_November 4._--To-day the regiment was ordered to move to Leesburg, near which we pitched our shelters. This is an old, aristocratic village, the shire-town of Loudon County. It is situated in a lovely valley, at the terminus of the Loudon and Hampshire Railroad, and is only about two miles from the Potomac, and an equal distance from Goose Creek, which is a considerable stream. Though this county sent many brave men into the Union ranks, probably more than any other county of the same population in Virginia, yet Leesburg is almost a _fac-simile_ of Charlestown, the capital of Jefferson County, the scene of John Brown's execution, where all the people, including women and children, are "secession to a man." All this while the Grand Army of the Potomac was moving southward at a snail's pace; and on the seventh of November, just after reaching Warrenton, General McClellan was relieved from command, and directed to report to the authorities by letter from Trenton, New Jersey. Thus ended another indecisive campaign, which though it had witnessed a greater victory than ever won before, yet had failed to reap the fruits thereof. CHAPTER VII. McCLELLAN SUCCEEDED BY BURNSIDE. 1862--Burnside's First Campaign.--Army of the Potomac in Three Divisions. --Advance from Warrenton to Falmouth.--General Stahel's Raid to the Shenandoah.--Laying Pontoons across the Rappahannock under Fire.-- Battle of Fredericksburg--Daring Feats and General Heroism.--Death of General Bayard.--The Hospitals.--Sanitary and Christian Commissions. --Camp "Bayard."--Camp-Fires.--Winter Quarters.--Friendly Relations of Pickets.--Trading.--Pay-Day.--"Stuck in the Mud." Upon General Ambrose Burnside fell the choice of the Executive for commander of the great Union army. He assumed it with great reluctance and unfeigned self-distrust, and only as a matter of obedience to orders. This change in the commanding officer, deleterious and dangerous as it might be upon the morale of the army, was nevertheless considered necessary and expedient. Having secured, by somewhat formidable forces, the principal gaps or passages of the Blue Ridge, which had been occupied by the enemy since their advance into the Valley, General Burnside began to make preparations to move his army to Fredericksburg, as being the most feasible and direct line from Washington to Richmond. To mask as long as possible his real design, he threatened an attack upon Gordonsville; but General Lee, by the aid of his emissaries and raiders, soon ascertained his plans, and moving his army across the Blue Ridge, through the western passes, he took his position on the south bank of the Rappahannock, to prevent Burnside's crossing.