He
objected that as he had been announced as commander of the right
wing of the army, composed of the two corps, he was unwilling to
waive his precedence or to assume that Hooker was detached for
anything more than a temporary purpose. I pointed out that Reno's
staff had been granted leave of absence to take the body of their
chief to Washington, and that my division staff was too small for
corps duty; but he met this by saying that he would use his staff
for this purpose, and help me in every way he could till the crisis
of the campaign should be over. Sympathizing with his very natural
feeling, I ceased objecting, and accepted with as good grace as I
could the unsatisfactory position of nominal commander of the corps
to which I was a comparative stranger, and which, under the
circumstances, naturally looked to him as its accustomed and real
commander. Burnside's intentions in respect to myself were
thoroughly friendly, as he afterward proved, and I had no ground for
complaint on this score; but the position of second in command is
always an awkward and anomalous one, and such I felt it.
The 16th passed without serious fighting, though we had desultory
cannonading and picket firing.
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