CHAPTER IV.

TENALLYTOWN-PIERPONT-DRANESVILLE.

Camp instructions—General intelligence of the men—Position of the Reserve Corps—Alarms—Picket firing—Desire to meet the enemy in battle—The enemy driven from Upton's Hill—Grand Review by President Lincoln and General McClellan—General McCall's order—Resignation of Captain McPherson—A negro informs General McCall of the approach of the enemy—Lieutenants Fisher and Wonderly detailed for duty in Signal Corps—Condition, strength and discipline of the Reserve Corps—The enemy reported to be advancing—Attack on pickets at Great Falls—Presentation of colors by Governor Curtin—Organization of brigades—Report on condition of the division—Colonel MagiltonAdvance into Virginia—Order of march—Langley—McCall's division the right of the army—Disasters in other divisions—The Reserves always successful—Reconnoissance to Dranesville—Ball's. Bluff—Colnel Taggart tried by Court Martial—Reconnoissance to Gunnell's farm -Cavalry reconnoissance to Dranesville—Battle of Dranesville—McCall's official report—Letter from Secretary Cameron—Governor Curtin goes to Camp Pierpont.

At Tenallytown, General McCall established his command in pleasant camps, and instructed the field officers to use all possible diligence in familiarizing their regiments with the battalion drill, and to teach the men the manual and the use of arms. The officers organized classes for mutual instruction in military tactics and army regulations. In these, all questions pertaining to military science were freely discussed, and points in doubt were referred to the officers who had graduated in the military academy at West Point, or to the commanding general. The zeal to acquire a knowledge of military duties and movements manifested by the officers, was equalled only by their efforts to instruct their men in the drills, the duties and the conduct of a soldier. Never, perhaps, was there so general a diffusion of intelligence, extending through all the com

panies of a division of an army, as was the case in the Reserve Corps. A large number of students from colleges, academies, normal and high schools, many teachers in the public schools and in the higher institutions of learning, professional students, physicians, lawyers and preachers, were found, not only as officers, but in the ranks, associated with young men of equal intelligence. There were sergeants who, but for their uniforms, might have been mistaken for generals, and privates fit to command brigades. To make soldiers of citizens like these was not a difficult task. To command companies, regiments, brigades and divisions composed of men of so much intelligence, required officers possessing much executive ability and a thorough knowledge of the rights, privileges and duties of both officers and privates.

General W. F. Smith's division of the Army of the Potomac occupied a position on the Potomac river at the chain bridge; General McCall was ordered to form on the right of Smith's division with the Reserves. Smith's regiments beyond the bridge, on the south side of the river, frequently came in contact with the enemy's pickets, and, in the exchange of shots, some of the men in his command were wounded. The reports of these encounters, repeated in the camps of the Reserve regiments, excited in the men a desire to cross the river and exchange the monotonous rounds of their picket duty for the more exciting lines of their associates on their left. On several occasions, the reports brought in induced the belief that the enemy was preparing to make an assault on Smith's lines, for the purpose of destroying the chain bridge and severing the right wing from the centre of the army. The Reserve Corps was called to arms, to await orders to march to the relief of Smith's division, if it should be attacked by a superior force. Twice they were marched out a short distance from camp, but were disappointed by being ordered to return to their quarters, without having seen the enemy. The day before the evacuation of Upton's Hill by the rebels, a plan

had been matured to capture it, in which the Reserves were to take an important part. On the night chosen for the attack, the troops were ordered under arms, and the whole command put in readiness to march to the assault; but, about the time they were to leave camp, it was discovered that the enemy had evacuated the position in precipitous haste, in order to escape the attack, of which he had been advised by the traitorous citizens, who, through the misplaced confidence of a Government too generous to be severe, had been allowed to remain at their homes, within the lines of the National army.

On the 20th of August, the regiments were temporarily organized into two brigades. The First regiment of infantry, commanded by Colonel Roberts; the Second regiment, Colonel Mann; the Third regiment, Colonel Sickel; the Fourth regiment, Colonel March; the Sixth regiment, Colonel Ricketts, and the Eighth regiment, Colonel Harvey; and battery A, commanded by Captain Easton; battery B, Captain Cooper; battery D, Captain Flood, and battery F, Captain Matthews, were constituted the First brigade. The four batteries of artillery were commanded by Major Dadforth.

The Fifth regiment of infantry, commanded by Colonel Simmons; the Seventh regiment, Colonel Hays; the Ninth regiment, Colonel Jackson; the Tenth regiment, Colonel McCalmont; the Eleventh regiment, Colonel Gallagher; the Twelfth regiment, Colonel Taggart, and the Thirteenth regiment, Colonel Biddle; and battery C, commanded by Captain Simpson; battery E, Captain Barr; battery G, Captain West, and battery II, Captain Brady, were organized into the Second brigade. The regiment of cavalry commanded by Colonel Bayard, remained unattached to either of the brigades.

On the 21st of August, the regiments of the corps, that had reached the camp at Tenallytown, were passed in review before the President of the United States and General McClellan, who had, a short time before that, been assigned

to the command of the Army of the Potomac. After the review, General McCall issued the following order:

"Soldiers of the Pennsylvania Reserves! This day must be recognized as a propitious inauguration of your future military history. You have this day passed under the scrutinizing inspection of the Commanding General of the Army of the Potomac, in whose ability to successfully prosecute this war, the confidence of the country is reposed. You have passed in review before the President of the United States and his cabinet; both the General and the President have expressed to me their most unqualified approbation of your soldier-like appearance in review, and of the discipline thus manifestly shown to exist in the corps.

"It now rests with you, officers of the Pennsylvania Reserves, to carry out to perfection the work so well begun. Upon you devolves the care of your men; let that be unremitting. Let every attention to their wants, temper the rigid discipline necessary to the formation of a soldier, and with one heart we will uphold the flag of our State, and place her name among the foremost in the cause of our common country."

On the 21st of August, Captain Edward McPherson resigned his commission as captain of company K, First regiment, to take effect on the last day of that month. The people of the Seventeenth Congressional District of Pennsylvania had chosen Captain McPherson to be their representative in Congress, and earnestly desired him to take his seat in the House, at the opening of the session in December. Believing that he could not, without a violation of law, be mustered into the service of the United States, and at the same time hold his seat in Congress, he resigned his commission in the company; subsequently, he was appointed a volunteer aid on the staff of General McCall. His company parted with him reluctantly, and at a meeting, the men passed resolutions expressive of regret at his departure, and of respect for his ability as an officer and character as a gentleman.

Lieutenant John F. Bailey assumed command of McPherson's company, and on the 2d of September was promoted to the captaincy.

On the 28th of August, General McCall addressed a note to General McClellan, in which he stated that he had posted a detachment of cavalry and a battery of artillery at Great Falls, and that a report, just received from the officer in command, informs him that, at five o'clock on the previous evening, the enemy fired on his pickets at Sand Ferry; also, that later, a negro appeared at the water edge on the opposite side of the river, bearing a white flag, and said "a large force of the enemy had just encamped half a mile from the river." The officer adds: "We have heard their drums and seen their fires." The report of the negro was in a short time verified by scouts sent out from the headquarters of the army.

The regiments in camp were ordered to be in readiness to march to the relief of the out-post at Great Falls, should the enemy attempt to cross the river. Finding, however, that the fords were guarded, the enemy's force retired without making any further demonstrations.

Lieutenant Benjamin F. Fisher, of company II, and Lieutenant David Wonderly, company K, of the Third regiment, having been thoroughly examined as to their qualifications, were, on the 29th of August, detailed on duty in the Signal Corps. These officers subsequently rose to great distinction in the signal service, and were attached to the headquarters of the army.

In a report of the condition, strength and discipline of the command, made on the 2d of September, 1861, to General McClellan, commanding the Army of the Potomac, General McCall says:

The First regiment, Colonel R. Biddle Roberts, reports an aggregate of nine hundred and twenty men; two of the companies are below the minimum standard of number; all are armed with the old altered flintlock musket, against which the feelings of prejudice and distrust are almost universal. The flank companies have been promised the Belgian rifle, within a short period.