Official Records of the Rebellion

[172] Entering upon the Maryland campaign September 8, accompanied by Captain Wilson, I joined the commanding general at Rockville, Md. Each command previous to taking up the march had been directed to carry with it as many days’ rations as possible in the wagons and men’s haversacks.

On the 10th Lieut. Col. A. P. Porter, assisted by Capt. B. Granger, established a depot for the issue of rations at Rockville. A herd of beef cattle, in charge of Capt. W. R. Murphy, commissary of subsistence of volunteers, had been previously sent to that vicinity. Several canal barges laden with subsistence stores arrived at Seneca Creek from Washington in the night of the 10th, and Capt. W. H. Douglass, commissary of subsistence of volunteers, was placed in charge, to issue to all commands that could be best supplied from that point.

To meet the wants of the army as it advanced, on the 12th the Commissary-General was requested to have 600,000 rations of the principal articles forwarded at the earliest moment possible to Frederick City, or as near to that place as they could be transported by railroad. The same day Lieutenant-Colonel Porter, leaving Lieut. William B. Kimball, Thirteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, in charge of the [173] stores at Rockville, with Captain Granger and his force of clerks and laborers, returned to Washington, and as soon as the arrangements were perfected there and in Baltimore proceeded, via the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, for the purpose of establishing a depot at the most advanced point practicable in our possession.

On the 14th the stores ordered forward by the Commissary-General commenced arriving at the Monocacy River. The railroad bridge at that place having been destroyed by the enemy the cars could proceed no further, and a depot was established there, from which the army was mostly supplied until after the battle of Antietam. The wagons of the different commands used for the purpose in charge of the commissaries transported the stores to the points in front where required, and when emptied returned to the depot for further supplies. Some wagon trains, laden with the articles of stores most needed, were dispatched directly from Washington, one of which, in charge of Capt. A. C. Voris, commissary of subsistence of volunteers, was well conducted, and arrived opportunely. Captain Wilson was sent to take temporary charge of the depot at the Monocacy River. He succeeded, under many difficulties, during the evening and night of the 14th, in supplying the demands for rations, and was relieved early the next morning by Lieutenant-Colonel Porter, and rejoined me at headquarters.

Leaving the vicinity of Rockville on the 12th, Captain Murphy, with his herd of beef cattle, followed closely the advance of the army during the campaign, and issued to the commissaries of the different commands as required. Capt. J. H. Woodward left Washington the same day with a large herd of beef cattle. After arriving in the vicinity of the army, during the march he kept sufficiently near, and from time to time issued cattle to Captain Murphy, so that the herd of the latter might be kept full enough in numbers to supply the daily wants of the army in that article. Captain Woodward obtained supplies of beef cattle from Washington by sending back on the road to meet and bring forward the different herds started from that place for him.

Soon after the battles of South Mountain and Antietam there were as many as twenty-two hospitals for the wounded and sick at Frederick City. Lieut. G. T. Castle (now captain and commissary of subsistence, volunteer service) was acting commissary for them, and gave entire satisfaction to all concerned.

Subsequently, on September 17, many of the hospitals established in the vicinity for the wounded and sick were supplied by Capt. J. R. Coxe, commissary of subsistence, volunteer service, issuing commissary of subsistence at headquarters, and Captain Buchanan was left near Sharpsburg in charge of a depot for their future supply.

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