About the middle, of September the work of unloading the vessels in which the supplies for the Army of the Potomac had been stored during the Peninsular campaign was commenced. This was a long and laborious undertaking, as many of them contained assorted cargoes, articles of all kinds being mingled in the utmost confusion. The different classes of stores were carefully separate and turned over to their appropriate departments, additional buildings were erected for the protection and preservation of regimental and private property, and in a comparatively by short time the fleet, which at one time was so large as almost to interdict the safe navigation of the river, entirely disappeared. About Septembe 10, Captain A. R. Eddy, assistant quartermaster, U. S. Army, was ordered to report to me, and, upon his doing so, I placed in my office to assist me in the examination and approval of requisitions. On the 11th of October he was relieved and ordered to Memphis, Tenn. During the months of September and October the railroad track was extended from Sixth Street Wharf to the Arsenal. October 11, Captain Charles H. Tompkins, assistant quartermaster, U. S. Army, reported to me for duty and was directed to relieve Captain Camp of the duty of providing transportation for troops, in addition to which I transferred to him the entire department of railroad transportation and the payment of all chartered or hired vessels, barges, &c. On the 14th of October [November] the Army of the Potomac, then under the command of General Burnside, being about to occupy Falmouth and vicinity, arrangements were made to rebuild the wharves and store-houses at Aquia Creek, which had been destroyed by fire on the occasion of its abandonment in September. Barges were sent to serve as temporary landings, material was furnished with which to construct the necessary buildings, and the subject of water transportation again became one of the greatest importance, it being necessary to transport all the supplies for the army in barges, canal-boats, and vessels of the lightest draft. November 18, Captain J. J. Dana, by my order, resumed control of the forage department relieving Captain Robinson. December 8, Captain S. L. Brown, assistant quartermaster, U. S. Volunteers, having reported to me for duty, was placed in charge of the forage department, relieving Captain Dana. The same day I relieved Captain Allen of the charge of so much of the water transportation as centered at Sixth Stree Wharf, stationing him at G street and Captain Robinson at Sixth Street Wharf.

January 12, 1863, Lieutenant James M. Moore, Nineteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers (now captain and assistant quartermaster, U. S. Volunteers), was assigned to duty as assistant to Captain Hartz. February 1 Captain Dana, having been appointed lieutenant-colonel and chief quartermaster, First Army Corps, was relieved by Captain Tompkins, who in turn was relieved of the charge of railroa transportation and the payment of charters, &c., by Captain Walter Curtis, assistant quartermaster, U. S. Volunteers. On the 5th of March, 1863, Captain H. B. Lacey, assistant quartemaster, U. S. Volunteers, reported to me for duty, and was at once ordered to report to Captain C. H. Tompkins as inspecting officer of the transportation department. From the date of the occupation of Aquia Creek in October [November], 1862, to the 15th of June, 1863, the operations of this depot were but little affected by the movement of the army. The successive engagements on the line of the Rappahannock were sufficiently remote from the city to obviate the possibility of the junior officers of the army presenting their requisitions in person, and the large estimates of the officers in charge of the depots at Aquia Creek