Abstract from consolidated morning report of troops in Middle Department, Eighth Army Corps, Major General Robert C. Schenck commanding, for January 20, 1863; headquarters Baltimore, Md.

Pieces of

Present for duty artillery

Command Offic Men Aggrega Aggrega Heavy Field

ers te te

present present

and

absent

Headquarters 26 - 26 26 - -

Middle

Department,

Eighth Army

Corps

Railroad 6 - 6 6 - -

Division,

*B. F. Kelley:

Staff

Troops 889 18,843 21,742 25,628 16 55

Point of - - - - - -

Rocks, Colonel

James

Galligher+

Frederick, 34 384 697 929 - -

Md., Colonel

William O.

Redden

Relay House, 35 710 798 821 - -

Colonel C. L. K.

Sumwalt

Annapolis, 26 665 768 1,037 - -

Colonel John

F. Staunton

Fort Delaware, 10 272 407 420 47 6

Lieutenant

Colonel D. D.

Perkins

Monocacy 32 763 906 911 - -

Bridge,

Colonel

W. S. Truex

Philadelphia, 5 - 5 5 - -

Brigadier

General W. R.

Montgomery

[headquarters]

Convalescents, 5 180 214 393 - -

provost

guards, and

drafted men

Eastern Shore, 2 - 2 2 - -

Md., Brigadier

General

HH. Lockwood:

Headquarters

Troops 60 1,108 1,321 1,403 - -

Baltimore, 182 3,593 4,417 4,961 - -

Brigadier

General W. W.

Morris

York, Pa., 2 78 86 89 - -

Captain T. S.

McGowan

Total 1,314 26,596 31,395 36,631 63 61

HEADQUARTERS, Harper's Ferry, January 20, 1863.

Major General R. C. SCHENCK,
Commanding Eighth Army Corps, Baltimore, Md.:

GENERAL: There are now at Harper's Ferry, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, twelve companies of the Sixth New York Artillery Regiment, the Sixth Maryland Regiment, the Fifth Maryland Regiment, the Fourteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, Cole's squadron of Maryland Cavalry, Potomac Home Brigade, and two batteries of six 3-inch rifle guns each. No more troops should be sent there, in my judgment, by reason of insecurity of the bridges which cross the river. The railroad bridge is impassable for infantry, and, of course, for wagons. The pontoon bridge, although now passable, is liable at any time to mishaps, and in case there should be a considerable rise in the river both bridges will go-certainly, if there be floating be floating ice in any quantity. The railroad bridge should at once be made substantial, and of sufficient capacity to permit the passage of wagons; if this be done it will dispense with the necessity of the pontoon bridge, and enable the Government to transport and lay the bridge across the river at Williamsport, where it is needed to convey troops to Martinsburg and Winchester [reaching Hagerstown by the Cumberland Valley Railroad, or by the way of Frederick], and to afford the garrison of those and adjacent places a safe and convenient crossing into Maryland.

I cannot, general, too strongly urge upon you the pressing necessity for a secure and spacious communication between the Maryland and

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*Located on the line of the Baltimore, and Ohio Railroad and at stations in Western Virginia, Defenses of the Upper Potomac, including of Rocks, Harper's Ferry, Cumberland, &c.

+Transferred to General Kelley's command, and included in his report.

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