ntal 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.

We remained in camp around Culpepper until the morning of the 18th
of November, when the march was resumed, by McLaws taking the road
leading to Fredericksburg, he