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the officers and men the opportunity for recuperation, and to prepare them for the operations in East Tennessee. The beneficial effect of the fresh breezes of the early autumn upon the exhausted soldiers was at once perceptible. The men soon recovered their health, tone and spirits. But little service was required of them, and, for a week or two, they enjoyed the ease and comfort of their situation with great content. When the order came to move into East Tennessee, they heard it with eagerness and obeyed it with alacrity. The old enthusiasm reawakened, and they trudged along the roads over the mountains in the cheerfullest mood. Their numbers had been greatly reduced. Only six thousand were fit for duty. But their spirit was unbroken, and they were as ready as ever before to meet the enemy. General Willcox had been engaged during the greater part of the summer in administering the affairs of the Districts of Indiana and Michigan, and, during the movement into Tennessee, had busied himself in organizing a division of reënforcements.* On the 1st of October, he put his command on the march. He reported for duty at Cumberland Gap on the 5th of that month, and was immediately assigned to the command of the forces in the upper valley, with his headquarters at Greenville. General Parke was made chief of staff of the army of the Ohio, and General Robert B. Potter was assigned to the command of the corps.

General Potter had won a high place in the estimation of his brother officers and of the country, by his bravery, faithfulness and skill. He had entered the service in 1861, as Major of the 51st New York Volunteers, and these pages have borne an honorable record of his services in every position which he filled. Promoted by successive steps, he was appointed Brigadier General soon after the battle of Fredericksburg, his commission dating March 13, 1863. From the command of a brigade, he soon passed to that of a division, outranking his

* General Willcox's new division consisted of the 115th, 116th, 117th and 118th Indiana Volunteers, and 12th Michigan, 21st Ohio and 234 Indiana batteries. He had also two companies of the 3d Indiana cavalry.

*

former Colonel, Ferrero, on account of the failure of the latter to obtain the confirmation of his first appointment as Brigadier General. Although the two officers had thus singularly enough changed their relative positions, they ever cherished the friendliest feelings towards each other, and General Ferrero obeyed as gracefully as he had formerly commanded. General Potter, in the absence of General Willcox, was the ranking division commander, and accordingly took command of the corps when General Parke was transferred to another post of duty. During the time of his command, he led the corps with great ability, and established his military reputation beyond a question. His subsequent course earned for him high commendations, and he bears the scars of honorable wounds received in the gallant and faithful discharge of his duty. He is a son of the late Right Reverend Alonzo Potter, Bishop of Pennsylvania, in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and a grandson of the late Reverend Doctor Eliphalet Nott, President of Union College. He was born in Boston, Mass., July 16, 1829, was educated at Union College, but left before graduation. At the outbreak of the war he was a lawyer in the city of New York, having been admitted to the bar, May, 1852.

After the battle of Chickamauga, some correspondence took place between Generals Burnside and Halleck, ending in directions to General Burnside to maintain his position. Headquarters were retained at Knoxville, in the neighborhood of which most of the Ninth Corps was posted. General White's division of the twenty-third corps was sent to Loudon. Colonel Wolford's cavalry reënforced Colonel Byrd, on the south side of the Holston, who was occupied in keeping open the communications with General Rosecrans. The important point of Bull's Gap was held by Colonel Carter's cavalry, with Colonel Hoskins's brigade of infantry in support at Morristown.

General Burnside, having this force well in hand and ready

*General Ferrero was reappointed, after the adjournment of Congress, upon the earnest recommendation of General Burnside and others, and was duly confirmed by the Senate, to date from May 6, 1863.