General Hancock bade farewell to the 2d corps on November 26th. He had been appointed to raise and organize a new corps, to consist of veterans, and of which he was to have command. He was succeeded in command of the 2d corps by Gen. A. A. Humphreys, an able general, who for a long time had been chief of staff to General Meade.
CHAPTER XII.
BY E. C. STROUSS.
Disbanding of Companies A and E—Regiment Organized Into a Battalion of Six Companies—Consolidation of the Eighty-Fourth with the Fifty-Seventh Pennsylvania—Necessity for Changing the Letter of Some of the Companies—Confusion in Company Rolls Growing Out of It—Officers of the Consolidated Regiment—Another Move Across Hatcher's Run—The Regiment Again Engaged with the Enemy—Great Length of the Line in Front of Petersburg—A Lively Picket Skirmish—Battle Near Watkin's House—Enemy's Picket Line and Many Prisoners Captured.
The arduous campaign of 1864, with its numerous terrific battles, had greatly reduced the strength of all the old regiments that went out in 1861. These, together with the men who had not reenlisted—some seventy-five in number—had so thinned the ranks of the 57th that two of its companies were ordered to be disbanded and the men to be assigned to other companies. The following is a copy of the order which brought about this state of affairs:
Headquarters 57th P. V. V.
January 11, 1865.
Special Orders No. 3.
I. As directed by S. O. No. 8, War Dept. A. G. O., Jan. 6th, '65, this regiment will be consolidated into a battalion to consist of six companies of equal strength.
II. Companies A and E will be broken up, and distributed with the six companies thus formed, so as to equalize them in strength.