Longstreet’s Corps consisted of McLaws’ Division, composed of Kershaw’s, Barksdale’s, Cobb’s, and Semmes’ Brigades, and Anderson’s, Hood’s, Pickett’s, and Ransom’s Divisions.  Jackson’s Corps consisted of D.H.  Hill’s, A.P.  Hill’s, Ewell’s, and Taliaferro’s Divisions.  We marched by way of Chester Gap over the Blue Ridge, and came into camp near Culpepper on the 9th of November.  The enemy had crossed the Potomac and was moving southward, by easy stages, on the east side of the mountain.

On the 5th of October General McClellan was removed from the command of the Army of the Potomac and Major General Burnsides, a corps commander, was made Commander-in-Chief in his stead.  This change was universally regretted by both armies, for the Northern Army had great confidence in the little “Giant,” while no officer in the Union Army was ever held in higher esteem by the Southern soldiers than little “Mack,” as General McClellan was called.  They admired him for his unsurpassed courage, generalship, and his kind and gentlemanly deportment, quite in contrast to the majority of Union commanders.

General Burnsides, who had succeeded McClellan, now divided his army by corps in three grand divisions—­General Sumner, commanding the Right Grand Division, composed of the Second and Ninth Corps; General Hooker, the center, with the Third and Fifth Corps; and General Franklin, the left, with the First and Sixth Corps.  So both armies had undergone considerable changes, and were now moving along on converging lines towards a meeting point to test the mettle of the new commanders and organizations.