HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
September 29, 1862--10 a. m.

General W. B. FRANKLIN,

Commanding Sixth Army Corps:

GENERAL: In reply to your communication of yesterday, the commanding general directs me to say that the recent supposed movement of the enemy in the direction of Winchester may cause a change in the positions of the different corps of this army, which he will probably be able to determine in a short time. He prefers that you should remain in your present position until he determines this question.

Very respectfully,

R. B. MARCY,

Chief of Staff.

[19.]

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS NINTH ARMY CORPS, Numbers 48.
Mouth of Antietam, Md., September 29, 1862.

1. The general commanding announces to the Eleventh Regiment Connecticut Volunteers the death of their late commander, Colonel H. W. Kingsbury. By this sad calamity the army mourns one of the most accomplished of those young officers who in a few months have become veterans in their country's service. After serving with distinction through the campaign in the Peninsula Colonel Kingsburg was promoted to his late command, and in that office, often occupying positions of great responsibility, he invariably proved himself equal to the occasion, displaying always a gallantry and skill that gave high promise for his future. He received his death wound while bravery leading him men at the battle of Antietam. As a near friend of Colonel Kingsbury, the commanding general wishes to add his testimony to his private worth, to the purity of his character, and to his possession of those high qualities of mind and heart that form the sterling man as well as the finished soldier.

* * * * * *

By command of Major-General Burnside:

LEWIS RICHMOND,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

[19.]

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
Camp near Sharpsburg, Md., September 30, 1862.

Brigadier General JOHN F. REYNOLDS,

Commanding First Corps:

GENERAL: I am directed by the commanding general to acknowledge to you the receipt of General Meade's letter of the 23rd instant,* inclosing a comparative statement of the strength of the First Corps on the 18th and on the 22nd of September, exhibiting the increase within four days. From this statement in appears that Doubleday's division gained within these four days 30 officers and 1,253 men, Ricketts' division 192 officers and 4,973 men, and Seymour's, now Meade's, division, 70 officers and 2,357 men. To this shameful condition of things General Meade alludes in appropriate terms, and suggests as the only remedy a measure which, terrible as it may seem, is fully in accordance with the usages of war, and is entirely within the power of commanding

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*See VOL. XIX, Part II, p. 348.

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