ON entering upon his new command, as the successor of General McClellan, General Burnside, on the 10th November, issued the following address to his soldiers: In accordance with General Order No. 182, issued by the President of the United States, I hereby assume command of the Army of the Potomac. Patriotism and the exercise of my every energy in the direction of the army, and by the full and hearty coöperation of its officers and men, will, I hope, under the blessing of God, insure its success. Having been a sharer of the privations and a witness of the bravery of the old Army of the Potomac in the Maryland campaign, and fully identified with them in their feeling of respect and esteem for General McClellan, entertained through a long and most friendly association with him, I feel that it is not as a stranger I assume command. To the Ninth Army Corps, so long and intimately associated with me, I need say nothing. Our histories are identical. With diffidence for myself, but with a proud confidence in the unswerving loyalty and determination of the gallant army now intrusted to my care, I accept its control with the steadfast assurance that the just cause must prevail."

As intimated in this address, it was with reluctance that General Burnside accepted a command which had been offered to him twice before and refused. Entertaining the most friendly feelings towards General McClellan, he held the opinion that that officer "could command the Army of the Potomac better than any

other general in it." Yielding to a sense of duty, however, he obeyed the orders of the Government, and immediately prepared to enter upon a new and decided course. Having previously urged upon General McClellan the advantages of taking the army to Richmond by the way of Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock, instead of following up the enemy on the recent line of operations to Gordonsville, he was confirmed in this plan by an interview with General Halleck, who visited the camp immediately after he had taken command. Accordingly, having at his headquarters, at Warrenton, organized the army in three grand divisions-the right composed of the 2d and 9th corps, to be commanded by Major-General Sumner; the left, the 1st and 6th corps, assigned to Major-General Franklin; the centre, the 3d and 5th corps, to Major-General Hooker, while the 11th corps, under Major-General Sigel, constituted the reserve he prepared to carry the new movement into effect. His immediate design was to employ the attention of the enemy in front of Warrenton, and make a rapid movement of the army to Fredericksburg. To cross the river at the latter place, he called at an early moment, after taking command of the army, for a sufficient pontoon train to be forwarded from Washington, and meet his advance on the Rappahannock. A depot of supplies he requested should be established at Acquia Creek, and other pro

* Testimony before the War Committee, Washington, December 19, 1862.