ong ago discarded tents.
The remainder of the army had been hardly less severely tasked. The
demands of the outpost service in front of Richmond had been almost
as trying as the forced marches in the Valley, and the climate of the
Peninsula had told heavily on the troops. From the very first the
army had been indifferently equipped; the ill effects of hasty
organisation were still glaring; the regimental officers had not yet
learned to study the wants and comfort of their men; the troops were
harassed by the ignorance of a staff that was still half-trained, and
the commissariat officials were not abreast of their important
duties. More than all, the operations against Pope, just brought to a
successful issue, had been most arduous; and the strain on the
endurance of the troops, not yet recovered from their exertions in
the Peninsula, had been so great that a period of repose seemed
absolutely necessary. It was not only that battle and sickness had
thinned the ranks, but that those whose health had been proof against
continued hardships, and whose strength and spirit were still equal
to further efforts, were so badly shod that a few long marches over
indifferent roads were certain to be more productive of casualties
than a pitched battle. The want of boots had already been severely
felt.* (* "1000 pairs of shoes were obtained in Fredericktown, 250
pairs in Williamsport, and about 400 pairs in this city (Hagerstown).
They will not be sufficient to cover the bare feet of the army." Lee
to Davis, September 12, 1862. O.R. volume 19 part 2 page 605.) It has
been said that the route of the Confederate army from the
Rappahannock to Chantilly might have been traced by the stains of
bloody feet along the highways; and if the statement is more graphic
than exact, yet it does not fall far short of the truth. Many a stout
soldier, who had hobbled along on his bare feet until Pope was
encountered and defeated, found himself utterly incapable of marching
into Maryland. In rear of the army the roads were covered with
stragglers. Squads of infantry, banding together for protection,
toiled along painfully by easy stages, unable to keep pace with the
colours, but hoping to be up in time for the next fight; and amongst
these were not a few officers. But this was not the worst. Lax
discipline and the absence of soldierly habits asserted themselves
with the same pernicious effect as in the Valley. Not all the
stragglers had their faces turne