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R. B. Irwin and Antietam
Richard Biddle Irwin was born in Pittsburgh on December 28, 1839. The son of a congressman, he was working as a War Department clerk when the war began and promptly enlisted in the 3 month 1st D. C. Volunteers. Commissioned a captain later that year, he served in various staff capacities before being designated the Acting Assistant Adjutant General of the Defenses of Washington on September 8, 1862.
In that capacity the young (22 year old) officer generated a volume of correspondence related to army operations. The samples below provide an interesting headquarters insight into the condition of the federal armies as McClellan attempted to organize them on the march to meet Lee at Antietam.
The first below touches on the subject of simply counting the disparate elements of the AoP, AoV, Burnsides' Corps, and the Kanahwa Division, the second and third give a picture of straggling, and the last deals with the burden of straightening out the mess following the bloodiest day in U. S. history.
While Irwin would go on after the war to write several articles for the “Battles and Leaders” series, as well as a history of the Nineteenth Corps, his war time writings (two more samples to follow) have a freshness that he would never quite match again...
Official Records, Series I, Vol. 19, Part II, p. 265
HEADQUARTERS DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON.
Washington, September 11, 1862.
Brig. Gen. S. WILLIAMS,
A. A. G., Hdqrs. Army of the Potomac, beyond Rockville:
Yesterdays report, which will go to you this afternoon, shows present for duty, in round numbers: Garrisons, 15,200; First, Third, and Fifth Corps, in camp, 46,800; city guards and provisional brigades, 10,500; aggregate for duty, 72,500. There is the old exaggeration in these figures, due to failing to distinguish between for duty and extra or daily duty. Most of the commanders have not found it out yet.
Please remember this is yesterday's report.
RICHD B. IRWIN,
Captain, Aide-de-Camp, and Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen.
****
HEADQUARTERS DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON,
September 11 1862. 4 p.m.
Maj. Gen. S. P. HEINTZELMAN, Arlington:
Some arrangement must be made to collect all the stragglers and convalescents who are now wandering about Alexandria and Washington, unable to rejoin their regiments, and keep them together until an opportunity offers to send them back. General Banks [thinks] it would be best to establish a general camp in some central position on the Virginia side, and to order the military governors of Alexandria and the District of Columbia to pick up all stragglers and convalescents and send them there.
Please submit your views on the subject.
By command of Major-General Banks:
RICHD B. IRWIN,
Captain, Aide-de-Camp, and Actg. Asst Adjt Gen.
****
p. 309
HEADQUARTERS DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON,
Washington, September 10, 1862 11.45 a. m.
Brig. Gen. J. P. SLOUGH, Alexandria:
General Banks directs that you take immediate measures to correct the evil represented in the following communication from the General- in-Chief:
Several times the commissary store-room at Alexandria has been taken possession of by stragglers. General Slough was directed to detail a company for its protection. It appears to have been relieved, and the stragglers have again assumed control. The General-in-Chief desires the evil remedied.
Please acknowledge.
RICHD B. IRWIN,
Captain, Aide-de-Camp, and Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen.
****
p. 349
HEADQUARTERS DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON,
Washington, September 23, 1862 10.30 a. m.
Brig. Gen. S. WILLIAMS, Asst. Adjt. Gen., Head quarters Army of the Potomac:
Telegram of last night received this morning. It occurs to me that at least a part of the confusion caused by the new numbers of the corps arises from the fact that you have got them wrong. Sigel's corps is the Eleventh, Banks' is the Twelfth, and Hooker's (late McDowell's) is the First Corps. This is warranted correct, the newspapers to the contrary notwithstanding. Consequently, after some puzzling, I infer from your telegram that Meade commands the First Corps, vice Hooker, wounded, and A. S. Williams commands the Twelfth Corps, vice Mansfield, killed. Is this right? To whom was Weber's brigade assigned? Is Couch's division independent? Does Sturgis command Reno's division, and Willcox, Steven's? Piatt's brigade is here, in Whipple's division.
Request about General Orders, No. 157, will be attended to. Had a splendid distribution list, answering for both of us, in type when your dispatch came.
RICHD B. IRWIN,
Captain, Aide-de-Camp, and Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen.
Richard Biddle Irwin was born in Pittsburgh on December 28, 1839. The son of a congressman, he was working as a War Department clerk when the war began and promptly enlisted in the 3 month 1st D. C. Volunteers. Commissioned a captain later that year, he served in various staff capacities before being designated the Acting Assistant Adjutant General of the Defenses of Washington on September 8, 1862.
In that capacity the young (22 year old) officer generated a volume of correspondence related to army operations. The samples below provide an interesting headquarters insight into the condition of the federal armies as McClellan attempted to organize them on the march to meet Lee at Antietam.
The first below touches on the subject of simply counting the disparate elements of the AoP, AoV, Burnsides' Corps, and the Kanahwa Division, the second and third give a picture of straggling, and the last deals with the burden of straightening out the mess following the bloodiest day in U. S. history.
While Irwin would go on after the war to write several articles for the “Battles and Leaders” series, as well as a history of the Nineteenth Corps, his war time writings (two more samples to follow) have a freshness that he would never quite match again...
Official Records, Series I, Vol. 19, Part II, p. 265
HEADQUARTERS DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON.
Washington, September 11, 1862.
Brig. Gen. S. WILLIAMS,
A. A. G., Hdqrs. Army of the Potomac, beyond Rockville:
Yesterdays report, which will go to you this afternoon, shows present for duty, in round numbers: Garrisons, 15,200; First, Third, and Fifth Corps, in camp, 46,800; city guards and provisional brigades, 10,500; aggregate for duty, 72,500. There is the old exaggeration in these figures, due to failing to distinguish between for duty and extra or daily duty. Most of the commanders have not found it out yet.
Please remember this is yesterday's report.
RICHD B. IRWIN,
Captain, Aide-de-Camp, and Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen.
****
HEADQUARTERS DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON,
September 11 1862. 4 p.m.
Maj. Gen. S. P. HEINTZELMAN, Arlington:
Some arrangement must be made to collect all the stragglers and convalescents who are now wandering about Alexandria and Washington, unable to rejoin their regiments, and keep them together until an opportunity offers to send them back. General Banks [thinks] it would be best to establish a general camp in some central position on the Virginia side, and to order the military governors of Alexandria and the District of Columbia to pick up all stragglers and convalescents and send them there.
Please submit your views on the subject.
By command of Major-General Banks:
RICHD B. IRWIN,
Captain, Aide-de-Camp, and Actg. Asst Adjt Gen.
****
p. 309
HEADQUARTERS DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON,
Washington, September 10, 1862 11.45 a. m.
Brig. Gen. J. P. SLOUGH, Alexandria:
General Banks directs that you take immediate measures to correct the evil represented in the following communication from the General- in-Chief:
Several times the commissary store-room at Alexandria has been taken possession of by stragglers. General Slough was directed to detail a company for its protection. It appears to have been relieved, and the stragglers have again assumed control. The General-in-Chief desires the evil remedied.
Please acknowledge.
RICHD B. IRWIN,
Captain, Aide-de-Camp, and Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen.
****
p. 349
HEADQUARTERS DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON,
Washington, September 23, 1862 10.30 a. m.
Brig. Gen. S. WILLIAMS, Asst. Adjt. Gen., Head quarters Army of the Potomac:
Telegram of last night received this morning. It occurs to me that at least a part of the confusion caused by the new numbers of the corps arises from the fact that you have got them wrong. Sigel's corps is the Eleventh, Banks' is the Twelfth, and Hooker's (late McDowell's) is the First Corps. This is warranted correct, the newspapers to the contrary notwithstanding. Consequently, after some puzzling, I infer from your telegram that Meade commands the First Corps, vice Hooker, wounded, and A. S. Williams commands the Twelfth Corps, vice Mansfield, killed. Is this right? To whom was Weber's brigade assigned? Is Couch's division independent? Does Sturgis command Reno's division, and Willcox, Steven's? Piatt's brigade is here, in Whipple's division.
Request about General Orders, No. 157, will be attended to. Had a splendid distribution list, answering for both of us, in type when your dispatch came.
RICHD B. IRWIN,
Captain, Aide-de-Camp, and Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen.