The  Sixth  left  the  State  on  September  10th,
with  thirty-eight  commissioned  officers  and
eight  hundred  and  sixty  non-commissioned
officers  and  privates.  At  Washington  it
went  into  camp  at  Meridian  Hill,  and  in  De-
cember the  four  regiments  reported  to  Gen-
eral Hooker,  at  Budd's  Ferry,  Maryland,
when  they  were  brigaded  as  the  Third  Bri-
gade, Hooker's  division  ;  afterwards  as  the
Third  Brigade,  Second  Division,  Third
Corps ;  then  as  the  First  Brigade,  Fourth
Division,  Second  Corps ;  and  lastly  as  the
Third  Brigade,  Third  Division,  Second
Corps.
At  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  May  5,  1862,
it  was  in  the  thickest  of  the  battle,  losing
overlive  hundred  men,  among  whom  was
Lieutenant-Colonel  John  P.  Van  Leer,  of  the
Sixth,  a  citizen  of  Camden,  and  thirty-eight


killed  and  seventy-eight  wounded,  of  the
same  regiment.  On  June  1st,  at  Turner's
Farm,  General  Hooker  placed  himself  at  the
head  of  the  Fifth  and  Sixth  Regiments  and
"  charged  straight  into  and  through  the
woods,  breaking  the  rebel  lines  and  driving
the  encQiy  in  great  confusion  for  a  consider-
able distance,  recovering  all  the  ground  lost
by  Casey's  division  and  ending  the  fight  for
the  day  on  that  part  of  the  line."

The  other  battles  of  the  Peninsular  Cam-
paign in  which  the  Sixth  took  part  were
Fair  Oaks,  June  25th;  Glendale,  June  30th;
and  Malvern  Hill,  July  It^t  and  August  20tli.
In  this  campaign  the  Second  New  Jersey
Brigade  had  six  hundred  and  thirty-four  of-
ficers and  men  killed  and  wounded  out  of  its
total  strength  of  twenty-seven  hundred.
From  the  swamps  it  was  moved  to  reinforce
Pope,  and  bore  the  brunt  of  the  engagement
at  Bristow  Station,  on  July  27th,  and  was  an
active  participant  in  the  fighting  of  the  four
.succeeding  days  at  Bull  Run  and  Chantilly.
