During the Antietam campaign the 3d corps remained in the defences about Washington, south of the Potomac. From Arlington Heights the low mutter from the distant battlefield could be heard and although no tidings came to us of an engagement all felt that a desperate battle was in progress. On September 12 we received marching orders for Poolsville, Md., and on the 15th pitched our tents (dog kennel style) near Conrad's Ferry on the Potomac, where we did picket duty until McClellan again crossed the river and resumed his march on Richmond. Our sojourn at Conrad's Ferry was very restful after the summer of hard campaigning; two incidents, however, occurred to add a touch of excitement to our otherwise monotonous camp life. The first was a raid across the river to the ancient town of Leesburg, the county seat of Loudon county, Va., where we had a glimpse, and only that, of the enemy's cavalry pickets and received a thorough wetting going and returning while fording the river. The second was a bootless attempt to head off that bold raider, J. E. B. Stewart, in his hazardous ride around our army. We marched and countermarched all day long up and down the river between Conrad's Ferry and Monocacy creek, but notwithstanding our vigilance the wily fox slipped us and gained the Virginia shore without so much as giving us a chance shot at him. Early in October Colonel Campbell returned and resumed command of the regiment, although he still carried his arm in a sling. We were indeed glad to see his face again, but sorry to bid farewell to Major Birney, who had won a warm place in the regimental affections. One of the sad incidents of camp life occurred just before the colonel's return. A member of the regiment had been found guilty of the theft of a pistol from one of the cavalry orderlies at brigade headquarters. His sentence was to stand so many hours daily on the head of a barrel on the parade ground and to march by the front of the line at dress parade under guard to the music of the "Rogue's march," with the word "thief" in large letters on a placard strapped across his back. The punishment, while not severe, was indeed humiliating. Punishments for such offenses were often severe and always of a character to expose to ridicule and invite contempt, while those of foraging among farmers, which often bore more of the character of theft and robbery than the legitimate right of confiscation for justifiable use, were winked at. On one occasion Colonel Campbell, while walking along the towing path of the canal that ran near our camp, espied the recently removed integument of a porker. In an apparently towering rage, he returned to camp and announced his discovery, asserting with not a few expletives, more forcible than polite, that "any man who would steal a pig and didn't know enough to hide its skin deserved to be drummed out of camp!"