I at once designated an efficient staff, afterwards adding to it as opportunity was afforded and necessity required, who zealously co-operated with me in the labor of bringing order out of confusion, reassigning troops and commands, projecting and throwing up defensive works, receiving and organizing, equipping and providing, for the new levies arriving in the city.

The valuable services of these officers in their various departments during this and throughout the subsequent periods of the history of he Army of the Potomac can hardly be sufficiently appreciated. Their names and duties will be given in another part of this report, and they are commenced to the favorable notice of the War Department.

The restoration of order in the city of Washington was effected through the appointment of a provost-marshal, whose authority was supported by the few regular troops within my command. These troops were thus in position to act as a reserve, to be sent to any point of attack where their services might be most wanted. The energy and ability displayed by Colonel A. Porter, the provost-marshal, and his assistants, and the strict discharge of their duty by the troops, produced the best results, and Washington soon became one of the most quiet cities in the Union.

The new levies of infantry, upon arriving in Washington, were formed into provisional brigades, and placed in camp in the suburbs of the city, for equipment, instruction, and discipline. As soon as regiments were in a fit condition for transfer to the forces across the Potomac they were assigned to the brigades serving there. Brigadier General F. J. Porter was at first assigned to the charge of the provisional brigades. Brigadier General A. E. Burnside was the next officer assigned to this duty, from which, however, he was soon relieved by Brigadier General S. Casey, who continued in charge of the newly-arriving regiments until the Army of the Potomac departed for the Peninsula, in March, 1862. The newly-arriving artillery troops reported to Brigadier General William F. Barry, the chief of artillery, and the cavalry to Brigadier General George Stoneman, the chief of cavalry.

By the 15th of October the number of troops in and about Washington, inclusive of the garrison of the city and Alexandria, the city guard, and the forces on the Maryland shore of the Potomac below Washington, and as far as Cumberland above, the troops under the command of General Dix at Baltimore and its dependencies, were as follows:

Total present for duty ................... 133,201

Total sick .......................................... 9,290

Total in confinement ..................... 1,156

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Aggregate present ........................ 143,647

Aggregate absent .......................................... 8,404

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Grand aggregate .......................... 152,051

The following table exhibits similar data for the periods stated, including the troops in Maryland and Delaware:

Present.

Total.

Date. For duty Sick. In confi Absent

nement. present

and.

absent.

December 1, 169,452 15,102 2,189 11,470 198,213

1861.

January 1, 191,480 14,790 2,260 11,707 219,707

1862.

February 1, 190,806 14,363 2,917 14,110 222,196

1862.

March 1, 193,142 13,167 2,108 13,570 221,987

1862.