President Lincoln recognized the ability of General Burnside by appointing him a brigadier-general of United States Volunteers, his commission dating Aug. 6, 1861. He immediately reported at Washington, where he was placed in command of a provisional brigade. The threeyears regiments, which began to assemble at the national capital, reporting on their arrival to him, were assigned places of encampment, carefully inspected; and supplied with all necessary articles of equipment. Great attention. was paid to drill and discipline, and when General McClellan arrived, he found that the organization of the Army of the Potomac had been commenced.

The administration of President Lincoln displayed a remarkable energy in raising money and men, and in organizing armies which were to act in different sections. of the country. Several expeditions were projected against Southern sea-ports, and one of them was entrusted to General Burnside. He was ordered to organize a "coast division," on the 23d of October, 1861, and to establish his headquarters at Annapolis. The men for this division. were to be recruited in New England, and many of them. would be acquainted with boat service. With this force, and some light-draught gun-boats, General Burnside expected to terminate the blockade of the Potomac. He wanted to shell out or storm one Confederate battery after another, until every rebel should have been driven from the river-bank, and the Nation relieved from the shame of seeing its capital besieged by a foe so inferior in numbers. The organization of this force, the charter of vessels, the equipment of men, and the purchase of provisions, ammunition, and supplies was superintended by Colonel Burnside in person, at New York.

General Burnside submitted his original plan of opera

tion to General McClellan, on the 6th of September. General Scott had then been virtually superseded, and on the Ist of November the old hero was formally relieved of his command, and General McClellan was appointed Generalin-Chief of the Army of the United States. He soon afterwards decided to increase the "coast division," and to send. it to North Carolina. This required more vessels and more men, but after the coast of North Carolina was occupied, a column was to penetrate to Raleigh and Goldsboro', where it was to be met by General Buell, at the head of the Union army from Tennessee. Meanwhile General Butler was to occupy New Orleans, and Gen. T. W. Sherman, Savannah. These movements would, it was hoped, divide the Confederate army, and so occupy the attention of its generals that the Army of the Potomac would be able to move "On to Richmond!" The programme was a good one, but its execution was unfortunately delayed until the storms of winter made navigation dangerous and land-travel difficult.

General Burnside's troops rendezvoused at Annapolis, Maryland, where they were consolidated into three brigades. The first brigade, commanded by Brig.-Gen. John G. Foster, was composed of the Twenty-third, Twentyfourth, Twenty-fifth, and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, and Tenth Connecticut regiments of infantry; the second brigade, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Jesse L. Reno, was composed of the Sixth New Hampshire, Twenty-first Massachusetts, Fifty-first New York, Ninth New Jersey, and Fifty-first Pennsylvania regiments of infantry; — and the third brigade, commanded by Brig.-Gen. John G. Parke, was composed of the Fourth Rhode Island, Eighth and Eleventh Connecticut, Fifty-third and Eighty-ninth New York regiments of infantry; a battalion of the Fifth

Rhode Island infantry, and Battery F, First Rhode Island light artillery. The regiments were full and the command numbered upwards of twelve thousand men.

Forty-six transports were employed, eleven of which were steamers. There were also nine armed propellers, to act as gun-boats, and five barges armed as floating batteries, carrying altogether forty-seven guns, mostly of small calibre. These formed the army division of the fleet, and were commanded by Commander Samuel F. Hazard. A navy, composed of twenty vessels of different sizes, but most of light draught, for the navigation of the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, carried altogether fifty-five heavy guns, and were commanded by Commodore L. M. Goldsborough.

The orders for embarkation were promulgated on Saturday, the 4th of January, 1862, and their reading in each camp was the signal for outbursts of cheering. The next morning the troops commenced embarking, and on the 9th the fleet of transports steamed down Chesapeake Bay and anchored off Fortress Monroe. On the morning of the 11th, General Burnside arrived, on the gun-boat "Picket," a screw steamer, the smallest of the fleet, on which he had established his headquarters. The secret of the destination of the fleet had been well kept, and when it sailed on the morning of the 12th, no one knew it except the general and Commodore Goldsborough. The officer commanding the troops on each ship had sealed orders given him, which were to be opened after getting six miles at

sea.

When the fleet left Hampton Roads the weather was fine, but the next day a terrific storm burst upon the armada, as if determined to sweep all on board into the ocean. The steamers staggered on, breasting the giant blows of

each successive sea, their hulls and spars trembling, their decks swept fore and aft, and all on board reeling from side to side like drunken men. One figure stood immovable, grasping the shrouds, scanning the horizon for traces of ships as his steamer rose on each glittering mass of foam. It was the square, manly form of General Burnside, whose anxiety for the fate of his army was intense. With nothing to distinguish him but his yellow belt and blue blouse, slouch hat, and high boots, he stood like a sea-king, hailing every vessel and asking affectionately after the welfare of those on board. It became necessary to find the tortuous channel of Hatteras Inlet when the storm was at its height. A few light draught steamers succeeded in passing safely. Making the inlet, they crossed the bar, came to anchor in the comparatively smooth water of Pamlico Sound, and some of the troops were landed. But many of the steamers, which had been represented as light-draught, could not cross the bar, and were tossed about outside for nearly two weeks. Occasionally a steamer would work her way in, and some of them were much injured.

General Burnside acted the part of admiral as well as general, and managed his great fleet as best he could, performing the duties of navigator, pilot, and harbor-master. Whenever a steamer was in distress, the general was always the first man off to her assistance, and there was not a grade in the army which he did not fill during this trying occasion, so anxious was he for the well-being and comfort of his troops. Generals Foster, Reno, and Parke gave him their ablest assistance, and the conduct of the officers and men was highly commendable. At length, on the 25th of January, the storm finally broke, and the vessels were all inside of the bar. A depot of supplies