promptly answering all the demand of the army stations in that vicinity. Lieutenant Ross remained in charge of the Aquia Creek depot until about the 7th of July, 1862, when, having contracted a fever, he was removed to this city, where he died on the 23rd of the same month. July 14, 1862, Captain George Ely, assistant quartermaster, U. S. Voluntes, was assigned to duty at the Washington Arsenal, in charge of the transportation of ordnance stores. During the month of July the Army of Virginia, under the command of General Pope, was fitted out from this depot, and in the latter, part of the month advanced on the line of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, drawing itthis point. To insure promptness in forwarding stores, a warehouse was erected in Maryland avenue, contiguous to the track of the military railroad to Alexandria, and was supplied with the necessary platforms and other appurtenances. It has answered the purpose for which it was construced, and by means of the facilities thus afforded, I then was in have since been enabled, in every instance, without the least delay, to fill all requisitions for stores to be delivered on that line of road. The retreat of General Pope and the distastrous battles of the 28th, 29th, and 30th of August, throwing back upon this city the combined armies of Virginia and of the Potomac, destitute of clothing and equipage, with broken-down transportation and disabled horses, again involved an immense and unforessen amount of labor. The troops, reorganized, and under the command of Genera McClellan, were rapidly pushing through in their pursuit of the invading rebel army, without waiting for the supplies so urgently required, merely stopping while in transit to draw such articles as were absolutely indispensable, and to turn in the almost worthless material with which they were encumbered . All were in haste, and for a few days the officers of the depot were thronged with division, brigade, and regimental quartermastes, and anxious that his particular wants should be first supplied, and insisting upon the extreme urgency of the necessities of that portion of the army for which he was to provide, apparently forgetting that all had shared the same ill-fortune. The worry, perplexity, and consequent impediments to the transaction of business occasioned by this confusion were soon obviated. Operating at a distance from this depot, the supplies were, on the requisiting of Genreal Ingalls, or upon those of other officers bearing his approval, forwarded in bulk to the depots which he established at Frederick, Harper's Ferrym, and other points, every requisition being promptly filled; to accomplish which the whole force of the depot worked late into the night and without regard to any days of rest.

To the extraordinary energy, zeal, and efficiency of the managers and agents of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad-shown not only upon this occasion but also during the blockade of the Potomac, and more recently during the late campaign of General Meade in Pennsylvania- is due much of the success which has attended the efforts of the officers of this department to supply the different armies operating in Northern and Eastern Virginia. Without the hearty and earnest co-operation which these gentlemen have evinced upon every emergency many important operations would have been seriously imperiled, if not actually frustrated. On the 14th of September, 1862, Captain James M. Robinson, assistant quartermaster, U. S. Volunteers, was ordered to report to me for duty, and was at once placed in charge of receiving and issuing forage, relieving Captain Dana, who remained in charge of the transportation department, which had by that date attained such a magnitude as to require the exclusive attention of the officer in charge.