The Pennsylvania Reserves in Northern Virginia 1863, Part III: Military Duties in and Around Washington

Following a brief interlude, I return this week to the story of the Pennsylvania Reserves in Northern Virginia during the first half of 1863. The hard-fighting division had suffered heavy losses in the bloodletting of the previous year. Generals and politicians lobbied tirelessly to have the Reserves sent back to the Keystone State to recuperate and fill their ranks with new recruits. (See Part I.) In the end, the Union Army settled on an alternative course of action designed to accomplish the same goals. (See Part II.)

At the start of February 1863, the division's three brigades boarded transports at Belle Plain, Virginia and headed up the Potomac.* The Reserves were slated to join the newly-formed 22nd Corps of the Department of Washington, composed of soldiers who were assigned to the defense of the nation's capital. On February 7, the Pennsylvanians disembarked at the port of Alexandria and marched towards their old campgrounds around Fairfax Seminary.

Orders finally came on February 10. (OR, 1:51:1, 985.) Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman, commander of the Department of Washington, directed the First Brigade to proceed to Fairfax Courthouse. The Second Brigade was ordered to Upton's Hill, while the Third Brigade was to occupy Minor's Hill.** The Reserves performed a variety of tasks, from the mundane to the downright dangerous.

Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman, commander of the Department of Washington and 22nd Corps (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).

The experience of the 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves was typical of the regiments assigned to the area around Fairfax. The 2nd took the Orange & Alexandria Railroad from Alexandria to Fairfax Station on February 12 and established camp near Fairfax Court House. On February 21 the men received orders to guard the fords across Bull Run. The 2nd's picket line stretched for seven miles. As one regimental historian described duty there:

Our posts at the fords were almost nightly visited by the guerrillas, who exchanged a few shots with the pickets and disappeared. When a shot was fired, not knowing the strength or object of the enemy, the reserve at the post was turned out, and as this occurred several times through the night, the men's sleep was constantly liable to be disturbed. This tour of duty lasted sixteen days, and we were all glad when it was over. (Woodward, Our Campaigns, 254.)

During the night of March 8, the 2nd Reserves proceeded to Union Mills and the next day returned to camp at Fairfax. By March 16, the regiment was on the move again. This time they were assigned to dig rifle pits outside town along the road to Centreville. Finally, on March 28, the 2nd marched four miles to Fairfax Station, where the men established a more permanent camp. As May got underway, the partisan rangers became more active, and the 2nd had to contend with intensified attacks on the picket lines and the railroad around Fairfax.

The Bucktails, also from the First Brigade, proceeded to Fairfax on February 12. Here they engaged in picket and scouting duty, dug rifle trenches, cut trees, and buried dead horses. On the night of March 8, Confederate ranger John Mosby captured Gen. Edwin Stoughton in a raid on Fairfax. Accordingly, "to guard against a repetition of such a humiliating experience, the Bucktails were ordered to move their camp closer to the village." (Thomson & Rauch 47.) A regimental history claims that due to this precautionary measure, "Mosby's Rangers did not again penetrate the Union line in that vicinity" while the Bucktails were in Fairfax. (Thomson & Rauch 247.)

The 4th and 7th Pennsylvania Reserves performed guard duty at Camp Convalescent, a few miles from Alexandria along Four Mile Run.*** This massive facility was home to thousands of soldiers recovering from wounds and illnesses. Camp Convalescent consisted of fifty barracks as well as officers' quarters, dining rooms, cook houses, and hospitals.

Period engraving of Camp Convalescent, outside of Alexandria (courtesy of NYPL Digital Gallery). The camp was new when the Pennsylvania Reserves arrived for guard duty in early 1863. The conditions at the previous camp had become so bad that it earned the nickname, "Camp Misery."

Regiments from the Third Brigade were also detailed to areas outside Minor's Hill. The 11th Pennsylvania Reserves encamped in Vienna near the Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad. Private Lindley H. Addleman described the daily routine in a letter to his sister:

. . .we halve been doing fatigue duty pretty near every day since we came but it is easy [work] Some days we load carrs with cordwood and Some days we on load hay oats and corn and rashions for the cavalry well that is what we halve to do beside camp guarding. (Spelling and grammar as in original.)

The 12th Pennsylvania Reserves were assigned to a spot near the railroad bridge over Bull Run in February and early March. Sergeant Thomas Dick of Company H seemed far from bothered by his routine. As he told his brother in a February 22 letter, "[o]ur duty is not very arduous here." Dick came on duty "about once a week . . .to guard the railroad." The sergeant seemed almost nonchalant about the risks involved:

Have nothing to annoy us but the guerrillas They pop one over occasionally. Major Larimer of the 5th was killed a short time ago while leading a skirmishing party. (Grammar as in original.)

New orders arrived on April 19. Heintzelman directed the Second Brigade, "except the detachment now on duty at the Convalescent Camp," to "report without delay to Brigadier General John P. Slough, military governor of Alexandria." (OR, 1:51:1, 1008.) The commander kept the 11th Pennsylvania Reserves in Vienna, but ordered the remainder of the Third Brigade to report immediately to Gen. J.H. Martindale, the military governor of Washington. The First Brigade remained in Fairfax Court House and environs.

The 3rd Pennsylvania Reserves, along with other regiments in the Second Brigade, contributed to the defense of Alexandria. Following the Union defeat at Chancellorsville in May, earthworks were erected around the city. The 3rd encamped about a mile from the fortifications. An alarm was raised "a number of times, but no enemy appeared." (Woodward, The Third Reserve, 226.) Moreover, "upon several occasions," the regiment acted "as a guard to the railroad trains carrying forage to [Joseph] Hooker's army, they going as far as Warrenton Junction." (Woodward, The Third Reserve, 226.)

The regiments of the Third Brigade performed provost duty in Washington. The men maintained order and guarded Confederate prisoners and U.S. Government property. Private Benjamin Addleman of the 10th Pennsylvania Reserves and Lindley's brother, was quartered in barracks on East Capitol Hill. In a May 12 letter to his sister, Benjamin reported that "there has been a great many prisoners fetched to Washington from the army of the Potimack." Just the other day, he "helpt to fetch 795 rebls from the wharf. . . ." (Spelling and grammar as in original.) Thomas Dick of the 12th guarded Old Capitol  Prison at the end of May. As he told his sister, "we are off duty two days and on one: It is very nice duty."

Old Capitol Prison, Washington, DC (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons). The building served as the temporary meeting place for Congress (1815-19) after the British burned the Capitol during the War of 1812. Old Capitol Prison held Confederate sympathizers, spies, and prisoners of war. The Supreme Court now sits on this location east of the U.S. Capitol.  

By the start of June 1863, the three brigades of the Pennsylvania Reserves were scattered across Northern Virginia and Washington. Since arriving in February, the Pennsylvanians had fended off attacks by partisan rangers, built entrenchments, and performed other necessary but mundane tasks. As one history of the Reserves summed up military life during that time, "picket duty here [was] more arduous than it was with the Army of the Potomac, and altogether the duties were no lighter nor the quarters any better than they were in the active army." (Hardin 137; see also Sypher 434; Thomson & Rauch 245; Woodward, The Third Reserve, 226.) Men like Thomas Dick and Lindley Addleman, however, may have begged to differ. Whatever the case, much harder days were only a month away for many of the soldiers.

Notes

*The Pennsylvania Reserves were under the overall command of Col. Horatio G. Sickel. The First Brigade, led by Col. William McCandless, was composed of the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 13th (Bucktails) Pennsylvania Reserves. The Second Brigade, under Col. Henry C. Bolinger, was composed of the 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 8th Pennsylvania Reserves. The Third Brigade, under Col. Joseph W. Fisher, was composed of the 5th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Pennsylvania Reserves.

**Upton's Hill sits on the Arlington County-Fairfax County boundary. Minor's Hill is a bit farther to the northwest and also straddles the border between the two counties. Both eminences are to the east of Falls Church and northwest of Alexandria. For a period map, see here.

***Camp Convalescent sat on land belonging to the present-day Army-Navy Country Club in Arlington County.

Sources

"Brief History of the 7th Pennsylvania Reserves (36th Infantry)," from Samuel Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865 (1869-71) (courtesy of Pa. Res. Hist. Soc.); "Brief History of Company B, 7th Reserves, 'The Biddle Rifles,'" Perry County in the Civil War (courtesy of Pa. Res. Hist. Soc.); James G. Barber, Alexandria in the Civil War (1988); Civil War in the East (on-line database); Joseph Gibbs, Three Years in the Bloody Eleventh: The Campaigns of a Pennsylvania Reserves Regiment (2002); Martin D. Hardin, History of the Twelfth Regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps (1890); Ltr. from Benjamin P. Addleman to Sister, May 12, 1863 (courtesy of Pa. Res. Hist. Soc.); Ltr. from Lindley H. Addleman to Sister, Apr. 30, 1863 (courtesy of Pa. Reserves Hist. Soc.); Ltr. from Thomas W. Dick to Brother, Feb. 22, 1863 (courtesy of Pa. Reserves Hist. Soc.); Ltr. from Thomas W. Dick to Sister, May 31, 1863 (courtesy of Pa. Res. Hist. Soc.); Ltr. from Americus Murray to Cousins, Apr. 19, 1863 (courtesy of Pa. Reserves Hist. Soc.); "Other Government Buildings: Old Capitol Prison," Mr. Lincoln's White House (website); J.R. Sypher, History of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps (1865); O.R. Howard Thomson & William H. Rauch, History of the "Bucktails" (1906); Evan M. Woodward, History of the Third Pennsylvania Reserve (1883); Evan M. Woodward, Our Campaigns (1865).

The Pennsylvania Reserves Remember Dranesville -- at Gettysburg!

As many readers may know, I spent last weekend in Gettysburg. I hadn't been to the battlefield in many years, and the visit left me with a lot of impressions and emotions. (More on that in a future post!) As part of my tour, I focused on sites associated with the Pennsylvania Reserves. Two brigades from the division participated in the fighting at Gettysburg. I am fascinated by the Reserves and have written many posts about their time in Northern Virginia. Imagine my surprise when I discovered "Dranesville" inscribed on the 10th Pennsylvania Reserves Monument along with the names of other battles in which the regiment participated. The same goes for the Bucktails (13th Pennsylvania Reserves) Monument. Although I didn't get to all of the monuments for the Pennsylvania Reserves this time around, I searched the Historical Marker Database and noticed that the other regiments who fought at Dranesville (the 6th, 9th, and 12th Pennsylvania Reserves) also listed this small-scale engagement on their monuments. I've written quite a bit about the battle, including an article for the Civil War Trust. Even after experiencing all the carnage at Gettysburg (not to mention other places like Antietam), the former members of these five regiments made sure to commemorate their clash in and around a small Virginia hamlet during the first year of the war. Dranesville rarely appears in most modern accounts of the Civil War, but the hardened veterans of the Pennsylvania Reserves could never forget the sacrifices they made in one of their early and limited battles against the Confederate infantry.

Here are a few pictures that I snapped of the monuments:

Soldier atop the 10th Pennsylvania Reserves Monument at Big Round Top. The 10th Pennsylvania Reserves belonged to the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division (Pennsylvania Reserves), Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac. The Maltese Cross on the monument represents the Fifth Corps.

A list of engagements of the 10th Pennsylvania Reserves, starting with Dranesville.

I couldn't help but take this close-up of Dranesville on the 10th Pennsylvania Reserves Monument.

The 13th Pennsylvania Reserves Monument near the Wheatfield. The 13th Pennsylvania Reserves were better known as the "Bucktails." The regiment belonged to the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division (Pennsylvania Reserves), Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac. The soldier atop the monument is appropriately wearing a bucktail attached to his cap!

List of engagements in which the Bucktails participated, starting with Dranesville.

Partners in Preservation: Get Out the Vote!

Subscribers to my Twitter and Facebook feeds have likely seen reference to the "Partners in Preservation" competition. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express have teamed up to award preservation grants to deserving sites in the DC area. According to the Partners in Preservation website:

Since 2006, American Express has made grants worth $9 million through Partners in Preservation, helping historic places in seven cities to date, including San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, Boston, Seattle, Saint Paul/Minneapolis and New York, and has engaged more than a million people. The program will award an additional $1 million in grants to historic places in Washington, D.C. in May 2013.

The public is now being asked to vote for the site that is deemed most worthy of preservation dollars. All you have to do is go to the program's website and register. You don't need to be a resident of the DC area either; only a passion for history and preservation is required! By registering, you can "earn points for the participating historic places by voting online and via mobile, sharing with friends on Twitter, checking in on Foursquare and posting photos on Instagram." The voting closes on May 10, 2013. At the end of the competition, the site with the most points will secure its full grant request up to $100,000. Moreover, "a Partners in Preservation advisory committee comprised of Washington-area civic and preservation leaders will recommend how the remainder of the preservation grants will be awarded to the other participating sites." The winner and additional grantees will be announced on May 13.

There are twenty-four historic sites in DC, Maryland, and Virginia that were selected for the competition. (See here for the complete list.) They cover nearly all eras of U.S. history. The Civil War-related sites of interest include Robert E. Lee's Arlington House, Clara Barton's Missing Soldiers Office, and the Antheneum in Alexandria. I am supporting Colvin Run Mill in Great Falls, Virginia, which was built in 1811 near the Leesburg-Alexandria Turnpike (today's VA-7). I've previously written about the history of the mill during Civil War. (See here.) Many soldiers of both armies passed by this structure as they traveled along the strategic turnpike and the surrounding roads. Today the mill is preserved and maintained by the Fairfax County Park Authority. I really like this site, which is a picturesque reminder of Virginia's 19th-century past. So what would Colvin Run Mill do with the money? According to the mill's website:

For the past four decades, only the basement and first floor of the Fairfax County mill have been open to the public. Colvin Run Mill would use the prize money to fully restore the second and third levels, complete with functioning equipment to dry and sift flour and meal the old-fashioned way.

Colvin Run Mill (courtesy of Pepper Watkins and Partners in Preservation)

The Partners in Preservation program is a unique way of getting the public involved in a very noble cause. I am glad to serve as a "Blogger Ambassador" for Partners in Preservation. I'd urge you to go on-line and register to participate. And of course, be sure to support Colvin Run Mill too!

Sarasota's Hidden Connections to the Civil War

My family and I recently took a min-vacation in Sarasota, Florida. The sunshine and clear blue waters were a welcome break from the bleak and cold weather back in Washington. Sarasota is known for gorgeous Gulf Coast beaches, luxury hotels, and charming St. Armands Circle. This is probably the one of last places that would come to mind when thinking about Civil War history. However, given the city’s location along the Florida coast (think Union blockade), I knew there had to be something that would appeal to my curiosity. In the end, I found plenty of interesting connections to the war.  Most of the Civil War-related historic sites are long gone, although one marker in particular tells the captivating story of a Confederate Cabinet member's escape from the United States.

A view of the Gulf of Mexico from the beach on Lido Key, Sarasota

Sarasota and the surrounding region were settled in the decades prior to the Civil War. William Whitaker, a Georgia native and veteran of the Second Seminole War, is considered Sarasota's first permanent white settler. He profited from a Federal homesteading law known as the Armed Occupation Act, which promised up to 160 acres of land in Florida to any head of household who cultivated at least five acres and lived there for five years. Arriving in 1842, Whitaker built a cabin at Yellow Bluffs along Sarasota Bay. He started as a fisherman and later turned to cattle ranching and citrus farming.  Seminole Indians burned Whitaker's home in the late 1850s, but he remained and re-built near present-day 12th Street and Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41). Two historical markers commemorate Whitaker's role in the establishment of Sarasota.  (See here and here.)


William Whitaker, shortly after the Civil War (courtesy of Wikipedia)

On the eve of the Civil War, slaves comprised around 44 percent of Florida's population of just over 140,000. In Manatee County, where Sarasota was then located, 30 percent of the inhabitants, or 253 out of 854 persons, were listed as slaves in the 1860 Census. Whitaker himself owned a handful of slaves, including a runaway from North Carolina whom he had found and purchased in 1857.

Florida was an early and strong supporter of secession. Only a few weeks after Abraham Lincoln's election, the state's governor signed legislation calling for a convention to consider the question of secession. On January 10, 1861, the delegates adopted an Ordinance of Secession by a vote of 62 to 7. Florida was the third state to leave the Union after South Carolina and Mississippi.

Following the outbreak of war in April 1861, the Union imposed a naval blockade on the Confederacy. Federal vessels patrolled Florida's extensive coastline in an effort to stop trade. As the noose tightened, the Sarasota region experienced a shortage of goods, but resourceful locals found ways to deal with the resulting hardship. Whitaker, for instance, traveled all the way to Gainesville to buy grain for use in area gristmills.  

Union raiding parties sometimes landed along the coast in search of supplies. They took garden vegetables, citrus fruits, cows, and chickens from the settlers. Whitaker, who sold cattle to the Confederate Army, maintained his herd in the eastern part of Manatee County and away from Union hands. Incidentally, Florida contributed a substantial number of cattle to the Confederacy, and authorities established the so-called "Cow Cavalry" in south Florida to prevent Union raiders from seizing livestock.

This engraving from the November 15, 1862 edition of Harper's Weekly depicts a Union movement against a large salt factory on the north Gulf Coast of Florida (courtesy of soneofthesouth.net). 

Florida also became a key supplier of salt to the Confederate war effort. Salt was made by evaporating sea water, mainly through boiling. Union expeditions aimed to disable the salt works along the Gulf Coast. Whitaker was involved with salt production, but unlike others, his own works escaped harm. 

Judah P. Benjamin (courtesy of Wikipedia).  Benjamin was one of the most prominent American Jews of the 19th century.  

Sarasota's most fascinating connection to the Civil War actually came after hostilities had ended. Judah P. Benjamin, a former U.S. Senator from Louisiana, served as the Confederate Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State. When Richmond fell in April 1865, he fled to the Deep South with President Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Cabinet. Benjamin left Davis in Georgia and headed to Florida, where he intended to slip out of the country. Fearing arrest for treason, Benjamin disguised himself as a farmer looking to purchase land in Florida. Confederate sympathizers assisted Benjamin as he made his way through the state. One stay included the Gamble Mansion in Ellenton. Finally, Benjamin arranged for Capt. Frederick Tresca to take him to the Bahamas aboard a sixteen-foot sloop. Tresca hid the small boat in Whitaker Bayou in Sarasota. Meanwhile, the former Confederate Secretary of State was smuggled to Whitaker's home in a wagon filled with fresh beef. On June 23, 1865, Benjamin finally set sail with Tresca and reached Bimini on July 10. Benjamin eventually traveled to England, where he rose to prominence as a barrister.

The antebellum Gamble Mansion in Ellenton, Florida, not far from Sarasota (courtesy of Gamble Plantation Historic State Park). Built between 1845 and 1850, the mansion is considered the only surviving plantation house in South Florida.  Maj. Robert Gamble cultivated sugar here until the late 1850s.  The mansion is now part of a state park.  I didn't have an opportunity to visit during my trip to Florida, but hope to get there the next time around.  For information about touring the Gamble Mansion, see here.

In the early 1940s, the United Daughters of the Confederacy led an effort to erect a marker in Sarasota to commemorate Benjamin's escape. On January 22, 1942, the new marker was unveiled with great pomp and circumstance, including a parade, patriotic music, a luncheon at the John Ringling Hotel, and a program at the Municipal Auditorium. Florida Governor Spessard L. Holland, Congressman J. Hardin Peterson, and Sarasota Mayor E.A. Smith delivered remarks.

The original Judah P. Benjamin marker is located at a pull-off on the corner of 10th Street and U.S. 41, not far from the Sarasota County Visitor Information Center. Dedicated in 1942, the marker is made of pink Georgia marble.   

A second marker dedicated to Judah P. Benjamin and his escape at Sarasota Bay. It is located next to the original marker (above). For more information, see here.

The reverse side of the above historical marker. 

A view of Yellow Bluffs along Sarasota Bay.  Benjamin set out from these waters on June 23, 1865.

My trip to Sarasota proved once again that the Civil War is never far from the surface in this country. If you look hard enough, you can usually find a connection, even in paradise. I haven't much considered Florida's role in the Civil War, so I welcomed the opportunity to learn more. Now if I can only convince my family to take a trip to Olustee!

Sources

Pierce Butler, Judah P. Benjamin (1907); David J. Coles & Richard J. Ferry, "The Smallest Tadpole," Florida in the Civil War (from Florida Memory); Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida, "Florida's Role in the Civil War: 'Supplier of the Confederacy,'" Exploring Florida; Florida Department of State, Florida in the Civil War: 1861-1865;  History of Sarasota Country (website); Jeff Lahurd, "Civil War leader escaped through Sarasota," Sarasota Herald-Tribune, June 26, 2011; Ann Shank, "Florida Joined Union in 1845 as a Slave State," Journals of Yesteryear (Sarasota History Alive!); Ann Shank, "Sarasota Bay During the Civil War," Journals of Yesteryear (Sarasota History Alive!); Mark D. Smith, "Creation of the Judah P. Benjamin Memorial," Journals of Yesteryear (Sarasota History Alive!); U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Population and Housing, 1860; "William Whitaker (pioneer)," Wikipedia.

The Pennsylvania Reserves in Northern Virginia 1863, Part II: Farewell to Hooker's Army

As I wrote in my last post, the Pennsylvania Reserves faced a somewhat uncertain future at the start of 1863.  The division had experienced tremendous losses during the bloody battles of 1862.  Gen. George G. Meade, a former commander of the Reserves, took up his old division's cause and pushed to have the Reserves sent back to Pennsylvania to recruit and reorganize.  Pennsylvania's Governor, Andrew Curtin, likewise urged the Lincoln Administration to allow the Reserves to return temporarily to the Keystone State.  These pleas went unheeded at army headquarters, and the Pennsylvanians soon joined the rest of Ambrose Burnside's men on the ill-fated "Mud March."

A Plan is Hatched

By the end of January, the situation began to look brighter for the hard-fought Pennsylvanians.  Gen. Joseph Hooker, the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, and General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck finally agreed on a plan to deal with the manpower problems facing the Reserves.  The division was to be detached from the Army of the Potomac and sent to the defenses of Washington in exchange for a like number of Pennsylvania troops then stationed around the capital.  (OR, 1:25:2, 12.)  The Pennsylvania Reserves would return to the front once they had some time to replenish their ranks and recover from combat duty.  Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman, head of the Department of Washington, was less than enthusiastic about the idea.  He worried that the Reserves were ill-equipped for provost duty in Washington given that "some of the companies are commanded by sergeants and corporals."  (OR, 1:25:2, 10.)  Heintzelman told Halleck, "I fear that the exchange cannot be made with any benefit to the service in my command."  (OR, 1:25:2, 10.)  Whatever his objections, however, Heintzelman would have no choice but to accept his superior's decision.

Gen. Joseph Hooker (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Meanwhile, the men in the ranks began to hear rumors about their imminent departure for Washington.  A soldier from Co. H, 6th Pennsylvania Reserves wrote on January 28 to his hometown paper, "[W]e – that is the old regiments of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps of Volunteers – are soon to be relieved from the front (where they have always been found), by the troops now stationed in and about Washington, while we are to take their place."  (Wellsboro Agitator, Feb. 11, 1863.)  He felt that the division was "not in the least dissatisfied with the arrangement, altho’ we wish to have no men see the service that the Reserves have been obliged to."  (Wellsboro Agitator, Feb. 11, 1863.)  Sgt. Thomas W. Dick of Co. H, 12th Pennsylvania Reserves, informed his brother of "reliable information to the effect that we are going back to Washington to rest and recruit."  (Ltr. from T.W. Dick to Brother, Feb. 2 1863.)  Dick  approved of the plan, telling his brother, "its what should have been done before this There is now but a miserable remnant of the gay old division that marched from [Camp] Pierpont last spring."  (Ltr. from T.W. Dick to Brother, Feb. 2 1863) (grammar as in original)

Orders!

On February 5, Hooker finally issued orders to transfer the Pennsylvania Reserves.  (OR, 1:25:2, 49-50; 52-53.)  He instructed Gen. John F. Reynolds, head of the First Corps, to send the division to Alexandria with instructions to report to Heintzelman for orders.  Hooker added that "[t]he sick and all the baggage of the troops should be taken with them."  (OR, 1:25:2, 50.)  The chief quartermaster would "furnish the transportation," although Hooker told Reynolds that "[t]he details of the embarkation are left with you, with reliance upon your energy and attention."  (OR, 1:25:2, 50.) 

That same day, Reynolds issued an order directing the Pennsylvania Reserves to embark at Belle Plain for Alexandria, "as soon as transportation is furnished."  (OR, 1:51:1, 981.)  The 121st and 142nd Pennsylvania, who were not part of the original Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps, were ordered to remain behind, along with three artillery batteries.  Reynolds informed the men that they would receive three days' cooked rations for the trip north.  He finished his order on a sentimental note:

In separating from the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, with which the commanding general has been so closely allied for the past eighteen months, he cannot but express his deep regrets. They are, however, lessened by the hope that soon their thinned ranks will be filled, and they, once more restored and reorganized, will be returned to the field prepared to add new luster to a name already endeared to our patriotic State.  (OR, 1:51:1, 981-82.) 

Wartime view of Belle Plain, Virginia on Potomac Creek (courtesy of Library of Congress)

The men of the Pennsylvania Reserves received news of their impending move with enthusiasm.  According to one regimental history, "[i]n despite of the cold rain the camp-fires were soon brightly burning, around which the boys gathered and talked of the good times coming until late at night."  (Woodward, Third Reserve, 224.)  The next afternoon, February 6, the division struck camp and marched about four miles to Belle Plain on Potomac Creek. The journey lasted well into the evening due to the wet and muddy conditions.  The First Brigade boarded transports during the night and headed up the Potomac.  The Second and Third Brigades set out for Alexandria in the morning.  As the men arrived at the wharves along the river, they must surely have felt a sense of relief to leave behind life at the front, if only for a little while.

Postscript

The transfer of the Reserves soon became mired in a dispute between Hooker and Washington.  Gen. Abner Doubleday, who assumed command of the Pennsylvania Reserves for a short while in the middle of January, had gone to the capital to oversee arrangements for the exchange. (OR, 1:51:1, 974.)  After the division arrived in Washington, Doubleday reported to Hooker that "[t]he Pennsylvania regiments given in place of the Reserves do not contain as many men as the latter brought here."  (OR, 1:25:2, 63.)  He concluded that there was "a deficiency of about 250 men."  (OR, 1:25:2, 63.)  Hooker fired off a dispatch to Halleck on February 10,  insisting that "this deficiency be made up, and that General Heintzelman be directed to send the full number, according to the understanding, viz, the same number of men as were returned in the Pennsylvania Reserves."  (OR, 1:25:2, 63.) Halleck tersely replied that "[r]egiments cannot be broken up in order to exactly equalize."  (OR, 1:25:2, 63.)

Hooker wouldn't let the shortfall go.  He pressed his cause with Heintzelman directly.  (OR, 1:25:2, 69-70.)  The commander of the Washington defenses informed Hooker that he had been told to exchange the Reserves for Pennsylvania troops only and that some of some of the soldiers designated for the Army of the Potomac had been detained in Washington for reasons beyond his control.  He had no more to give.  Heintzelman alleged that "[t]he numbers at my disposal were well understood by General Doubleday when he made the application."  (OR, 1:25:2, 83.)

Hooker next unleashed his wrath on Doubleday, demanding that he "report what agreement was entered into by you with General Heintzelman with regard to the exchange of the Pennsylvania Reserves."  (OR, 1:25:2, 87.)   Doubleday insisted that he had done nothing wrong, claiming that "no special agreement was entered into" between him and Heintzelman.  (OR, 1:25:2, 90.)   He told Hooker:

It was understood that I was to have an equal number of men with those I furnished. I never supposed I should have a less number until the Reserves had actually arrived in Alexandria, and a report of their number was laid before General Heintzelman. He then informed me that the aggregate would be less than that furnished by some 230 men.  (OR, 1:25:2, 90.)

Doubleday also took offense at Hooker's accusation that he had not given his personal attention to the matter, explaining that he had "visited General Heintzelman's office every day, and frequently several times a day, in relation to it," and "was also a daily visitor at the Adjutant-General's Office of the General-in-Chief" concerning the exchange.  (OR, 1:25:2, 90.)  Heintzelman received a copy of Doubleday's response, but when all was said and done, Hooker turned his attention to more pressing matters.   Meanwhile, the Reserves prepared for duty on the picket line in front of the capital.

Up Next:  Military duties in front of Washington.

Sources

Aside from the Official Records, the following sources were useful in compiling this post:

John H. Eicher & David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands (2001); Joseph Gibbs, Three Years in the Bloody Eleventh: The Campaigns of a Pennsylvania Reserves Regiment (2002); Ltr. from T.W. Dick to Brother, Feb. 2 1863 (courtesy of P.R.V.C. Historical Society); J.R. Sypher, History of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps (1865); Wellsboro Agitator, Feb. 11, 1863 (courtesy of P.R.V.C. Historical Society); Evan M. Woodward, History of the Third Pennsylvania Reserve (1883); Evan M. Woodward, Our Campaigns (1865).