brigade, who was soon succeeded by
Colonel W. H. Irwin, of the Forty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers.

Reinforcements began to arrive from Washington, and our army, in August,
numbered one hundred and twenty thousand men. With these, and a few
thousand more, General McClellan declared his belief that he could repel
the enemy and advance into Richmond.

Let us for a moment turn to the fortunes of the regiment with which we
left Saratoga, and whose early history we have traced. In all the
stirring events which have transpired in the division and corps, the
Seventy-seventh has acted an important and honorable part. Always ready
to perform the duties demanded of it; always in its place when danger
was greatest; ever cheerfully obeying the commands of superiors, it has
assumed no honor above its fellows, but proudly claimed to be the peer
of such noble regiments as the Sixth Maine, the Fifth Wisconsin, the
Thirty-third New York, and other bright stars in the galaxy of the Sixth
corps; ornaments to it and the army. "It is a little regiment," said
General Davidson to a member of Governor Morgan's staff, who came to
look after the interests of the New York troops, "but it is always in
the right place." The general regarded the regiment with especial favor,
and was accustomed to call it "my little Seventy-seventh." Since the
arrival of the army on the Peninsula the experiences of the regiment
have been varied. With the other regiments of Smith's division, it has
spent a month at Yorktown, within musket shot of the enemy. At
Williamsburgh it, with other regiments of its brigade, supported
batteries in front of Fort Magruder, and when, in the afternoon, it
received the order to go with the Forty-ninth to the assistance of
Hancock, it started forward with cheers; the men going through the mud
at double quick. But when the two regiments arrived on the field, their
gallant brothers of Hancock's and of their own brigade, had nobly
accomplished the work in which they would gladly have assisted. We have
seen how gallantly the regiment routed the rebels at Mechanicsville;
capturing a flag and other trophies; and when on the Chickahominy
Smith's division held the line closest upon the enemy, it bravely
assumed its part of the labor and danger. A portion of the regiment on
picket on the 28th of June, exhibited sterling heroism, and we need
hardly refer to the noble sacrifice of the brave young soldier John Ham.

Disease and exhaustion had