%<s 
 
 
 
 -J.-' , *-L.^->t*.^;, 
 
 
 -#»;' .^ 't 
 
 
 \' <$:. 
 
 .s''^^ 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 A" 
 0' 
 
 
 c 
 
 0' c. ° 
 
 ,v 
 
 <? 
 
 -? 
 
 ^7. 
 
 
 
 
 
 '^^ 
 
 A-" 
 
 c^' ^^M5^^ ^ ^' .>vl, 
 
 
 ,^..i^. ^,^^- :gmi 
 
 <p 
 
 ^. 
 
 -,> ,-s- 
 
 • ■^ vJ^ 
 
 ^ >^>'^V^^* <=v 
 
 ^li 
 
 ^ ^:^i3^ 
 
 ■^^ 
 
 
 -3- 
 
 r .^:^^^^^ 
 
 ■^^ 
 
 %> 
 
 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 
 .V 
 
 ^-T". 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 ,0- 
 
 
 
 ■ » , 1 " jvO ,J>^ ♦ o , o ' ^^^ 
 
 A' 
 
 
 
 /\ 
 
 ^ 
 
 \^^ 
 
 ■ ':' •J^, 
 
 Xi 
 
 1-^ 
 
 <Jy^ 
 
 <^. 
 
 
 
 :^^,M 
 
 '^0' 
 
 ^ i-^-v. -^...Z ~*>iife:- V„.' .c^ 
 
 
 ^oV^ 
 
 •^ ^^aiiS^. ^^ ^^^il^' .^^. \Hi2^; ^^ -.^ 
 
 
 _ ArVx'jr 
 
,Hq 
 
 <<< 
 
 
 
 
 
 '^_ • » - ^ ^<C> 
 
 -P 
 
 
 ,-tV . 
 
 
 
 
 ^►^-^-^ 
 
 ' .^0 
 
 
 v^-^. 
 
 vV "^^ 
 
 
 0' o"" ^. '^o, ^^ 
 
 y ' V.' '* ■?■ V - ' • °- C 
 
 
 ,0- 
 
 .,V^ ^^■f.'^*-."' '^ 
 
 •<"<l^ 
 
 s^'"-. 
 
 
 ■ • — - -.' < o 
 
 .T^ „ _ -^ aV '^^. >. ^ -J- aV 
 
 
 
 '^^0^ 
 
 _t^:.^-0L 
 
 :T^ 
 
 -o V^ 
 
 ^m \s^ ^l^v %.v^- {4m^ %:.^ /^^^ 
 
 ^^ =^.S^i^ -<-^ 
 
 
 ^ '«^;//'-> 
 
 05 * ^'Y'lA 
 
 V 
 
 
 0^ .-• 
 
 
 \' 
 
 
 0' 
 
 
 ■oK 
 
 
 
 -oV^ 
 
 ^■^" 
 
 •^ 
 
 •i> ' o R 
 
 
 -^^ 
 
 
 
 3.0 -r, ,-; A o^ 
 
 O 
 
 A" 
 
mi 
 
 \ NAT * 
 
 & 
 
 .-J^' 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 i-^- 
 
 ,-v 
 
 V 
 
 
/ 
 
 JOHN CALL DALTON 
 
 M.D., U.S.V. 
 
 Privately Printed 
 1892 
 
 ^^7;.' '< 
 
Copyright, 1S92, 
 Bv CHARLES H. DALTON. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 The Riverside Press, Cambridge, A/ass., U. S. A. 
 Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company. 
 
These passes are the beginning of 
 a narrative of the personal mili- 
 tary experience of John Call Dal- 
 ton, M. D.. Surgeon U. S. V., 
 written during the last year of 
 his life, at the request of his fam- 
 ily, and now prutted for the in- 
 struction of its yomzger genera- 
 tion. 
 March, i8g2. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 5 
 
 THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 35 
 
 THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 64 
 
 MILITARY HISTORY OF JOHN CALL DALTON, M. D. 103 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE 
 SEVENTH. 
 
 ON the evening of Saturday, April 13th, 
 1861, the intelligence reached New- 
 York that Fort Sumter, in Charleston har- 
 bor, had yielded to the rebel authorities, 
 after undergoing a bombardment of thirty- 
 six hours. It was felt by all that this act of 
 violence closed the door of reconciliation, 
 and dissipated every hope of a peaceful 
 solution for our political difficulties. Two 
 days afterward President Lincoln issued his 
 proclamation calling upon the states for 
 seventy-five thousand troops to reassert the 
 authority of the government, to "cause the 
 laws to be duly executed," and to " repos- 
 sess the forts, places, and property " which 
 had been seized from the Union. The first 
 object of importance was to secure the safety 
 of the national capital; and the President 
 had expressed a desire that one regiment 
 from New York, already organized and 
 
 5 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 equipped, should be sent forward at once 
 for that purpose. 
 
 Learning that the Seventh regiment had 
 volunteered to meet this call, and that the 
 assistant surgeon then attached to it had re- 
 signed the position, I applied to be taken in 
 his place, and had the gratification to re- 
 ceive my appointment on Thursday the 
 1 8th. The regiment was under orders to 
 assemble and start for Washington on the 
 following day. 
 
 Meanwhile other states had also been 
 exerting themselves to forward any militia 
 regiments that could be had at short notice ; 
 and, as usual, when called upon to act, Mas- 
 sachusetts was the first in the field. Within 
 three days after the President's proclamation, 
 two regiments from that state, the Sixth and 
 the Eighth, were on the move. The Sixth 
 arrived in New York early on the morning 
 of April i8th, by the N. Y. & New Haven 
 railroad. The terminus of this road was 
 then at Fourth Avenue and 27th Street, 
 where I saw the regiment disembark and 
 form in line, before proceeding on its march 
 through the city. Its ranks had evidently 
 been filled in some measure by new recruits, 
 whose outfit by no means corresponded 
 6 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 altogether with the regimental uniform. 
 There were common overcoats and slouched 
 hats mingled with the rest. But they were 
 a solid and serviceable looking battalion; 
 and it was a common remark that in such 
 an emergency it was a good thing to see the 
 men in line with their muskets before their 
 uniforms were ready. This regiment was 
 followed by the Eighth Massachusetts, 
 which passed through the city twenty-four 
 hours later. 
 
 But at that time every one bound for 
 Washington was too busy with his own 
 affairs to pay much attention to the move- 
 ments of others ; and the morning of the 
 19th was filled to the last moment with 
 indispensable preparations. Early in the 
 afternoon the Seventh regiment assembled 
 at its armory, which was then on the east 
 side of Third Avenue, between Sixth and 
 Seventh Streets. It had received within the 
 past i^vf days some accessions in new re- 
 cruits. Its regular members reported for 
 duty in greater numbers than usual ; and 
 when finally ready for departure it paraded 
 nearly a thousand muskets. From the 
 armory it was marched by companies to 
 Lafayette Place near by, where the line was 
 
 7 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 formed and I took my place with the offi- 
 cers of the regimental staff. 
 
 Up to this time our attention had not been 
 especially attracted to anything beyond our 
 own immediate duties; and for a novice like 
 myself they were occupation enough. There 
 had been visiting friends and leave-takers 
 at the armory, and in the adjoining streets 
 there was the usual crowd of idlers and 
 sight -seers about a militia parade. But 
 when the regiment wheeled into column, 
 and from the quiet enclosure of Lafayette 
 Place passed into Broadway, the spectacle 
 that met us was a revelation. From the 
 curbstone to the top story, every building 
 was packed with a dense mass of humanity. 
 Men, women, and children covered the side- 
 walks, and occupied every window and bal- 
 cony on both sides, as far as the eye could 
 reach. The mass was alive all over with 
 waving flags and handkerchiefs, and the 
 cheers that came from it, right and left, 
 filled the air with a mingled chorus of tenor 
 and treble and falsetto voices. It was a 
 sudden and surprising demonstration, as un- 
 looked for as the transformation scene in a 
 theatre. But that was hardly the beginning 
 of it. Instead of spending itself in a short 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 outburst of welcome, it ran along with the 
 head of the column, was taken up at every 
 step by those in front, and only died away 
 in the rear. As the regiment moved on 
 past one street after another, it seemed as if 
 at every block the crowd grew denser and 
 the uproar more incessant. Along the en- 
 tire line of march, from Lafayette Place to 
 Cortlandt Street, there was not a rod of space 
 that was not thronged with spectators ; and 
 all the while the same continuous cry, from 
 innumerable throats, kept up without a mo- 
 ment's intermission, from beginning to end. 
 
 No one could witness such a scene with- 
 out being impressed by it. It was like the 
 act of a drama magnified in its proportions 
 a hundred fold, and with the added differ- 
 ence of being a reality. The longer it con- 
 tinued, the more it affected the senses and 
 the mind; until at last one almost felt as if 
 he were marching in a dream, half dazed by 
 the endless repetition of unaccustomed sights 
 and sounds. 
 
 Beside that, it gave us a different idea of 
 the city of New York, For most of us, 
 especially those of the younger generation, 
 it was mainly a city of immigration, offering 
 to all comers its varied opportunities for 
 9 
 
IN IVASHIKGrOX WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 activity and enterprise. Hardly any one 
 gave a thought to its local traditions, or 
 believed in the existence of any unity of 
 sentiment among its inhabitants. But now, 
 all at once, it had risen up like an enormous 
 family, with a single impulse of spontaneous 
 enthusiasm, to declare that it valued loyalty 
 and patriotism more than commerce or 
 manufactures. The time and the occasion 
 had brought out its latent qualities, and had 
 given them an expression that no one could 
 misunderstand. 
 
 When we turned from Broadway into 
 Cortlandt Street the tumult partly subsided ; 
 but after crossing the ferry to Jersey City it 
 began again. There were demonstrative 
 crowds in the railroad depot, and as the 
 train moved off they followed it with cheers 
 that were repeated at every station on the 
 route to Philadelphia. It did not take long 
 to discover that transportation by railroad 
 train, with a regiment of troops on board, 
 was by no means a luxurious mode of trav- 
 eling. With no seats to spare, many stand- 
 ing in the aisles, and the remaining space 
 encumbered with arms and accoutrements, 
 there was little opportunity for ease or com- 
 fort; and as for sleep, that was out of the 
 
 lO 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 question. Sometime after midnight we 
 reached Philadelphia, and were transferred 
 to the cars for Washington, at the depot of 
 the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore 
 railroad. But here our onward movement 
 ceased. The train rested stationary in the 
 depot. Expecting every moment the signal 
 for starting, we could only wait patiently 
 until it should come. Nevertheless the 
 night wore away, the gray dawn found us 
 still waiting, and no locomotive had even 
 been coupled on to the train. What could 
 be the cause of such delay, when everything 
 demanded promptitude and celerity"? We 
 already knew that the Sixth Massachusetts, 
 the pioneer regiment in advance, had been 
 attacked the day before in the streets of 
 Baltimore, and had only forced its way 
 through the mob at the expense of fighting 
 and bloodshed. Was our own march to be 
 obstructed at the outset by a rebellious city, 
 standing like a fortress across the route *? 
 Or were the railroad officials in sympathy 
 with secession, and purposely hampering our 
 movements by pretended friendship and 
 false excuses'? The Eighth Massachusetts, 
 which had left New York some hours 
 before us, was also in the depot, on board 
 II 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 another train, equally helpless with our- 
 selves, and apparently with as little prospect 
 of getting away. As daylight came, we 
 began to straggle out of the car-house and 
 up and down the streets of what was then 
 a rather desolate looking neighborhood. 
 The necessity of foraging for breakfast gave 
 us for a while some little diversion and 
 occupation ; but that was soon over, and all 
 the forenoon our uneasiness was on the in- 
 crease. Who could tell what might be 
 happening even then at the national capital? 
 And thus far we had barely accomplished 
 one third of the distance from New York 
 to Washington. There were interviews 
 and consultations between the field officers 
 and the railroad authorities; and General 
 Benjamin F. Butler, who was in command 
 of both Massachusetts regiments, also ap- 
 peared upon the scene. But for the rest of 
 us there was little food for thought beyond 
 rumors, doubts, and surmises. So we kept 
 on rambling to and fro near the depot, and 
 wondering when this thing would come to 
 an end. 
 
 Toward noon some information began to 
 filter through from headquarters, and we came 
 to understand, more or less distinctly, what 
 
 12 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 was going on. In reality the state of affairs 
 was this. The railroad managers were as 
 anxious as ourselves to facilitate the trans- 
 portation of the regiment ; but they had no 
 means of overcoming the difficulties of the 
 situation. The tracks through Baltimore 
 had been obstructed with barricades, so that 
 the cars could not pass. Even if these 
 should be cleared away, there was no cer- 
 tainty that the company could retain control 
 of the depots and rolling stock on the other 
 side of the city. That would depend on 
 the cooperation of the police and perhaps of 
 the city militia, neither of which were felt 
 to be reliable. In fact, the Governor of 
 Maryland and the Mayor of Baltimore had 
 both sent despatches strongly objecting to 
 the further passage of troops through the 
 city in its present excited and disorderly 
 condition. Between the Maryland state 
 line and Baltimore there were two railroad 
 bridges, crossing the Little Gunpowder and 
 Bush rivers; and both these bridges had 
 been destroyed by secessionists during the 
 night. To repair them would need the 
 protection of an armed force, and would be 
 a matter of further uncertainty and delay. 
 The object of the regiment was to reach 
 
 13 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 Washington at the earliest possible moment; 
 and for that purpose the route by Baltimore 
 was evidently impracticable. 
 
 The next accessible point was Annapolis 
 on the Chesapeake Bay, where the grounds 
 of the United States Naval Academy, located 
 at the harbor, offered an additional advan- 
 tage. It could be reached by either of two 
 ways. The Philadelphia, Wilmington and 
 Baltimore railroad runs direct from Phila- 
 delphia to the mouth of the Susquehanna 
 river, at the head of Chesapeake Bay, where 
 at that time there was no bridge, the cars 
 being taken across on a steam ferry-boat, 
 the Maryland^ from one side to the other. 
 The troops might be carried by rail to this 
 point ; and then, taking possession of the 
 ferry-boat, might go down the bay, past the 
 harbor of Baltimore, to Annapolis. This 
 was the route selected by General Butler 
 for the Eighth Massachusetts. Our com- 
 manding officer, on the other hand. Colonel 
 Lefferts, decided to charter at once a steamer 
 capable of taking the regiment from Phila- 
 delphia round by sea to the capes of Vir- 
 ginia, and so up Chesapeake Bay to Annap- 
 olis. 
 
 This was accordingly done. The regi- 
 14 
 
IN WASHING TO.V WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 ment was paraded, marched down to the 
 pier, and embarked on the Boston^ a freight 
 and passenger steamer formerly running 
 between Philadelphia and New York. 
 Her capacity was just sufficient to receive 
 so large a company with the necessary 
 supplies ; and when all were on board there 
 was hardly more freedom of space than we 
 had found in the railroad cars. But no 
 more time was lost in waiting. That after- 
 noon carried us down the river ; by sunset 
 we had entered Delaware Bay; and the 
 next morning, which was Sunday, the 2 1st, 
 we were fairly at sea, headed south for the 
 capes of Virginia. 
 
 All that day we ploughed on over a 
 smooth sea, with a fair wind, a bright sun 
 and a clear sky. The scene everywhere 
 was exhilarating; and the interest of the 
 expedition increased every hour with the 
 uncertainty of what lay before us. We 
 were approaching a region where all was on 
 the border line between loyalty and seces- 
 sion, and which included the most impor- 
 tant military and naval positions in the 
 country, — Hampton Roads, Fortress Mon- 
 roe, and the Norfolk Navy Yard. Intelli- 
 gence from these points was eagerly looked 
 15 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 for, and early in the afternoon, when near- 
 ing the capes, we came within haiHng dis- 
 tance of a schooner bound north under full 
 sail. The information she gave us was that 
 of the destruction of Norfolk Navy Yard 
 and its abandonment by the United States 
 authorities. This had been done the day 
 before by order of the navy department, to 
 prevent the ships and ordnance falling into 
 the hands of the rebels. It was the best 
 thing to do in the emergency. All the 
 ships left there had been scuttled, the guns 
 spiked and the buildings burned; and the 
 enemy in possession could not have made 
 anything serviceable for aggressive purposes 
 under at least a month. But we were ig- 
 norant of these details. We learned only 
 that the navy yard was lost; and for any- 
 thing we knew to the contrary, Hampton 
 Roads might already be patrolled by rebel 
 gun-boats, and even Fortress Monroe might 
 have shared the fate of the navy yard. In 
 that case, it would be no place for an un- 
 armed transport, loaded with troops. As 
 we entered Chesapeake Bay and passed by 
 the suspicious locality, many eyes were 
 turned in that direction; and when fairly 
 out of reach of Hampton Roads, all felt 
 i6 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 relieved that our way to Annapolis was 
 once more clear. 
 
 That night our course lay up the Chesa- 
 peake, and at dawn on the 22d we were 
 anchored in the harbor of Annapolis. But 
 to the impatient and inexperienced volun- 
 teers it seemed as though the complications 
 of our journey were to have no end. Gen- 
 eral Butler had arrived the day before from 
 the head of the bay with the Eighth Massa- 
 chusetts regiment, on the steamer Maryland ; 
 and he had rendered good service in saving 
 the United States school ship Constitution 
 from a threatened rebel attack by towing her 
 out from shore toward the harbor entrance. 
 But in doing so his own steamer had 
 grounded on a shallow bar, where she was 
 now lying hard and fast, with the Massa- 
 chusetts troops still on board. The first 
 thing to do was to release her, if possible, 
 from this awkward predicament. Our ves- 
 sel, the Boston^ was again put under steam, 
 and harnessed with heaving-line and hawser 
 to the ferry-boat. Then she would go to 
 work like a willing draught-horse, and pull 
 this way and that for five minutes together, 
 straining every nerve to start her clumsy 
 load, but without eff'ect. Her paddles only 
 
 17 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 brought up from the bottom such clouds of 
 yellow foam that it made the narrow harbor 
 look like an enormous mud-puddle; and 
 with every new attempt we began to think 
 that instead of floating the Maryland we 
 should, in all likelihood, get stuck fast our- 
 selves. Finally, much to our relief, it was 
 decided to land the regiment and stores from 
 the Boston^ and wait for another tide to 
 liberate the Maryland. 
 
 So, in the afternoon the regiment landed 
 and occupied the grounds of the Naval 
 Academy. There we found that many of the 
 officers and cadets had left for their southern 
 homes, to side with the rebellion. Even 
 some of those who remained were by no 
 means encouraging in their words or man- 
 ner ; they were impregnated with the doc- 
 trine of state sovereignty, as something 
 equal or superior to that of the nation, and 
 they had an exaggerated idea of the num- 
 bers and audacity of the insurgents who 
 would occupy all roads and dispute every 
 mile of our advance. One of them told me 
 that he hoped that we would not attempt it; 
 and declared that if we did so, not half the 
 regiment would reach Washington alive. 
 I shall never forget the disgust that rose in 
 i8 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 my throat, at hearing a man with the uni- 
 form of the United States on his shoulders 
 offer a welcome like that to volunteers who 
 were trying to save the government that 
 employed him. 
 
 The Governor of Maryland, who was 
 then at Annapolis, also protested against 
 any forward movement of the troops, and 
 even against their landing. But these offi- 
 cial fulminations had no longer any weight. 
 It was only the physical obstacles in our 
 way that were now to be considered. In 
 the evening the officers gathered in council 
 round a fire on the greensward, and it was 
 decided to move forward at once by the 
 most practicable route. While this was 
 going on. General Butler joined the group 
 and was invited to speak with the rest. 
 The extraordinary character of this man's 
 career from first to last, his many clever 
 successes and preposterous failures, and the 
 furious denunciations he has received from 
 both friends and enemies, make it hard to 
 say what place he will finally hold in public 
 estimation. But the qualities he displayed 
 on that occasion deserve the cordial recogni- 
 tion and gratitude of all. When he spoke, 
 it was to the purpose. With a practical 
 
 19 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 insight and ready comprehension that took 
 in the situation at a glance, he swept away 
 in a itvf words the whole pretentious fabric 
 of state rights, local supremacy, inviolability 
 of the soil, and such like. The capital of 
 the nation, he said, was in danger from 
 armed rebellion. We were on our way to 
 protect it with an armed force. That was 
 a state of war; and it created a necessity 
 superior to every other claim or considera- 
 tion. All ordinary laws and authorities in 
 conflict with it must be in abeyance ; and, 
 as for himself, he should lead his troops to 
 Washington, no matter who or what might 
 oppose his passage. More than that, he 
 should seize upon any property or means of 
 transportation necessary to accomplish the 
 object, without regard to governors, mayors, 
 or railroad companies. 
 
 I have no doubt that the Seventh regi- 
 meet would have carried out its design if 
 General Butler had not been there ; but it 
 was certain that his intellectual promptitude 
 and directness of speech imparted new con- 
 fidence to all who heard him. He struck 
 the same chord in his written correspondence 
 with Governor Hicks. During the day he 
 had received from the governor a formal com- 
 20 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 munication, protesting against the " landing 
 of northern troops on the soil of Maryland;" 
 — to which he said in his reply: "These 
 are not northern troops, they are a part of 
 the whole militia of the United States, obey- 
 ing the call of the President." Now that 
 the question is settled, it seems plain enough. 
 But at that time it was a great satisfaction 
 to hear the doctrine of supreme nationality 
 proclaimed in the terse and expressive lan- 
 guage of General Butler. 
 
 It was intended that the regiment should 
 march for Washington by the direct country 
 road, a distance of about thirty miles ; and 
 .much of the time next day was spent in scour- 
 ing the neighborhood for horses, mules, 
 and wagons, to serve as ambulances and for 
 transporting the baggage and camp equi- 
 page. But in the afternoon dispatches were 
 received from Washington, directing the 
 troops to come, if possible, by the Annapolis 
 branch of the Baltimore and Washington 
 railroad, in order that this important line of 
 communication might be kept open for 
 future use. This was a single-track road, 
 running twenty miles northwest from Annap- 
 olis to its junction with the Baltimore and 
 Washington line. The depot at Annapolis 
 
 21 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 was closed and abandoned by the company, 
 and the track had been disabled for some 
 distance out of town. When General But- 
 ler, with two companies of the Eighth 
 Massachusetts, broke open the depot, he 
 found there a {^v<r passenger and platform 
 cars, with only one locomotive; and that 
 had been taken to pieces and rendered un- 
 serviceable. But the Massachusetts regi- 
 ment was largely composed of mechanics, 
 who were not only good workmen but en- 
 terprising and quick-witted. By a singular 
 chance one of them recognized, among the 
 fragments of the engine, a piece of machin- 
 ery which he had himself Fielped to make; 
 and he lost no time, with the aid of his com- 
 rades, in putting together again the dis- 
 jointed limbs of the locomotive, and making 
 it in a i^w hours once more fit for work. 
 Others repaired the railroad track in the 
 neighborhood, and before dawn on the 24th 
 everything was ready for two companies of 
 the Seventh to move forward as advance 
 guard on the line of march. 
 
 Soon after daylight the whole regiment 
 was in motion. The locomotive and a 
 couple of platform cars were in front, carry- 
 ing a howitzer with its caisson; and one or 
 22 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 two passenger and baggage cars served to 
 carry baggage and camp equipage, and to 
 provide for the transportation of sick or 
 wounded. The railroad embankment, which 
 was our only route, ran through a narrow 
 clearing in the woods, with low hills and 
 swampy lands alternating on either side. 
 The day was still and warm, and a few of 
 the men were prostrated by the unaccus- 
 tomed exertion and heat. About noon we 
 came up with the advance guard, and from 
 that point, after a short halt, all moved on 
 together. Missing rails and broken cul- 
 verts were a constant impediment to our 
 advance; and toward evening we came to 
 a deep and wide watercourse, where the long 
 trestle bridge had been burned a day or two 
 before. But these obstacles only seemed to 
 stimulate the volunteers. Heretofore their 
 annoyances and disappointments had been 
 from causes beyond their control. Now 
 that every difficulty was within reach, they 
 went at it with a will, and thought of no- 
 thing but how to overcome it. The ruined 
 bridge hardly delayed them three hours. 
 The engineer officer and his men went into 
 the woods on each side, where a hundred 
 busy hands were soon at work, felling trees and 
 
 23 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 hauling them into place; and before dark 
 the stream was spanned by a new bridge of 
 rough-hewn timbers that carried the train 
 over safely, and our march began again. 
 
 So it went on all through the night. 
 The missing rails had often been thrown, 
 for better concealment, into some deep pool 
 or watercourse near by. But after a little 
 experience, that was the very first place 
 where they were sought for and generally 
 found. If the search proved ineffectual, it 
 made little difference at last ; for at every 
 siding the extra rails were taken up and 
 carried forward on the train, to be used as 
 they might be needed further on. So the 
 track was made serviceable for ourselves, 
 and left in good condition for those who 
 were to follow. There was a line of skir- 
 mishers in front and one on each flank, to beat 
 up the enemy, should he be there lying in 
 wait. Once or twice a itvf marauders were 
 sighted, tearing up the rails or reconnoi- 
 tering our advance; but they all retreated 
 promptly, without firing a shot or waiting 
 for the head of the column, and none of 
 them were even seen by the main body. 
 That was all. The desperate resistance we 
 were expected to meet with from swarming 
 24 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 rebels and armed guerrillas turned out to be 
 a sham, When the advance guard about 
 daylight occupied the village of Annapolis 
 Junction, there was no opposition. The 
 regiment took possession of a deserted sta- 
 tion, and the railroad communication with 
 Washington at last was ours. 
 
 It is remarkable how greatly the presence 
 of an armed force conduces to friendly feel- 
 ing on the part of the inhabitants. No 
 doubt the secessionists hereabout had done 
 their best for a few days past to prevent our 
 ever arriving at Annapolis Junction. But 
 now that we were there, and especially in 
 need of a freshly cooked breakfast, there was 
 little difficulty in obtaining one for the offi- 
 cers' mess. The fatigue and drowsiness 
 that had been almost overpowering during 
 the night, gave way like magic before the 
 refreshmg stimulus of the dawn ; and the 
 keen morning air awakened an appetite that 
 demanded something better than pork and 
 hardbread from the haversack. Among the 
 neighboring farmhouses there were some 
 quite ready to supply our wants. 
 
 Early in the forenoon a train made its 
 appearance from the direction of Washing- 
 ton. It had been sent out to meet us, under 
 
 25 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 guard of a detachment of National Rifles, 
 a volunteer company of the District of 
 Columbia; and we were soon on board and 
 under way. The cars were crowded to the 
 utmost; but we were now nearing our des- 
 tination, and every discomfort seemed a 
 trifle. For some distance this side of 
 Washington the road was picketed ; and 
 before long we began to see at intervals the 
 head and shoulders of a National Rifleman, 
 with his fresh looking uniform and glittering 
 bayonet, peering at us over the bushes as 
 the train went by. Finally, about noon, the 
 city came in sight. It was Thursday, the 
 25'th. We had been six days in getting 
 from New York to Washington. They 
 had been days of doubt and anxiety, of 
 hindrances, delays, and stoppages. Every 
 hour was precious, and yet we knew that 
 with all possible dispatch we might still be 
 too late. And even now, at the outskirts of 
 the city, we could hardly help looking to 
 see whether the flag of the nation still floated 
 over the Capitol. The train rolled into 
 the depot, the regiment disembarked, formed 
 in column, marched to the White House, 
 reported to the President, and our journey 
 to Washington was accomplished. 
 26 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 There was no doubt about the sense of 
 reUef created by our arrival. After nearly 
 a week of isolation and peril, Washington 
 breathed more freely. The only troops 
 there before us were the Sixth Massachu- 
 setts, a handful of regulars, and about thirty 
 volunteer companies of the District of 
 Columbia, mainly recent recruits. The 
 Seventh was a full regiment, well disci- 
 plined and thoroughly equipped. What 
 was of still more consequence, it had opened 
 the door of Annapolis and reestablished 
 communication with the north. The 
 Eighth Massachusetts arrived next day from 
 Annapolis Junction ; and within another 
 week one more regiment from Massachu- 
 setts and four from New York followed by 
 the same route. After that, the city of 
 Baltimore ceased to be an obstruction, and 
 the trains came through from Philadelphia 
 as usual. By the middle of May there were 
 nearly twenty-five thousand troops gathered 
 for the defense of Washington. 
 
 For the first week after our arrival we 
 were quartered in the Capitol building; but 
 at the end of that time the regiment went 
 into camp a mile or so north of the city, 
 on Meridian Hill. This was a plateau of 
 27 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 about forty acres, admirably adapted for the 
 purpose. It was on the direct road to 
 Harper's Ferry, where the rebels were in 
 possession, and would give security against 
 incursions from that quarter. The camp 
 was on the east side of the road, where there 
 was a fine suburban estate, with a large, 
 square-built mansion house and outbuild- 
 ings. From the road entrance a well graded 
 avenue led up to the house porch, which 
 stretched its hospitable covering over the 
 carriage way. The house was occupied by 
 regimental headquarters and the staff officers. 
 In front were green fields and orchards, 
 falling away in a gentle slope toward the 
 city ; and beyond was the broad Potomac, 
 with the Virginia shore and Arlington 
 Heights in the distance. In the rear were 
 the lines of company tents, and an ample 
 parade-ground, where the regiment was re- 
 viewed every day or two by the President, 
 the Secretary of War, the general command- 
 ing, or some other high civil or military 
 official, who was usually as much an object 
 of inspection to the troops as the troops 
 were to him. 
 
 By degrees other camps began to spring 
 up round about us. On the opposite side 
 28 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 of the road were three regiments of New- 
 Jersey volunteers, under General Runyon. 
 A field in front of us was the daily exercise 
 ground of a mounted battery of the regular 
 army; and farther down, on the left, was 
 the Twelfth regiment of New York volun- 
 teers. The Eleventh New York, under 
 Colonel Ellsworth, was in camp below the 
 city beyond the navy yard. This regiment 
 was affiliated with our own through its sec- 
 ond officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Farnham, 
 who had been until then a lieutenant in the 
 Seventh, and had commanded the skirmish 
 line in the march from Annapolis. 
 
 The time was coming when the regiment 
 would have something else to do than drill- 
 ing and camp duty. Washington was saved 
 from the danger that menaced it at the out- 
 set; and so long as the troops were there, 
 it was secure from a sudden inroad. But it 
 had no permanent defenses. The Potomac 
 River was the limit of its territory. On the 
 opposite shore the rising ground of Arling- 
 ton Heights commanded all approaches from 
 that direction ; and every day, with a good 
 spyglass, we could see the fluttering of a 
 secession flag in the little city of Alexandria, 
 only six or seven miles away. This was a 
 29 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 precarious situation for the seat of govern- 
 ment and centre of military operations ; and 
 no one was surprised when it made an at- 
 tempt to burst its shackles. 
 
 On the 23d of May, at midnight, the regi- 
 ment was put in motion and marched down 
 through the city, to the neighborhood of the 
 Long Bridge. Its departure had been quiet 
 and noiseless, as if the expedition were a 
 secret to all but the commanding officer. It 
 soon appeared, however, from signs that the 
 uninitiated are not slow to comprehend, that 
 something more was going on than the night 
 march of the regiment. The order to halt 
 came from other sources to our own com- 
 mander. After some delay, a part of the 
 New Jersey brigade came up from the rear 
 and passed on in advance ; and there was 
 riding here and there of officers and messen- 
 gers, going and coming in various directions. 
 Nevertheless, everything was done in silence. 
 Not even the occupants of the neighboring 
 houses seemed to be awakened or disturbed ; 
 and it gave to the scene a mysterious kind of 
 interest to feel that we were on some errand 
 that neither friends nor enemies were to 
 know of until it was accomplished. 
 
 Again our column was on the march, and 
 
 30 
 
IN WASHINGTOiV WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 we soon found ourselves at the entrance of the 
 Long Bridge. We passed between the two 
 guard-houses, under the black timbers of the 
 draw-frame, and over its three quarters of a 
 mile of roadway to the Virginia shore. It 
 was the first hour of a moonHght night, and 
 half a mile farther on, at daybreak, the regi- 
 ment was halted and went into bivouac on 
 an open field by the roadside. 
 
 Not long after sunrise a horseman came 
 clattering along the road from the direc- 
 tion of Alexandria, and as he galloped by 
 toward the bridge, he flung out to us the 
 news, " Alexandria is taken, and Colonel 
 Ellsworth is killed." 
 
 This was one of the minor events in the 
 early part of the war that excited a wide- 
 spread interest, mainly from the dramatic 
 features of the incident. The Eleventh New 
 York had reached Alexandria by steamer, 
 and landed there about daylight. Imme- 
 diately after disembarking. Colonel Ells- 
 worth had left his regiment, and with a 
 small squad hastened to secure the telegraph 
 office, to prevent communication with the 
 south. That done, he noticed, flying above 
 the principal hotel in the town, a secession 
 flag. It was the flag we had seen so often 
 
 31 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 for the last fortnight from the direction of 
 Washington. The colonel effected an en- 
 trance, and with his companions mounted to 
 the roof, hauled down the flag, and brought 
 it away with him. When about halfsvay 
 down he was shot dead by the keeper of the 
 hotel, who was lying in wait for him with a 
 double-barreled gun. Instantly the soldier 
 next him discharged his musket in the face 
 of the homicide, and, driving his bayonet 
 through his breast, hurled his body down the 
 remaining stairway ; so that within a minute 
 both the colonel and his assailant were dead 
 men. None of those in the hotel knew of 
 the arrival of the regiment, and probably 
 thought they had to do only with a itw 
 raiders from abroad. 
 
 This news of the occupation of Alexan- 
 dria was our first intimation of the actual 
 extent of the movement we were engaged 
 in. The truth was that between midnight 
 and dawn about 12,000 men had crossed the 
 Potomac by the two bridges at Washington 
 and Georgetown, beside the Eleventh regi- 
 ment which went by steamer. They were 
 to hold and fortify a defensive line extending 
 from below Alexandria, around Arlington 
 Heights, to the Potomac River above George- 
 32 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 town ; comprising, when all complete, a 
 chain of twenty-three forts, for the perma- 
 nent security of the city on its southern side. 
 Our own destination was a locality not far 
 from our first bivouac, and where the New 
 Jersey troops, who had gone before, were 
 already breaking ground for the trenches. 
 
 Next day the men of the Seventh were 
 also set to work with pick and spade and 
 barrow, excavating the ditch and piling up 
 the rampart along the lines laid down by the 
 engineers. One fatigue party followed an- 
 other, all doing their best, like so many ants 
 on an ant-hill ; and before night the place 
 began to look something like a fortification. 
 When finished it was the largest of those on 
 the south side of the river, occupying a space 
 of about fourteen acres. It was an inclosed 
 bastioned work, covering the two forks of 
 the road; one leading south to Alexandria, 
 the other southwest toward Fairfax Court 
 House. It defended the Long Bridge, and 
 secured its possession for ingress and egress. 
 It was named Fort Runyon, in honor of the 
 general commanding the New Jersey brigade. 
 
 After a few days on the Virginia shore, the 
 regiment was ordered back to its camp at 
 Meridian Hill. It had been mustered into 
 
 33 
 
IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 
 
 service for one month, to meet an emergency 
 which was now past. Orders for its return 
 north were received on the 30th of May; 
 and on the 31st it broke camp and embarked 
 for New York, arriving there on the 1st of 
 June. It was then mustered out of service, 
 having been under arms forty-three days. 
 
 This was the " Washington campaign " 
 of the Seventh regiment. It was a campaign 
 without a battle, and the regiment was not 
 once under fire from the enemy. Its only 
 casualties were one man killed in camp by 
 the accidental discharge of a musket, and an- 
 other wounded in the leg by his own pistol. 
 But it came to the front at a time when one 
 battalion for the moment was more needed 
 than a brigade afterward. Though mustered 
 out as a regiment, it at once began to supply 
 material for other organizations. Of its 
 members in 1861, more than six hundred 
 entered the service during the war; over 
 fifty became regimental commanders; from 
 twenty to thirty, brigadier-generals ; and more 
 than one reached the grade of major-general. 
 With all this depletion, its ranks were kept 
 tolerably full by new recruits, and it was 
 twice afterward called into the field for tempo- 
 rary duty, once in 1862, and again in 1863. 
 
 34 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT 
 ROYAL. 
 
 AFTER my return from Washington in 
 1861, I resigned my commission in 
 the Seventh regiment, and looked for an 
 opportunity of more permanent connection 
 with the service. 
 
 The most attractive position which offered 
 was that of surgeon of brigade, recently es- 
 tablished by act of Congress ; and, a medi- 
 cal board having been convened for the ex- 
 amination of candidates, I appeared before 
 it, passed the examination, and in due time 
 received my commission as Brigade Surgeon 
 of Volunteers. 
 
 At that time each volunteer regiment had 
 its surgeon and assistant surgeon, who were 
 in general quite competent to the work they 
 had to do. Like other regimental officers, 
 they received their appointments and com- 
 missions from the authorities of their own 
 state, and were permanently attached to 
 
 35 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 their particular regiments, without being 
 either authorized or required to go else- 
 where. 
 
 But when the volunteer army came to be 
 organized into brigades, under command of 
 brigadier generals with a general staff, it 
 was found that there were no medical offi- 
 cers to correspond. They were needed to 
 receive and consolidate the regimental re- 
 ports, inspect the health of the commands, 
 establish field hospitals, and perform in every 
 way the duties of a general medical officer. 
 Such places were filled, so far as possible, 
 by the surgeons and assistant surgeons of 
 the regular army. But these were too i^-w 
 in number to provide for the large volunteer 
 force suddenly called into action; and for 
 that reason the new grade of brigade sur- 
 geon was created. My commission was 
 dated August 3, 1861. 
 
 But it was not until the first week in 
 October that I received orders to report in 
 Washington at army headquarters. On 
 arriving there, I was directed to join General 
 Viele's brigade and report for duty to that 
 officer. 
 
 General Viele's brigade was at Annapolis. 
 So, as soon as possible, I proceeded, with 
 36 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 my horse, baggage, and camp equipage, to 
 Annapolis Junction, and thence, by the 
 branch road that I had traveled with the 
 Seventh, to Annapolis. There I found the 
 general and his staff, quartered in the old 
 St. John's College, a little outside the town. 
 A locality always looks different when 
 you are arriving and when you are going 
 away; and, notwithstanding my brief ac- 
 quaintance with Annapolis six months be- 
 fore, now that I was coming to it from a 
 different direction and for another purpose, 
 I should hardly have known it for the same 
 place. 
 
 The building where we were quartered 
 was a plain brick edifice, several stories in 
 height, facing the town, with a distant view 
 of the harbor beyond. In front was the 
 college green, where some of the regiments 
 were paraded for the presentation ot flags. 
 One of these presentations was made, a week 
 after my arrival, by Governor Hicks, who 
 had now seen his way clear to support the 
 Union. In the rear and to the westward 
 were the regimental camps. 
 
 It soon appeared that the troops were 
 gathering at Annapolis in considerable force. 
 In all, there were three brigades : General 
 37 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 Viele's, General Stevens's, and General 
 Wright's, — the whole forming a division 
 of a little over twelve thousand men, under 
 command of General W. T. Sherman. In 
 Genefal Viele's brigade there were five regi- 
 ments, — the Forty - sixth. Forty - seventh, 
 and Forty-eighth New York, the Third 
 New Hampshire, and Eighth Maine. This 
 brigade was the earliest on the ground and 
 ranked first in the division. General Ste- 
 vens's was the second brigade, and General 
 Wright's the third. Each had a brigade 
 surgeon ; and a chief medical officer, from 
 the regular army, was attached to the staff 
 of the division commander. 
 
 It was also claimed that we were going 
 somewhere. Already a number of trans- 
 ports were in the bay, and others continued 
 to arrive, evidently for our accommodation. 
 Orders from the commanding general or his 
 adjutant were dated : " Headquarters, Divi- 
 sion E. C." These cabalistic letters were 
 supposed to indicate in some way our future 
 destination, though I do not remember ever 
 seeing them, either written or printed, ex- 
 cept as initials. After a time they were 
 understood to mean Expeditionary Corps; 
 but that hardly made us much wiser as to 
 
 38 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 how far or in what direction we were 
 bound. 
 
 At the end of a fortnight all was ready. 
 One by one the transports came into the 
 harbor and took on their load of stores, 
 artillery, ammunition, and wagons; and 
 finally the troops embarked. Our own ves- 
 sel, occupied by General Viele and his staff, 
 was the Oriental^ an iron-built ocean steamer 
 of nine hundred tons, formerly a packet run- 
 ning to Havana. She also carried provi- 
 sions and ordnance, and one or two compa- 
 nies of soldiers belonging to the brigade. 
 
 After saying good-by to Annapolis, our 
 vessels steamed slowly together down the 
 broad highway of the Chesapeake, past the 
 mouth of the Potomac river, almost as broad, 
 and the next day came to anchor in Hamp- 
 ton Roads. So far, our voyage was only a 
 preliminary. We had arrived at a second 
 rendezvous, where the remainder of the 
 expedition was in waiting; and we now 
 began to have an idea of its real magnitude. 
 Grouped around us over the ample road- 
 stead, there were war vessels of all grades 
 and dimensions, from a steam frigate to a 
 gunboat. Whether they were all to go 
 with us we knew not, but the number of 
 
 39 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 coaling schooners lying about seemed to 
 indicate that most of them were under sail- 
 ing orders. 
 
 However, there was more waiting to be 
 done before the final start, and we passed a 
 week without shifting our anchorage, Not 
 being responsible for anything outside our 
 own brigade, we devoted ourselves mainly 
 to cultivating the virtue of patience. Yet 
 we could not help feeling that such a mili- 
 tary and naval demonstration, gathered at 
 such a point, could not long remain a secret; 
 and that, wherever we might be bound, if it 
 were any object to arrive without being ex- 
 pected, the sooner we could get away the 
 better. For medical officers there was an- 
 other cause of anxiety, which I began to 
 appreciate almost as soon as our anchor was 
 down. When soldiers are on land it is al- 
 ways possible to care for their sanitary con- 
 dition. Camps can be cleansed and drained, 
 or shifted to better ground ; and the sick 
 can be placed in hospital, or isolated at a re- 
 spectable distance from the rest. But how 
 to do this with troops confined within the 
 narrow quarters of a ship "? And what if 
 some contagion should break out among 
 them, like smouldering fire in a haystack ? 
 40 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 Every exertion was made to keep the trans- 
 ports in fair condition as to cleanliness and 
 ventilation, and to watch for the appearance 
 of any suspicious malady. But every day 
 made it more difficult to do the one, and 
 added to the danger of the other. Fortu- 
 nately, we got through without any serious 
 mishap of this kind. 
 
 Meanwhile, we had some entertainment 
 in watching our naval colleagues, and trying 
 to learn what and who they were. They 
 were in frequent communication with each 
 other or with the shore ; and their trim 
 barges, with the regular dip of their oars, 
 and a kind of scientific certainty about the 
 way they went through the water, contrasted 
 well with the rather sprawly fashion of our 
 own boats and their soldier crews. The 
 commander of the naval force was Captain 
 Dupont. 
 
 His flagship, the JVahash^ a double deck 
 steam frigate of forty guns, was the most 
 imposing object in view. Then came the 
 sloops-of-war Mohican^ Seminole^ and Paw- 
 nee^ with gunboats of various sizes, and the 
 great transports Atlantic^ Baltic^ and Van- 
 derbilt, each of about 3000 tons burden; 
 making altogether, with the additional trans- 
 41 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 ports and supply boats, a fleet of nearly fifty 
 vessels. 
 
 At last the preparations were complete, 
 and on Tuesday, October 29th, the signal for 
 starting was given. Away from Hampton 
 Roads, through the mouth of the Chesapeake, 
 past the capes of Virginia, and then at sea, 
 with prows toward the south, the stately 
 procession moved along, every vessel in its 
 place. The flagship led the van, with other 
 men-of-war trailing behind, like ripples, in 
 two diverging lines. Then came the trans- 
 ports in three columns, formed by the three 
 brigades, and lastly a i^w gunboats brought 
 up the rear. The vessels of the first brigade 
 formed the right column, and as the sun 
 went down the Virginia shore was just sink- 
 ing out of sight. The weather was favor- 
 able, and every one felt pleased to see the 
 expedition now fairly on its way. 
 
 Our progress was not very rapid. Many 
 of the war vessels were slow-going craft, and 
 the rest had to accommodate their speed to 
 the leisurely rate of five or six knots. We 
 were fully twenty-four hours in making Cape 
 Hatteras ; and, notwithstanding the bad rep- 
 utation of this locality, we found there 
 hardly enough wind and sea to be uncom- 
 42 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 fortable. The main topic of talk was our 
 destination. No one in tlie fleet knew what 
 that was except the two commanders, Cap- 
 tain Dupont and General Sherman, The 
 commanding officer on each vessel brought 
 with him sealed orders, which he was not to 
 open unless separated from the rest. But all 
 were at liberty to guess; and in our discus- 
 sions there were three objective points fa- 
 vored by the knowing ones ; Bull's Bay on 
 the coast of South Carolina, Port Royal en- 
 trance about a hundred miles farther down, 
 and Fernandina in Florida. As I knew them 
 all only as so many names on the map, and 
 had no idea why one should be a more de- 
 sirable conquest than the other, I listened 
 for entertainment, without caring to choose 
 between them. Our military family was 
 made up of various elements, but all were 
 good-natured and companionable, and prom- 
 ised to grow still better on acquaintance. 
 General Viele was a graduate of West Point, 
 and we all looked to him for information in 
 regard to military affairs. 
 
 The order of sailing became somewhat 
 deranged after a time, though at the end of 
 two days we were still in sight of the flag- 
 ship, with from thirty to forty others in the 
 
 43 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 horizon. So far, the weather had given us 
 no trouble. But on Friday, November 1st, 
 it began to be rough. The sky was over- 
 cast, the ship rolled and pitched, and the 
 wind howled in a way that gave warning of 
 worse to come. As the day wore on, there 
 was no improvement, and before nightfall 
 it was blowing a gale. 
 
 There is a difference between a storm and 
 a gale of wind. A storm is disagreeable 
 enough, with the driving rain, the lead- 
 colored sky, the sea covered with foam, and 
 the wet decks all going up and down hill. 
 There is not much pleasure while that lasts. 
 But in a gale of wind, discomfort is not what 
 you think of. After the tempest has grown 
 and gathered strength for five or six hours 
 together, it begins to look threatening and 
 wicked. The sea is a black gulf around the 
 ship; and the great waves come rolling at 
 her, one after the other, like troops of hungry 
 wolves furious to swallow her up. A thou- 
 sand more are behind them, and she has to 
 fight them all, single handed, for life or 
 death. She must keep her head steady to 
 the front, and meet every billow as it comes 
 without faltering or flinching ; for if she 
 loses courage or strength and falls away to 
 44 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 leeward, the next big comber will topple 
 over her side and she will go under. 
 
 When a good ship is wrestling with such 
 a sea, she does it almost like a living crea- 
 ture. She sways and settles, and rises and 
 twists, and her beams groan and creak with 
 the strain that is on them. But her joints 
 hold, and she answers her helm ; and the 
 steady pulsation of her engines gives assur- 
 ance of undiminished vitality and motive 
 power. So long as she behaves in this way, 
 you know that she is equal to the work. 
 But what if the sea should grow yet fiercer 
 and heavier, and buffet her with redoubled 
 energy till she is maimed or exhausted % 
 She is a mechanical construction, knit to- 
 gether with bolts and braces ; and the steam 
 from her boilers is to her the breath of life. 
 However stanch and true, her power of 
 resistance is limited. But in the elements 
 there is a reserve of force and volume that 
 is immeasurable; and when they once begin 
 to run riot, no one can tell how severe it may 
 become or how long it will last. 
 
 So it was on board the Oriental. All 
 that evening the wind increased in violence. 
 Every hour it blew harder, and the waves 
 came faster and bigger than before. The 
 
 45 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 sea was no longer a highway ; it was a toss- 
 ing chaos of hills and valleys, sweeping to- 
 ward us from the southeast with the force of 
 the tornado, and reeling and plunging about 
 us on every side. The ship was acting well, 
 and showed no signs of distress thus far; but 
 by midnight it seemed as though "she had 
 about as much as she could do. The offi- 
 cers and crew did their work in steady, sea- 
 manlike fashion, and among the soldiers 
 there was no panic or bustle. Once in a while 
 I would get up out of my berth, to look at the 
 ship from the head of the companion way, 
 or to go forward between decks and listen 
 to the pounding of the sea against her bows. 
 At one o'clock, for the first time, things were 
 no longer growing worse ; and in another 
 hour or two it was certain that the gale had 
 reached its height. Then I turned in for 
 sleep, wedged myself into the berth with the 
 blankets, and made no more inspection tours 
 that night. 
 
 Next morning the wind had somewhat 
 abated, though the sea was still rolling hard, 
 under the impetus of an eighteen hours' 
 blow. The ship was uninjured and every- 
 thing on board in good condition. But 
 where was the fleet ? Of all the splendid 
 46 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO FORT ROYAL 
 
 company that left Hampton Roads four days 
 ago, only two or three were in sight, looking 
 disconsolate enough and pitching about like 
 eggshells. We knew afterward that two of 
 them had gone down, one had thrown over- 
 board her battery of eight guns to keep from 
 foundering, and others had turned back, dis- 
 abled, for Fortress Monroe. But on the 
 whole, most of them had escaped serious 
 damage, and, like ourselves, were again mak- 
 ing headway toward the south. Neverthe- 
 less it was a lonely day, and at nightfall we 
 had no more companions about us than there 
 were in the morning. 
 
 By this time we knew our destination. 
 The sealed orders were opened and the ship 
 put on her course. The next day, Sunday, 
 was bright and clear, with a smooth sea. 
 Other vessels began to appear, moving in 
 the same direction ; and before noon we were 
 off Port Royal entrance, with ten or eleven 
 ships in company. Stragglers continued to 
 come up as the time passed, and on Monday 
 morning when the flagship arrived, there 
 were already twenty-five or thirty sail around 
 her. 
 
 Any land looks pleasant from the sea, 
 when you have been knocking about for 
 
 47 
 
THE EXPEDITIOX TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 some days in bad weather ; and the South 
 Carolina shore had a particularly attractive 
 appearance for us, partly no doubt because 
 we knew it would still be rather hard work 
 getting there. It was ten miles away, but 
 the mirage made it visible ; and the long 
 stretch of beaches and low sand bluffs, with 
 their rows of pines, all sleeping in the quiet 
 sunshine, had a kind of luxurious, semi-tro- 
 pical look, at least to the imagination. Every 
 light-house and buoy had been removed, and 
 not a sign was left for guidance over the 
 bar. But soon a busy little steamer was at 
 work, sounding out the channel and placing 
 buoys ; and in the afternoon all except the 
 deeper-draft vessels went in. We were 
 among the first of the lot; and of those that 
 
 followed, many showed the marks of their 
 
 ^ ■J 
 
 rough treatment at sea. The big sidewheel 
 steamer, M'irifield Scott, came in dismasted, 
 and with a great patch of canvas over her 
 bows, looking like a man with a broken 
 head. Others had lost smoke-stacks, or 
 stove bulwarks or wheel-houses. But when 
 all that could get over the bar were collected 
 inside, they still made a respectable fleet. 
 The heavier vessels had to wait for another 
 tide. 
 
 48 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 That was early next morning, when the 
 Wahash came in, followed by the rest 
 A weather-beaten old tar was standing in 
 her fore channels outside the bulwarks, feel- 
 ing her way with lead and line ; and as the 
 great ship moved slowly by, we could hear 
 his doleful, monotonous chant, " By the 
 ma-ark fi-ive." telling that she was in thirty- 
 feet of water and going safely along. She 
 passed through the fleet of transports and 
 war vessels to her position in advance. 
 
 Meanwhile several gunboats had gone up 
 the harbor, to learn something about the 
 forts. They were firing away now and then, 
 either at the enemy on shore or at the rebel 
 gunboats hovering about beyond. We sup- 
 posed that their errand was only preliminary, 
 and felt no surprise at seeing them return 
 after an hour or two and again quietly come 
 to anchor. But in the afternoon, when the 
 flagship herself got under way, we expected 
 something more; especially as she had un- 
 dergone a transformation and was now in 
 fighting trim. Her topmasts were sent down, 
 and all her lofty tracer\- of spars had dis- 
 appeared. As she moved off, looking like 
 a champion athlete stripped tor the tray, 
 every eye follow-ed her in eager expectation. 
 49 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 Soon a pufF of smoke from one of the rebel 
 batteries, followed by the dull reverberation 
 of the report, and then another from the 
 opposite shore, spoke out their defiance, as 
 if they would like nothing better than to 
 begin hostilities at once. But there was no 
 answering gun from the frigate. On she 
 went, in the same leisurely fashion, as if she 
 had seen and heard nothing. More guns 
 from the forts, more smoke and more rever- 
 beration. Now she will surely open her 
 ports and show these blustering rebels, at 
 least with a shot or two, what it is to 
 fire upon a United States frigate. But no. 
 She seemed to pause awhile as if in doubt, 
 then turned and came slowly back toward 
 the fleet, followed to all appearance by the 
 parting scoffs of the enemy. It was im- 
 possible to repress a certain feeling of cha- 
 grin at seeing the flagship apparently chased 
 out of the harbor, on the first trial, without 
 even firing once in reply. 
 
 That was because we had been looking 
 at something we did not understand. After 
 getting the reports of the gunboats, the 
 flagship had gone up to obtain for herself a 
 itw more particulars as to the location and 
 outline of the forts. The cannonading was 
 
 50 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 at too long range to do her any harm, and 
 her expedition was meant for business, not 
 for show. 
 
 However, the next day must find us ready ; 
 and perhaps it would be none too soon. 
 We had now been four days, off and on, at 
 the harbor entrance ; and by this time all 
 South Carolina knew where we were and 
 what we had come for. Every additional 
 twenty-four hours gave the enemy more 
 time for preparation, without any advantage 
 to us; and the longer the enterprise was 
 deferred, the more difficult it would become. 
 But the next day there was rather a hiiih 
 wind, with considerable sea ; and accordingly 
 matters again remained in statu quo. That 
 was another disappointment. It seemed 
 almost impossible that it should be so. 
 Were these old sea-dogs, after coming six 
 hundred miles on purpose, to be delayed in 
 their work by a little rough water? 
 
 Well, yes. This was to be a contest 
 between ships and forts. The forts are 
 planted on the solid ground, and their guns 
 are mounted on level platforms, with every 
 angle of inclination sure and uniform. But 
 the ships are afloat; and if rolling about with 
 the sea, and their decks tipping this way and 
 
 51 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 that, their aim must be uncertain and much 
 of their metal thrown away. Of course, a 
 fort is not to be reduced by firing guns at it, 
 but by having the shot penetrate where it is 
 meant to go. Captain Dupont was a man 
 who had come to win, not to fight a useless 
 battle with no result; and the way he went 
 to work after the time arrived made it plain 
 to all that he knew equally well when to 
 stop and when to go ahead. 
 
 On the morning of Thursday, November 
 yth, everything was favorable. The sea was 
 smooth, with a gentle breeze from the north- 
 east. About nine o'clock the war vessels 
 began to move forward between the forts. 
 The transports were drawn up as near as 
 possible and yet be out of the line of fire. 
 Our own vessel, the Oriental, was the second 
 in position, General Sherman's being the only 
 one in advance of us. As for myself, I 
 climbed into the fore cross-trees, and then, 
 seated on the reefed topsail, with my back 
 against the foot of the topmast, I had a view 
 that commanded the entire scene. It was a 
 bright, clear day, with hardly a cloud on the 
 horizon. Before us lay the broad harbor 
 nearly two and a half miles across, guarded 
 on each side by the enemy's earthworks. 
 52 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 On the right, at Bay Point, was Fort Beau- 
 regard, and on the left, at Hilton Head. Fort 
 Walker, the stronger and more important 
 of the two. A little to the north of Fort 
 Walker was a high, two-story house, with a 
 veranda in front, the headquarters of the 
 rebel commander; and away beyond, moving 
 about in the adjoining creeks, we could see 
 the tall smoke-stacks and black smoke of 
 the rebel gunboats, watching an opportunity 
 to capture vessels that might be stranded or 
 crippled, or to chase them all, should they 
 be defeated. 
 
 And now the battle began. The naval 
 force in a long line of fifteen ships, passed 
 up midway between the forts, receiving and 
 answering the fire from each. Near the 
 head of the harbor, five or six were thrown 
 off for a flanking squadron, to engage the 
 rebel gunboats or enfilade the enemy's works 
 from the north. The rest, including all the 
 larger vessels, then turned south, and, passing 
 slowly down in front of Fort Walker, gave 
 her, one after the other, their heavy broad- 
 sides, turning again, after getting fairly by, 
 to repeat the circuit. From my position I 
 could see every shell strike. When one of 
 them buried itself in the ramparts or plunged 
 53 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 over into the fort, its explosion would throw 
 up a vertical column of whirling sand high 
 in the air, followed by another almost as 
 soon as the first had disappeared. When 
 one from the rebel batteries burst over the 
 ships, it appeared suddenly like a white ball 
 of smoke against the sky, that swelled and 
 expanded into a cloudy globe, and then 
 slowly drifted away to leeward ; while a few 
 seconds later came the sharp detonation of 
 the exploded shell. On both sides the con^ 
 flict was unremitting, and along the whole 
 sea-face of the fort its guns kept on belching 
 their volleys against the fleet. 
 
 About this time we noticed on our left, 
 close in shore, a gunboat that seemed to be 
 engaging the fort on its own hook. It was 
 a two-masted vessel, probably of six or seven 
 hundred tons, but it looked hardly larger 
 than a good sized steam tug ; and on its 
 open deck was a single big gun, firing away 
 at the southeast angle of the fort. It was 
 the 'Pocahontas. She had been kept back 
 by the gale, and had just arrived in time to 
 get over the bar while the fight was going 
 on. Her commander was Captain Percival 
 Drayton, a native of South Carolina, but one 
 of the stanchest and most gallant officers in 
 54 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO TORT ROYAL 
 
 the navy of the United States. The com- 
 mander of the two forts was his brother, 
 General Drayton, of the Confederate army, 
 whose plantation on the island was only two 
 or three miles away. 
 
 When looking at the new comer, I could 
 not help thinking how much expression 
 there may be in such inanimate things as 
 two pieces of ordnance. The way the gun 
 on the Pocahontas was worked certainly gave 
 the idea of skill, determination, and persis- 
 tency ; while that which answered it from the 
 fort was equally suggestive of vexation, haste, 
 and a little apprehension. No doubt it was 
 natural for the defenders to feel so, when, in 
 addition to the cannonading in front and on 
 one flank, another enemy should appear, to 
 harass them from the opposite quarter. 
 
 Through all this hurly-burly, the move- 
 ment of the war vessels was a masterpiece 
 of concerted action. Round and round they 
 went, following the flagship in deliberate suc- 
 cession, pounding at the fort with one broad- 
 side going up and with the other coming 
 down„ So far as we could see, not one of 
 them fell out of line, or failed to do her full 
 share in the engagement. It had been going 
 on now nearly four hours. The fire of the 
 
 55 
 
THE EXPEDITIOX TO FORT ROYAL 
 
 fort was somewhat lessened, but it was still 
 enough to be doubtful and dangerous. One 
 great gun in particular, on the southern half 
 of the sea-front, kept working away with 
 dogged energT. as if determined to inflict 
 some deadly blow that might retrieve the 
 fortunes of the day. After a while there 
 seemed to be a cessation. The If abash 
 stood motionless before her enemy. She 
 fired a single gun, to which there was no 
 response. Then a boat shot out from under 
 her quarter ; and pulled straight for the 
 shore. An officer landed, and went up the 
 blufts to the fort. For a moment we could 
 see his dark figure running round the par- 
 apet, then down and out by the sally-port, 
 and across the intervening field to the two- 
 story house, where it disappeared in the 
 doorway. A few moments later, at the 
 flagstafi'on the roof, a flag mounted swiftly 
 to the top, and then, in sight of all. the stars 
 and stripes floated out with the breeze, over 
 the coast of South Carolina. 
 
 What followed was a kind of pande- 
 monium. Cheers from the vessels all over 
 the harbor, with the tooting of steam whis- 
 tles and music from the regimental bands, 
 mingled in Ions; reiteration till every vocal 
 56 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 organ was exhausted, and the notes of the 
 " Star-spangled Banner " had traveled over 
 the Bay Point and back again. The trans- 
 ports began to move in, and were soon col- 
 lected as near the beach as they could safely 
 come. In an hour or two I went ashore 
 with General Viele and others of his staff, to 
 take a look at the surroundings. The fort 
 was naturally our first object of interest, 
 Three of its guns dismounted, with their 
 gun-carriages standing wrong end upward, 
 the parapet and traverses seamed with shot 
 and shell, and the ground strewn with pieces 
 of exploded projectiles, told of the hard 
 struggle it had gone through. The few 
 dead left by the enemy had been decently 
 removed by the marines who first took pos- 
 session. A day or two afterward the surgeon 
 of the fort was found in one of the galleries, 
 dead, and covered with sand from a bursted 
 shell. In the rear of the fort was a stretch 
 of open plain, also covered with fragments of 
 shell, over which the fugitives had passed in 
 their final rout, leaving behind arms, knap- 
 sacks, blankets, and everything that could 
 impede their flight. Traveling over this 
 field, half a mile or so from the fort, I came 
 upon the body of a stout fellow, who had 
 
 57 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 been struck down while running for his Hfe. 
 There was a gaping wound in his breast, 
 into which you might have put a quart pot; 
 but his countenance was as serene and quiet 
 in expression as if he had laid down by him- 
 self for a few moments' rest. 
 
 General Wright's brigade was landed that 
 afternoon. But it was slow work, with a 
 shelving beach and no wharf; and the rest 
 of us postponed disembarking till the next 
 day. When all were on shore, General 
 Wright's command was located at and about 
 the fort, and that of General Stevens some 
 distance farther on, near the crossing of a 
 tide-water creek. Our own brigade, which 
 held the advanced position, was about two 
 miles northwest of the creeks, on the main 
 road from that direction. The fort at Bay 
 Point was abandoned by the enemy without 
 further resistance, and was occupied by a 
 detachment from the second brigade. 
 
 I have understood that this battle made 
 some change in current opinion as to the 
 efficiency of ships and forts against each 
 other. A fort, or at least an earthwork, 
 would seem almost impregnable against ar- 
 tillery. It has no masonry walls to crumble 
 or batter down. Solid shot may bury them- 
 58 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 selves in its ramparts without doing the least 
 harm ; and when a shell explodes there, it 
 only throws up a volcanic eruption of earth 
 and sand, that settles back again nearly in 
 the same place. The day after the battle at 
 Hilton Head, the walls of the fort were 
 practically as good as ever, and within a 
 week or two its scarred outlines were all 
 smoothed over again. On the other hand, 
 a frigate or a sloop-of-war is vulnerable 
 throughout. A single shot at the water line 
 will make a leak, hot shot will set her on 
 fire, and exploding shells may derange her 
 machinery. Her oaken sides are a slight 
 bulwark compared with the twenty feet of 
 earth in the ramparts of a fort. 
 
 All this was thoroughly appreciated by 
 the enemy, who were prepared for the attack 
 and confident of success. Captured letters 
 and documents showed that they had entire 
 faith in their works and guns, and fully ex- 
 pected to sink the Yankee vessels and teach 
 them a lesson for their temerity. 
 
 But in one thing ships may be superior to 
 forts; that is, in their power of defensive 
 action. What decides the day more than 
 anything else is the number of guns in ser- 
 vice and the rapidity of their fire. Ships may 
 59 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 be brought from various directions and con- 
 centrated at a given place, so that their 
 united batteries will far outweigh the arma- 
 ment of a fort. At Hilton Head the Wahash 
 alone hred, in four hours, 880 shot and shell ; 
 and from the entire fleet no less than 2000 
 projectiles must have been hurled upon the 
 fort within that time. The earthwork itself 
 may withstand this tempest, but its defend- 
 ers cannot continue to work their guns. 
 After a time their fortitude must give way 
 under such a trial, and, as it was in Fort 
 Walker, the moment comes at last for a 
 final stampede. Of course, this implies that 
 the ships are present in sufficient force and 
 do their work in the right way. 
 
 But perhaps the victory was due, more 
 than anything else, to the practical skill and 
 originality of Captain Dupont. He saw at 
 once that the work at Hilton Head was the 
 important one, and that if that were reduced, 
 the other would be untenable. When first 
 leading his ships up the harbor in mid-chan- 
 nel, he engaged both forts at about two thou- 
 sand yards distance. On making the turn 
 and coming down again towards the south, 
 he passed in front of Fort Walker at eight 
 hundred yards. This distance was of his 
 60 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 own choosing, and he had the range before- 
 hand. But the guns of the fort had to be 
 sighted anew, in the heat and excitement of 
 actual conflict ; not an easy thing to do, 
 even for the most experienced. After going 
 again toward the north at longer range, he 
 once more made the turn and repassed the 
 fort on his way back, this time at six hun- 
 dred yards. So, the vessels were always in 
 motion, and after every turn presented them- 
 selves to the enemy at a different distance. 
 It was this second promenade of the ships, 
 pouring into the fort their terrific broadsides 
 at the short distance of six hundred yards, 
 that did the effective work of the engage- 
 ment. At this time, according to nearly all 
 the commanders' reports, the enemy's shot 
 mostly passed over the ships, injuring only 
 their spars and rigging. Throughout the 
 battle none of them were struck more than 
 ten times in the hull, none were seriously 
 disabled, and two of them were not hit at all. 
 Captain Dupont said afterward that he be- 
 lieved he had saved a hundred lives by en- 
 gaging the fort at close range. 
 
 After the first rejoicings were over, there 
 was a singular feeling of disappointment in 
 the North at the seeming want of result from 
 6i 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORTROYAL 
 
 the victory at Port Royal. It was expected 
 that the troops would move at once into the 
 interior, capture the important cities and 
 revolutionize the states of Georgia and South 
 Carolina. One of the newspaper corre- 
 spondents wrote home, a {tw days after the 
 battle, "In three weeks we shall be in 
 Charleston and Savannah ; " and in the popu- 
 lar mind at that time the possession of a city 
 seemed more important than anything else 
 in the way of military success. So when 
 the months of November, December and 
 January passed by, without anything bein^ 
 done that the public could appreciate, there 
 was no little surprise manifested at the in- 
 activity of the army in South Carolina 
 
 In reality the military commanders were 
 busy from the outset. The day after the 
 battle, Captain Gillmore, the chief engineer 
 made a reconnaisance to the north side of 
 the island, and laid out there a work to con- 
 trol the interior water-way between Charles- 
 ton and Savannah ; and before the end of 
 the month he had commenced his plans for 
 the reduction of Fort Pulaski, which in 
 due time were brought to a successful issue. 
 i5ut these movements, and others like them 
 were after all secondary in importance to 
 62 
 
THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 
 
 the main object of the Port Royal expedi- 
 tion, namely, the permanent acquisition of 
 Port Royal itself, as an aid to the naval 
 operations on the Atlantic coast. 
 
 The government at Washington was by 
 this time fully alive to the magnitude of the 
 contest and its requirements. One of the 
 most pressing of these requirements was the 
 blockade ; which must be maintained effec- 
 tively along an extensive line of coast, ex- 
 posed to severe weather during a large part 
 of the year. The vessels of the blockading 
 squadron must be supplied with stores and 
 coal at great inconvenience and from a long 
 distance ; and when one of them needed re- 
 pairs it must be sent all the way to New 
 York or Philadelphia to get a new topmast 
 or chain cable. This involved much ex- 
 pense, long delays, and the risk of temporary 
 inefficiency in the blockade. It was impor- 
 tant that the fleet should have, near at hand, 
 a capacious harbor, where store-houses and 
 workshops might be established, and where 
 shelter might be had for the necessary inspec- 
 tions and repairs. Port Royal was such a 
 harbor ; and it also served, in course of time, 
 as a base for further military operations. It 
 had been selected by Captain Dupont and 
 General Sherman in joint council. 
 63 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT 
 PULASKI. 
 
 THE sea islands of South Carolina and 
 Georgia are grouped in a nearly con- 
 tinuous chain along the coast, between the 
 mainland and the sea. They are flat, with 
 only a few slight elevations here and there ; 
 and there is not, over their whole area, a 
 single boulder, pebble, or gravel bed, nor any 
 spot where the ledge rock comes to the sur- 
 face. The soil at first seems to be sandy ; 
 but you soon discover that it has mingled 
 with it a fine black loam and is extremely 
 productive. It yields the " sea-island cot- 
 ton," a variety of long fibre, formerly much 
 valued for certain purposes of textile man- 
 ufacture. There is no sod or turf, like that 
 of the Northern states, but the fields not 
 under cultivation produce a tall thin grass, 
 which is soon trampled out of existence by 
 passing wagons or by soldiers on the march. 
 In the clearings are the live oak and the 
 64 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKT 
 
 great magnolia, both evergreen. The pal- 
 metto is also a conspicuous object, and the 
 dwarf palmetto grows abundantly under the 
 shadow of the pine woods. Everywhere there 
 is a large proportion of hard-wood shrubs 
 and trees with polished, waxy-looking, ever- 
 green leaves. 
 
 There are many extensive plantations, 
 where the owners often remain during: a 
 large part of the year. Their houses are 
 not grouped in villages, but scattered at a 
 considerable distance apart, each on its own 
 plantation, with the negro cabins usually in 
 long lines at the rear or on one side. The 
 roads from one plantation to another run 
 through the pine woods, or over the plains, 
 bordered on each side by cotton or corn fields, 
 and marking the only division between them. 
 There is seldom to be seen such a thing as 
 a rail fence, and of course never a stone wall. 
 
 Hilton Head, where we were now en- 
 camped, was one of the largest of these is- 
 lands. It was twelve miles long, in a gen- 
 eral east and west direction, and about five 
 miles in extreme width, north and south. At 
 its Port Royal end, the sand bluffs rose to the 
 height of eight or ten feet above the beach, 
 giving the name of " head " more especially 
 
 65 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 to this part of the island ; elsewhere they 
 were generally much lower. Along its sea- 
 front there was a magnificent beach, ten 
 miles long, broken only at one place by a 
 creek fordable at half tide. At frequent 
 intervals on this route there were marks of 
 the slow encroachment of the sea upon the 
 land. Often you would come upon the 
 white, dry stump of a dead pine, standing 
 up high above the beach on the ends of its 
 sprawling roots, like so many corpulent 
 spider legs. Once it grew on the low bluffs 
 above high-water mark, as its descendants 
 are doing now. But the sea gradually un- 
 dermined its roots and washed out the soil 
 from between them, till it gave up the ghost 
 for want of nourishment, and in time came 
 to be stranded here, half-way down the 
 beach. It looked as if the tree had moved 
 down from the bluffs toward the water, 
 though in reality the beach had moved up 
 past the tree. The same thing was g'oing 
 on all along the coast in this region. There 
 were trees on the very edge of the bluff, 
 with their roots toward the sea exposed and 
 bare, but with enough still buried in the 
 soil on the land side to hold the trunk up- 
 right and give it sap ; while here and there 
 66 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 was one already losing its grip and slowly 
 bending over toward the sea. When it has 
 nothing more to rest on than the sands of 
 the beach, its branches and trunk decay, but 
 its roots and stump remain for many years 
 whitening in the sun, like a skeleton on the 
 plains. 
 
 The chain of islands from Port Royal 
 toward Charleston harbor included Parry, 
 Saint Helena, Edisto, John's and James 
 islands ; in the opposite direction, toward 
 the Savannah river, Daufuskie, Turtle, and 
 Jones' islands. Inside these were other 
 smaller islands, the whole separated from 
 each other and from the mainland by sounds 
 and creeks, sometimes broad but oftener 
 narrow and tortuous, through which small 
 steamers could find an inside passage from 
 Charleston to Savannah. This communica- 
 tion was of course cut off when our troops 
 occupied Port Royal. 
 
 At Hilton Head I first made the acquain- 
 tance of the southern plantation negro. 
 Every white inhabitant had disappeared, leav- 
 ing the slaves alone in possession. Their 
 inferior appearance, habits, and qualities, their 
 curious lingo and strange pronunciation were 
 in amusing contrast with those of the blacks 
 67 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 and mulattoes we had seen at the north. 
 When I met one of them near the Jones 
 plantation and asked him whether he be- 
 longed there, his answer was this : " No 
 mawse, I no bene blahnx mawse Jones, I 
 bene blahnx mawse Elliot." Not having any 
 idea what he meant, I repeated the phrase 
 to General Viele, who had some familiarity 
 with the southern negro, and who gave me 
 the interpretation as follows : " No master, 
 I did not belong to master Jones, I be- 
 longed to master Elliot." Mr. Elliot was 
 the owner of another plantation near by. 
 Soon after we took possession of Hilton 
 Head, negroes began to come in from the 
 neighboring islands, seeking shelter and 
 food. They generally appeared to rate them- 
 selves at the value set upon them by their 
 former masters. One morning a young 
 black, of the deepest dye and most cheerful 
 expression of countenance, presented him- 
 self at brigade headquarters, and on being 
 asked whether any others had arrived with 
 him, he said with a delighted grin: "Yes, 
 mawse, more 'n two hundred head o' nig- 
 ger come ober las' night." Most of the 
 field hands were of this description. But on 
 each plantation there was usually one man 
 68 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 noticeably superior to the rest in manner and 
 language. He was generally the leader in 
 their religious exercises, and had the gift 
 of the gab to no small degree ; though his 
 uncontrollable propensity to the use of long 
 words and incongruous expressions often 
 gave a ludicrous turn to the effect of his 
 eloquence. 
 
 But whatever their grade of capacity or 
 intelligence, the negroes agreed in one thing. 
 They were well satisfied to live on the plan- 
 tations, without control of their former own- 
 ers, so long as the crops of the present season 
 would supply them with food. Their liber- 
 ation they knew was owing to the success 
 of the Union troops, and they showed a 
 much more intelligent comprehension of the 
 causes and probable results of the war than 
 they had been supposed to possess. But as 
 for doing anything themselves to help it on, 
 that did not appear to form part of their 
 calculations. They would work for their 
 rations when destitute, would obey when 
 commanded as they had been accustomed, 
 and they would aid the Union cause when- 
 ever they could do so in a passive sort of 
 way. But we soon found that we must not 
 look to them for anything like energetic or 
 69 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 spontaneous action. This seemed a strange 
 indifference to a contest involving the free- 
 dom or servitude of their race, and no doubt 
 accounted for much of the aversion after- 
 ward felt by our troops to the project of 
 transforming some of them into soldiers. 
 
 But if we had remembered where the 
 negroes came from, perhaps we should not 
 have been so much surprised. Their ances- 
 tors had been brought to this country from 
 the coast of Africa by slave-traders who had 
 bought them there. They were slaves al- 
 ready, when they were taken on board ship. 
 They had been captured in war, or seized by 
 native marauders, who took them for the pur- 
 pose of reducing them to slavery and selling 
 them for profit. They were consequently 
 from the least capable and least enterprising 
 of the negro tribes in Africa ; and their de- 
 cendants in this country were of the same 
 grade. If they could not resist being made 
 slaves by other negroes, how could they be 
 expected to take part in a war between 
 whites, even to recover their own freedom ? 
 
 Of course there were exceptions to this. 
 
 In the month of May following, a boat's 
 
 crew brought away from Charleston harbor 
 
 the barge of the Confederate General Ripley, 
 
 70 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT TULASKI 
 
 and escaped with it to the naval vessels out- 
 side ; and not long afterward the negro 
 pilot, Robert Smalls, and his companions ran 
 the gauntlet of the forts in the night-time 
 with the steam-tug Planter^ and delivered 
 her safely to the blockading fleet. But these 
 were rare instances, and nothing of the kind 
 happened at Hilton Head. 
 
 What the sea-island negroes appeared to 
 excel in more than anything else was hand- 
 ling an oar, which they did in a way quite 
 their own. In their long, narrow " dug- 
 outs," hollowed from the trunk of a Geor- 
 gia pine, each man pulling his oar in unison 
 with the rest, they would send the primitive 
 craft through the water with no little velo- 
 city. In lifting and recovering the oar they 
 had a peculiar twist of the hand and elbow 
 that no white man could imitate ; and their 
 strange sounding boat songs seemed to give 
 every moment a fresh impulse to the stroke. 
 These songs had no resemblance to the half- 
 humorous, half-sentimental " plantation mel- 
 odies " known to theatre-goers at the north. 
 They were more like religious rhapsodies in 
 verse. At least, they had many words and 
 phrases of a religious character; but min- 
 gled together, in a kind of incoherent chant, 
 
 71 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 with many others of different significance, or 
 even none at all. It was not its meaning 
 that gave value to the song ; it was its sound 
 and cadence. Sometimes the verse would 
 open with a few words of extempore varia- 
 tion by the leader, and then the other voices 
 would strike in with the remaining lines 
 as usual. Oftener than not, the song was a 
 fugue, every one of the half dozen boatmen 
 catching up his part at the right second, 
 and chiming in all the louder and lustier 
 for having kept still beforehand. Once in a 
 while the passenger would be startled at see- 
 ing an oarsman suddenly strike the one in 
 front of him a smacking blow between the 
 shoulders, at the same time injecting into 
 the melody a short improvised yell, by way 
 of stimulus and encouragement. Altogether, 
 I have seldom witnessed a more entertain- 
 ing performance than one of these semi-bar- 
 barous vocal concerts in a South Carolina 
 dug-out. 
 
 Our brigade camp was in a large cotton- 
 field lying across the road to the northwest. 
 At the' time of our arrival it was covered 
 with tall, scraggy bushes, their white balls 
 still ungathered ; and for a night or two we 
 bivouacked in the deep furrows between 
 72 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 them. But they were soon removed and the 
 surface quickly trampled down into a service- 
 able parade ground, with the regimental 
 camps extending along one side. Brigade 
 headquarters were in advance of the parade 
 ground, opposite the right of the line. At 
 one end was the general's tent, fronting 
 upon an oblong space, enclosed on its two 
 sides by the tents of the staff officers, order- 
 lies, and employees. Within the enclosed 
 space was a single live-oak, under which we 
 gathered in the evening round a fire, to 
 smoke our pipes and talk over arrivals, re- 
 connoisances, or projected expeditions. 
 
 For some weeks pork and hard-bread 
 were an important part of our fare. Our 
 private stores from the Oriental were soon 
 exhausted, and much of the commissary 
 supplies on the transport fleet had been 
 lost or damaged on the voyage down. For- 
 aging on the plantations did something; 
 and the general even secured a cow, which 
 he stabled alongside our camp. But she 
 was of very unprepossessing appearance. 
 Her only fodder was dry cornstalks; and 
 the milk she gave, in the opinion of most, 
 was worse than none at all. The same ver- 
 dict was rendered, after trial, on the native 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 beef. The most successful venture of this 
 kind was a young kid, secured in a day's 
 tramp, which I butchered and dressed my- 
 self, as being the only one of the staff enti- 
 tled to rank as sawbones. After a time sup- 
 ply ships and sutler schooners reached Port 
 Royal, and our days of short commons were 
 over. 
 
 But the most gratifying arrival was that 
 of our horses. They had been shipped with 
 many others, at the starting of the expe- 
 dition, on the steamer Belvidere, which 
 was among the missing when the fleet re- 
 assembled at Port Royal ; and hearing no- 
 thing of her, we had given her up for lost. 
 In reality she had been very roughly hand- 
 led in the gale, and many of the animals cast 
 loose, trampled on and thrown overboard ; 
 but she had managed to keep afloat and 
 make her way back to Fortress Monroe. 
 Here, after some delay, the remainder of 
 the live stock was reshipped and sent down 
 to Port Royal on another steamer. Fortu- 
 nately our own horses were among the sur- 
 vivors. 
 
 The process of getting them on shore was 
 something of a novelty. The ship could 
 hardly approach nearer than a quarter of a 
 
 74 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 mile from the beach ; so they had to be 
 dumped into the sea and make a landing 
 for themselves. The way it was done 
 was this. A gangway was opened in the 
 ship's bulwarks, on the side away from 
 shore ; and a gang-plank with cross cleats 
 laid over the deck to the opening. The 
 animal was then placed at one end, prepared 
 to " walk the plank " like a pirate's prisoner. 
 As he would never do this of himself if he 
 knew what was coming, he is half persuaded 
 into it and half forced. One man starts him 
 with a little gentle solicitation by the head- 
 stall. At the same time two strong fellows 
 clasp hands behind him, just above the hocks, 
 and as he steps forward they follow him 
 with increasing pressure toward the gang- 
 way; so that by the time he comes in sight 
 of the awful void beyond, his motion is too 
 rapid for effectual resistance and over he 
 goes with a final splash. 
 
 Most horses, on coming to the surface, 
 after a short reconnoisance make straight for 
 the shore, where they are taken in hand by 
 men waiting for them. But some lose their 
 heads and swim away in the wrong direc- 
 tion, so that they must be followed by boats 
 and captured or turned back ; and a few 
 75 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 will persist in getting upon some marshy 
 island or mud flat, wh^re they flounder 
 about until rescued with no little trouble 
 and difficulty. So we took the precaution, 
 for our own horses, to have a boat in wait- 
 ing alongside the ship, with a long halter 
 shank attached to the head-stall, by which 
 they could be guided to a safe landing. 
 On first coming up from his involuntary 
 plunge bath, the animal's expression is one 
 of unbounded astonishment and indignation 
 at the outrage ; but he soon follows will- 
 ingly in the boat's wake, and, once on shore, 
 is quite contented to find himself again in 
 friendly hands. 
 
 Every one in a brigade camp thinks his 
 own horse the best of the lot. He listens 
 kindly to the eulogies of his comrades on 
 their respective mounts, but with full per- 
 suasion that every one of them would ex- 
 change with him if he would allow it. My 
 own animal was a bay stallion, hardly more 
 than fifteen hands high and slab-sided as a 
 ghost ; and the deep hollows over his eye- 
 balls proclaimed that his tenth birthday was 
 already past. But he had plenty of light- 
 ning in his veins, and there must have been 
 royal blood in his pedigree, though it was a 
 76 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 Stolen one. He would go over broken 
 bridges wherever there were timbers enough 
 for a foothold; and I have taken him out 
 on a flatboat to the middle of a wide creek 
 and then walked him up a gang-plank to the 
 deck of a steamer without his showing the 
 least hesitation. Notwithstanding his slen- 
 der build, his power of endurance was ex- 
 treme, and the oddities of his disposition 
 were an unending source of surprise and en- 
 tertainment. 
 
 The next enterprise of the expedition- 
 ary corps was the siege of Fort Pulaski, at 
 the mouth of the Savannah river. It was 
 a formidable casemated work, situated just 
 inside the entrance, and guarding the ap- 
 proach from below to the city of Savannah. 
 It could not be successfully attacked by the 
 navy, owing to its size and strength and the 
 narrow limits of the river channel giving no 
 room for the evolutions of a fleet. The 
 only place where land batteries could be 
 planted against it was Tybee island, be- 
 tween it and the sea, where there were but 
 slender facilities for such an operation. 
 The island was half sand and half marsh. 
 On its sea-front was a shelving beach, backed 
 by a low ridge with a itw stunted pines and 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 bushes ; and on the land side there was little 
 more than a wide stretch of trembling mo- 
 rass, in full view of the fort and commanded 
 by its guns. Nevertheless Captain Gillmore 
 reported that the thing could be done ; and 
 early in December the Forty-sixth regiment 
 was detached from our brigade and sent to 
 occupy Tybee island. The city of Savan- 
 nah was fifteen miles above the fort, on the 
 south side of the river. 
 
 The part assigned to General Viele was 
 to establish a blockade of the Savannah 
 river, between the city and the fort. In the 
 month of January we struck, camp at Hil- 
 ton Head and moved southwest to the far- 
 ther end of Daufuskie, the last of the islands 
 in that direction suitable for occupation by 
 troops. From Hilton Head in direct line it 
 was only fifteen or sixteen miles ; but by the 
 circuitous water route through Port Royal 
 harbor. Scull creek, Calibogue sound, 
 Cooper river, Ramshorn creek, and New 
 river, it was nearly twice that distance. In 
 its general features the island was similar to 
 Hilton Head. Our quarters were on a 
 slightly elevated point, overlooking the low- 
 lands and waterways toward the Savannah 
 river, which was about three miles away. 
 
 78 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 In that whole interval there was absolutely 
 nothing to break the uniform level of the 
 landscape. It was at Daufuskie and there- 
 about that we came to know the singular 
 network of land and water communication 
 that marks the region. From the knoll in 
 front of our headquarters you might see, 
 some distance awav, the masts and smoke- 
 stack of a gunboat apparently sailing along 
 through the meadows. Her spars and per- 
 haps her bulwarks might be visible, with 
 nothing to be seen around them but a wide 
 expanse of grass-covered flats. Go where 
 she was, and you would find her in a creek 
 hardly wide enough for her to turn in, but 
 with ample depth of water and straight ver- 
 tical sides of black mud, like an enormous 
 ditch. Passing through one of these creeks 
 in a row-boat at half tide, with nothing to 
 be seen on either hand above the brink, and 
 other channels opening into it every half 
 mile or so, all looking alike, it would be 
 the easiest thing in the world to get lost, 
 and almost impossible to find your way 
 again without a guide. Steamers of light 
 draft and not too great length could pass 
 through most of these channels at the proper 
 tide. 
 
 79 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 On one occasion, after going down to 
 Hilton Head for some business connected 
 with the medical department, I took passage 
 at my return on the steamer JVinfield ScotU 
 carrying one of the regiments destined 
 for Daufuskie. She left Hilton Head at 
 an early hour, and in the forenoon reached 
 the sinuous channels northwest of Calibogue 
 sound. She was rather a large vessel to at- 
 tempt the passage, but with due care and a 
 flood tide the pilot hoped she might get 
 through. On coming to a bend in the creek 
 she would run her nose against the opposite 
 bank, then back a little and try again, turn- 
 ing slowly meanwhile, edging round by 
 degrees and rubbing the mud off the banks, 
 bow and stern, till she was clear of the ob- 
 struction and ready to go ahead again. At 
 last she came to a turn that looked rather 
 easier than the rest, but where there was a 
 narrow spit at the bottom running out from 
 one side toward the other. In trying to 
 pass, the vessel grounded on this spit. It 
 was still flood tide, and with vigorous push- 
 ing she might get over. So at it she went, 
 with all steam on and her paddles doing 
 their best. At each new trial she gained a 
 little, but it was harder work every time ; 
 80 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 and she finally succeeded, at full high water, 
 in getting exactly half-way over. Fifteen 
 minutes later there was no chance. She 
 was stranded, helpless, on the bar, bow and 
 stern both sinking slowly with the ebb and 
 weighing her down past hope of deliverance. 
 In an hour or two her main deck began to 
 crack open, and it was all the men could do 
 to get a few horses across the widening 
 chasm to be landed on the neighboring 
 flats. Then we all disembarked and made 
 ourselves as comfortable as possible while 
 awaiting other means of transportation. 
 But the Winficld Scott never left that place 
 till she was taken away piecemeal. She 
 had weathered the November gale at sea, to 
 be wrecked on a sunshiny forenoon in Rams- 
 horn creek. 
 
 The troops at Daufuskie were a part of 
 the old brigade, together with the Sixth Con- 
 necticut, two or three companies of artillery, 
 and a detachment of the First New York 
 Engineers. The last were extremely use- 
 ful, as much of the work to be done was of 
 an engineering character. The spot selected 
 for the first blockading battery was a part 
 of Jones' island called " Venus Point," on 
 the north shore of the Savannah river, four 
 8i 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 miles above Fort Pulaski. To reach it 
 from Daufuskie we had to pass by boats 
 through New river and Wright river into 
 Mud river, and thence across the marshy- 
 surface of Jones' island to Venus Point, a 
 distance altogether of nearly five miles. The 
 opening from Wright river into Mud river 
 was an artificial passage called Wall's Cut, 
 excavated some years before to enable steam- 
 ers from Charleston by the inside route to 
 get into the Savannah river. It had been 
 obstructed after the battle of Port Royal by 
 an old hulk placed crosswise and secured by 
 piles, to prevent the passage of our gunboats. 
 A company of the New York Engineers, 
 under Major Beard, opened the passage 
 again by removing the piles and swinging 
 the hulk round lengthwise against the bank, 
 where it now lay, a dismal looking object, 
 abandoned at last by friend and foe. 
 
 Military operations often seem to be go- 
 ing on very slowly, especially to those at a 
 distance who are unacquainted with the local 
 conditions ; but the work required for an en- 
 terprise like the investment of Fort Pulaski, 
 as we soon found, cannot be done in a hurry. 
 First of all there must be night reconnoi- 
 sances by capable and well informed officers, 
 82 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 through intricate waterways and over path- 
 less islands, to learn the position of the en- 
 emy, the obstacles to be encountered, and 
 the available points for occupation. After 
 that begins the labor of the troops. 
 Wharves must be built and roads cleared, 
 before the barges and steamers can be used 
 to advantage for transportation. Jones' is- 
 land, the intended location of the battery, 
 was like its neighbors, a marshy flat cov- 
 ered with reeds and tall grass. Its surface 
 was so treacherous that a pole or a stick 
 could be thrust down through its superficial 
 layer of tangled roots into a fathomless un- 
 derlying quagmire of soft mud. Twice a 
 month, at the spring tides, it was flooded 
 almost everywhere to the depth of several 
 inches ; and at no time would it bear with 
 safety a horse, a wagon, or even a loaded 
 wheelbarrow. For the transportation of 
 anything weighty over its surface to Venus 
 Point, it must have an artificial causeway. 
 
 Early in February the troops on Daufus- 
 kie were set to work in the pine woods, cut- 
 ting down saplings of the proper size, and 
 carrying them on their shoulders to a newly 
 built wharf on the west side of the island. 
 Ten thousand of these poles were thus 
 
 83 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 brought from the woods to the water front, 
 there loaded on flatboats and towed round 
 to the landing place at Jones' island. There 
 they were laid crosswise on the surface, to 
 form a corduroy road, about three-quarters 
 of a mile in length, to Venus Point. Then 
 sandbags were carried over, to make some- 
 thing like firm ground for the gun-platforms, 
 and a dry spot for the magazine. All the 
 work at this place had to be done in the 
 night time, as it was in full view of the 
 rebel steamers passing every itw days up 
 and down the river. 
 
 At last all was ready for taking over the 
 armament of the battery. In the afternoon 
 I went over the corduroy toward Venus 
 Point, and at my return about dusk, two of 
 the guns were starting on the same road. It 
 looked then as if the officers and men in 
 charge would have no easy time of it, but 
 their difficulties turned out much greater 
 than I supposed. It took all that night and 
 the next to get the guns over and put them 
 in place. With the carriage wheels guided 
 on a double row of planks laid end to end, 
 taken up in the rear and laid down in front 
 as the procession moved on, the shifting 
 tramways were soon covered with the island 
 84 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 mud, smooth and slippery as so much muci- 
 lage. When a wheel happened to get over 
 the edge of its plank, down it would go, 
 hub deep, in the soft morass ; and then the 
 men must set to work with levers to lift it 
 out again, themselves immersed up to their 
 knees in the same material. Many of them 
 encased their feet and legs in empty sand- 
 bags tied at the knee, for protection against 
 the all pervading mud. It was an exhaust- 
 ing labor, sometimes almost disheartening; 
 but perseverance at last prevailed, and on 
 the morning of the twelfth the six guns 
 were all in position. 
 
 The next day I paid another visit to the 
 work at Venus Point to see how it looked. 
 It could hardly be called a fort. It was 
 only a place where some platforms had been 
 laid down and guns mounted, enclosed by 
 a low parapet, not so much to repel an en- 
 emy as to keep out the tides. Nevertheless 
 it was named Fort Vulcan, perhaps because 
 it was better fitted for aggression than for 
 defense. 
 
 While I was there it happened that the 
 rebel steamer came down on her usual trip 
 from Savannah to Fort Pulaski, and the bat- 
 tery opened on her for the first time. She 
 
 85 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 was an ordinary river steamboat, painted 
 white ; and her name, the Ida^ could be 
 read with a good glass upon her wheelhouse. 
 She evidently suspected something new at 
 Venus Point and hugged the farther edge of 
 the channel. After some shots had been 
 launched at her, the artillery officer in charge 
 invited me to try my hand at the game. So 
 I sighted one of the guns as well as I could 
 guess at her speed and distance, pulled the 
 lanyard, and watched the effect of the dis- 
 charge with no little interest. It was the 
 first time I had ever had the opportunity of 
 firing at a steamboat. As might be ex- 
 pected, I failed to make a hit. At that dis- 
 tance she seemed to be moving very slowly, 
 though she was no doubt making the best 
 of the time so far as she was able ; and 
 while my thirty pound projectile was travel- 
 ing across the river, she was going down 
 stream fast enough to be quite out of its 
 way when it got there. Apparently she es- 
 caped all the shots without serious damage, 
 for she kept on her course toward Fort Pu- 
 laski ; but she did not venture to risk it 
 again, and returned to Savannah by a circui- 
 tous channel farther south. 
 
 A week later the passage was more effec- 
 86 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 tually closed by a second battery established 
 on Bird island, opposite Venus Point and 
 near the south bank of the river. This was 
 the same kind of low-lying flat with the 
 other islands in the neighborhood. When 
 I made a visit to the work some days after- 
 ward, it was at the period of a spring tide, 
 and nearly everything beyond the parapet 
 was submerged. I was taken to the tent of 
 Major Beard, the commanding officer, in a 
 row-boat. The plank floor of the tent was 
 just above the water level ; but the major 
 was lying, high and dry, in a bunk of rough 
 boards, smoking his pipe with an air of 
 supreme satisfaction. He had been from 
 the start most active and efficient in the 
 work of establishing the blockade, and he 
 now held the advanced position, where it 
 hardly looked as if he had ground enough 
 to stand on. He was commissioned as field 
 officer in the Forty-eighth New York, but 
 had been detached for some weeks on spe- 
 cial service at Hilton Head and Daufus- 
 kie. 
 
 During this time we had at brigade head- 
 quarters several officers of the regular army, 
 whose acquaintance I greatly enjoyed. 
 Captain Gillmore, chief engineer of the 
 
 ^1 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 expedition, then about thirty-seven years of 
 age, was with us from the first. Cheerful, 
 hearty, enterprising, and wholly devoted to 
 his work, he was the moving spirit through- 
 out. He knew every detail of the engi- 
 neering and artillery service, and his know- 
 ledge was exact and thorough. It was his 
 examination and advice that determined the 
 plan for the reduction of Fort Pulaski, and 
 he fixed upon the location of all the batteries 
 on Tybee island. The river blockade from 
 Daufuskie was a part of his scheme, and 
 while there he spared no pains or fatigue to 
 superintend everything and make sure that 
 it was done right. After this was com- 
 pleted, he returned to Tybee island, to push 
 on the works at that place with the same un- 
 remitting persistency. The capture of the 
 fort was the occasion of a well deserved ad- 
 vancement in rank, and before the close of 
 the war he became major-general of volun- 
 teers. 
 
 Lieutenant James H. Wilson, topogra- 
 phical engineer, and Lieutenant Horace Por- 
 ter, ordnance officer, were both busy under 
 Captain Gillmore's direction. Neither mud 
 and water, nor rain or darkness seemed to 
 discourage them ; and they would come in. 
 
THE SEA ISLAXDS AXD FORT PULASKI 
 
 after a night on Jones' island, wet. weary, and 
 famished, but as lively and talkative as ever. 
 Wilson was afterward a cavalry general, 
 and it was a part of his command that cap- 
 tured Jeff Davis in his flight through Geor- 
 gia in 1865, the last brilliant exploit of the 
 war. Porter also became a general, and 
 served on the staff of General Grant through 
 the Petersburg campaign. Both were 
 transferred to the batteries at Tybee island 
 after finishing their work on Daufuskie. 
 General Viele's troops remained, to keep up 
 the river blockade, and prevent further sup- 
 plies reaching Fort Pulaski. 
 
 Our own headquarters had been shifted by 
 this time to a dwelling-house on the extreme 
 southernmost point of Daufuskie, about a 
 mile from the regimental camps. It was a 
 spacious well-built mansion, and from a sort 
 of open veranda on the roof there was a 
 wide prospect, including the mouth of .the 
 Savannah river, with Tybee island and Fort 
 Pulaski on the opposite shore, a little over 
 three miles away. I sometimes went up 
 into this crow's nest before sunrise, to watch 
 the strange effect of the morning mist. At 
 that hour the landscape for miles around 
 was often covered bv a low-lving bank of 
 89 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 white cloud, with a few clumps of trees or 
 small hillocks emerging from it here and 
 there like so many scattered islands, and 
 everything looking cool and still, without 
 a sign of animal life or human habitation. 
 Afterward, when the warm sunbeams began 
 to touch the surface of this cloudy sea, the 
 mists would slowly melt away into vapor, 
 and I could see the outlines of the roads 
 and fields and inlets and watercourses com- 
 ing out, one after another, like the markings 
 on a map. On two sides of the house was 
 a flower-garden with carefully trimmed beds 
 and walks, that had evidently been a favor- 
 ite with the owner. Roses and camellias 
 were in full bloom there in February and 
 March, and many other flowering shrubs 
 followed as the season went on. The car- 
 dinal grosbeak nested among them almost 
 within reach of the windows, and the brown 
 thrush and mocking-bird reared their broods 
 but a short distance away. 
 
 There was a similar house toward the 
 eastern side of the island, which we occu- 
 pied for a brigade hospital. After obtaining 
 the necessary stores and appliances from 
 Hilton Head, it made a very convenient 
 and useful establishment. Here we placed 
 90 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 all the sick or disabled men, likely to need 
 a prolonged treatment ; thus relieving the 
 regimental hospitals of all but their tempo- 
 rary cases, and giving the chronic invalids a 
 better chance for convalescence and recov- 
 ery. 
 
 We had a new topic of interest about this 
 time in the rebel iron-clad steamer Jtlanta, 
 said to be approaching completion at Savan- 
 nah. The country had just passed through a 
 spasm of terror and relief at the unexpected 
 performances of the Merrimac and Monitor 
 at Hampton Roads; and after that, every 
 one had a realizing sense of the devastation 
 an iron-clad might accomplish in case there 
 were no Monitor to oppose her. We knew 
 that such a vessel was getting ready at Sa- 
 vannah ; and for some weeks it appeared 
 doubtful whether our control of Venus 
 Point and Bird island might not at any mo- 
 ment come to a sudden termination. As a 
 matter of fact, the Atlanta was getting on 
 very slowly, and it was not until some 
 weeks after the fall of Fort Pulaski that she 
 could be put in condition to move. By 
 that time the monitor Weehawken was in 
 waiting for her; and on her approaching 
 and opening fire, disabled and captured her 
 
 91 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 in fifteen minutes. Nevertheless she was 
 the cause ot no little foreboding on Dau- 
 fuskie during the months of March and 
 April. 
 
 Meanwhile Captain Gillmore was erect- 
 ing his batteries on Tybee island along the 
 western side of the sand ridge, toward the 
 fort. Every night, under the cover of dark- 
 ness and silence, his working parties trav- 
 ersed a narrow causeway of fascines and 
 brushwood to the advanced positions, re- 
 turning before daybreak to their camps on 
 shore. As the low parapets and bomb- 
 proofs gradually rose above the surface, they 
 were shielded from view by clumps of 
 bushes carefully distributed along the front ; 
 and lastly the heavy guns and ammunition 
 were transported with the same precautions 
 to their destination. After seven weeks of 
 this labor, everything was ready. Eleven 
 batteries, mounting sixteen mortars and 
 twenty guns, were arranged along a sinuous 
 line following the edge of the morass. 
 From the lookout on our house-top all was 
 in full view, Fort Pulaski on the right and 
 Tybee island with its concealed batteries on 
 the left. At that distance nothing was visi- 
 ble to show the preparations on either side ; 
 92 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 but the first gun would be seen and heard 
 from our position almost as well as on the 
 spot. 
 
 Early on the morning of April loth it 
 began. A mortar at one of the batteries 
 gave the signal, and the rest chimed in, one 
 after another, as fast as the gunners could 
 get their range. By ten o'clock all were in 
 operation, mortars, columbiads, and rifled 
 guns throwing their shells at the parapet or 
 into the interior of the work, or battering 
 its nearest wall, at the rate of four discharges 
 per minute. They were answered with 
 equal activity by the guns of the fort. This 
 kept up all day long; the volumes of white 
 smoke rolling out from both sides, and the 
 reports, mellowed a little by the distance, 
 following each other across the river in 
 almost uninterrupted succession till night- 
 fall. Then the heavv cannonadinsf was sus- 
 pended; but every five minutes a shell from 
 one ot the mortar batteries was sent into 
 the fort, to keep its defenders uneasy and 
 prevent their repairing the damages of the 
 day. 
 
 From our point of observation we could 
 not tell what effect had been produced thus 
 far on the walls or parapets of either side ; 
 
 93 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 but neither the fire of the fort nor that of 
 the batteries appeared seriously impaired. 
 It seemed Ukely that several days might 
 pass before a decisive result, and we waited 
 patiently to see what the morrow would 
 bring forth. We could not cross directly 
 to Tybee island without coming under the 
 guns of the fort, and could only get there by 
 the circuitous route of Hilton Head, which 
 would take far too much time, and would 
 not, after all, give us so good a view of both 
 sides as we already had. Moreover, a new 
 mortar battery was to be established that 
 night, from General Viele's command, on an 
 island above the fort, to bombard it from the 
 rear. 
 
 Next morning the music of the great 
 guns began again. Neither side seemed 
 disabled or disheartened, and the cannonad- 
 ing went on much as it had done the day be- 
 fore. But we had our own duties to per- 
 form, and however interesting the spectacle 
 we could not watch it continuously. Early 
 in the afternoon I was at a little distance 
 from the house, when I missed all at once 
 the sound of the guns. One five minutes 
 passed by, and then another, but the silence 
 continued. What did it mean ? Were the 
 
 94 
 
THE SEA /SLAA'DS AiVD FORT PULASKI 
 
 batteries silenced, and the game played out 
 and lost? That was hardly likely, because 
 then the fort would no doubt become the 
 attacking party and keep on worrying the 
 batteries till they could be abandoned at 
 nightfall. Still this was only a surmise, and 
 we knew not what reason there might be 
 against it. Hastily regaining our observa- 
 tory on the roof^ every available telescope 
 was leveled at the parapet of the fort, where 
 a white flag was visible in place of the rebel 
 ensign. Pulaski had surrendered. 
 
 I do not think any one expected the end 
 so soon. The fire of the fort had been 
 nearly as vigorous the second day as the 
 first. Its means of active defense were evi- 
 dently far from exhausted ; and yet it had 
 given up the fight, as it were on a sudden, 
 while still able to hold its own and perhaps 
 tire out the enemy at last. But there was a 
 reason for this, which we learned soon after- 
 ward on our visit to the place. 
 
 Of course every one was anxious to see 
 the captured fort. On the following day 
 General Viele with his staff went on board a 
 small steamer and started for the trip This 
 time we were no longer obliged to take the 
 crooked route through Wall's Cut and 
 
 95 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 around Jones' island, but steamed directly 
 down into the Savannah river opposite the 
 fort. As we approached this frowning 
 stronghold that had so long held us at bay, 
 its effect was something to be remembered. 
 Its massive walls covering five or six acres 
 of ground, and its double row of heavy guns, 
 seemed well able to repel intruders. For 
 nearly three months we had looked at it with 
 a mingled feeling of desire and dread. It 
 would have been dangerous at any time to 
 show ourselves within a mile of it ; and it 
 would have been a prison to any who should 
 venture within a few hundred yards. Now 
 we could tie up at the steamboat landing, 
 and walk over the long pathway to its gorge, 
 unchallenged by any but our own sentries. 
 Inside, it was a strange sight; the parade 
 ground was scored with deep trenches to 
 receive the falling shells, and the interior 
 walls were fenced with great blindages of 
 square hewn timbers at an angle of forty- 
 five degrees. For the garrison had been at 
 work on their side, almost as hard as the 
 besiegers. In many places the blindages 
 were splintered by shot and shell, and the 
 passage-ways beneath obstructed with the 
 torn fragments. 
 
 96 
 
^ THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 The main effect of the cannonading was 
 to be seen at the southeast angle of the fort. 
 The outer wall was crumbled and ruined to 
 such a degree that two of the casemates 
 were open at the front and their guns half 
 buried in the fallen debris ; and the ditch, 
 forty-eight feet wide, was partly filled with 
 a confused heap of shattered masonry. 
 Here it was that Captain Gillmore had con- 
 centrated the fire of his breaching batteries. 
 As an army engineer, he was acquainted 
 with the construction of Fort Pulaski ; and 
 he knew that the powder magazine was lo- 
 cated at its northwest angle. This would 
 bring it, after the breaching of the opposite 
 wall, in the direct line of fire ; and when the 
 shells from his rifled guns began to pass 
 through the opening and strike the defenses 
 of the magazine, no choice was left to the 
 garrison but surrender. They found them- 
 selves in momentary danger of explosion, 
 and wisely lost no time in bringing the con- 
 test to an end. 
 
 The siege of Fort Pulaski was a very 
 different affair from the battle of Port Royal. 
 One was a naval, the other a military vic- 
 tory. At Hilton Head the troops could not 
 have landed anywhere except under the pro- 
 
 97 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 tection of the navy ; and after the reduction 
 of the forts there was no longer any enemy 
 to oppose them. At Pulaski the troops 
 took possession of Tybee island, which the 
 rebel commander had neglected or thought 
 it unnecessary to protect, and planted their 
 batteries on the only ground from which 
 the fort could be attacked. Some valua- 
 ble assistance was rendered by the gun- 
 boats in patrolling the neighboring sounds 
 and inlets, but the main part of the work 
 throughout was that of the artillerist and en- 
 gineer. 
 
 I do not know why the enemy failed to 
 interrupt this work by shelling the narrow 
 strip of land, more than a mile in length, over 
 which all the material for the batteries had 
 to be transported. They must have known 
 that something of this kind was the sole 
 purpose for which our forces had occupied 
 Tybee island; and their elaborate prepara- 
 tions for defense inside the fort showed that 
 they were fully aware from what direction 
 the attack would come. Perhaps after the 
 fort was invested from above, they wished 
 to economize their ammunition for the final 
 struggle. Still one would think that a 
 few shells expended while the batteries 
 98 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 were in progress would be of more ser- 
 vice than an equal number after their com- 
 pletion. 
 
 But perhaps the enemy were not very 
 well acquainted with Tybee island, and sup- 
 posed that our troops could reach the front 
 by some other route than the one they were 
 really compelled to follow. Notwithstand- 
 ing the proximity of the island, it is possible 
 that the rebel commander did not know its 
 important features for military operations. 
 In General Barnard's Report on the Defences 
 of Washington in 1861, it appears that at 
 that time the engineer corps of the regular 
 army had no accurate surveys of the region 
 south of the Potomac river opposite the na- 
 tional capital ; so that the proper location 
 for a number of the defensive works could 
 not be fixed upon until after our troops 
 were in possession of the ground. He even 
 says that many of our engineer officers were 
 more familiar with the military topography 
 of the neighborhood of Paris than with that 
 surrounding the city of Washington. If 
 the defenders of Fort Pulaski in 1862 were 
 equally ignorant of Tybee island, it might 
 account for their apparent inactivity during 
 the siege operations. 
 
 99 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS A AW FORT PULASKI 
 
 Captain Gillmore did not rest satisfied 
 with the reduction of Fort Pulaski. He 
 made it the means of further information in 
 gunnery and military engineering. His rec- 
 ords showed the number of shots fired from 
 each gun and mortar during the bombard- 
 ment, the percentage of those which were 
 efi'ective or failed to reach the mark, and the 
 depth of penetration of the different kinds 
 of projectiles in the walls of the fort ; and 
 he compared the results with those given by 
 the best military authorities. It was the 
 first time that rifled cannon had been used 
 in actual warfare against masonry walls ; 
 and he found that they could do more ex- 
 ecution at longer range and with less weight 
 of metal, than any of the older forms of 
 artillery. He showed that, with such guns, 
 walls of solid brickwork, over seven feet 
 thick, could be breached at the distance of 
 nearly one mile ; more than twice as far as 
 it had ever before been thought practicable. 
 Had it not been for his confident and steady 
 persistence in this design, it is likely that 
 the occupation of Tybee island would have 
 been a useless enterprise. 
 
 After the fall of Fort Pulaski the troops 
 on Daufuskie island were released for other 
 
 lOO 
 
THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 
 
 duty. General Viele was ordered north, 
 and became the military governor of Nor- 
 folk on its recapture from the enemy early 
 in May. Before the end of that month, I 
 was again at Hilton Head, acting as medi- 
 cal director for the troops at that point. 
 
 [Here the manuscript ends, unfinished.] 
 
 lOI 
 
After Surgeon Daltons service with the 
 Seventh Regiment of Infantry of The 
 Natio7ial Guard of the State of New York, 
 he was commissioned by President Lincoln, 
 August J, 1861, Brigade Surgeon of Vol- 
 unteers {afterwards Surgeon United States 
 Volunteers) ; served as Surgeon in Chief to 
 General Vieles command in South Caro- 
 lina ; as Medical Inspector of the Depart- 
 ment of the South ; and as Chief Medical 
 officer on Morris Island, South Carolina. 
 
 His health became seriously impaired by 
 his long continued service i7i the malarial 
 regions of the South, so as to incapacitate 
 him for duty, and he consequently resigned 
 from the Army, March 5, 1864.. 
 
 As soon as his health, never fully restored, 
 permitted, he resumed his work as Professor 
 of Physiology at the College of Physicians 
 and Surgeons of New York ; resigned in 
 1883 ; was elected President of the College 
 in 1884, and so continued until his death, 
 which occurred in New York, February 12, 
 188^, at the age of sixty-four years and 
 ten days. 
 
MILITARY HISTORY OF JOHN CALL 
 DALTON, M. D. 
 
 LATE SURGEON U. S. VOLS., 
 
 As shown by the records on file in the Office of the 
 Surgeon General U. S. Army, War Department, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 August 3, 1861 : 
 
 Appointed Brigade Surgeon of Volunteers from 
 New York. 
 September 22, 186 1 : 
 
 Reports from New York as awaiting orders. 
 September 23, 186 1 : 
 
 Assigned to General McClellan's command, 
 Headquarters Army of Potomac, S. O. 257, 
 A. G. O. September 23, i86i. 
 September 30, 186 1 : 
 
 Reports awaiting further orders. [Had asked to 
 be assigned to General Viele's command.] 
 October 8, 1861 : 
 
 Reported at Headquarters, General Viele's 
 Brigade, Sherman's Division, Annapolis, Md., 
 by orders from A. G. O. to November, 1861. 
 December 31, 1861 : 
 
 Is reported at Hilton Head, S. C., with General 
 Viele's command. 
 January 31, 1862 : 
 
 Is reported sick at Washington, D. C. 
 103 
 
MILITARY HISTORY OF JOHN C. D ALTON 
 
 February to June, 1862 : 
 
 On duty at Dawfuskie, S. C, and in South Car- 
 olina with Veile's command. 
 July 2, 1862 : 
 
 Transferred from Brigade Surgeon to Surgeon 
 U. S. Vols. 
 July to August, 1862 : 
 
 Acting Medical Director at Hilton Head, S. C. 
 September 8, 1862 : 
 
 To report to Medical Director in New York. 
 S. O. 228, War Department, September 8, 
 1862. 
 September 20, 1862 : 
 
 Reports from Boston, Mass., as being on sick 
 leave of absence. 
 September 30, 1862 : 
 
 Still sick at Boston, Mass. 
 October 18, 1862 : 
 
 Reports to Medical Director at New York city, 
 and is assigned to duty as Medical Director 
 of Transportation to August, 1863. 
 August 26, 1863 : 
 
 Ordered to report to the Department of the 
 South by direction of the Medical Director 
 Department of the East, New York, August 
 26, 1863. 
 September 8, 1863 : 
 
 Reports from Morris Island, S. C, that he has 
 reported to Medical Director of the Depart- 
 ment of the South. 
 September 15, 1863 : 
 
 Medical Director C. McDougall, Department of 
 the East, requests that Surgeon Dalton be 
 returned to that Department as soon as the 
 public interest will permit. 
 104 
 
MILITARY HISTORY OF yOHN C. D ALTON 
 
 September 30, 1863 : 
 
 Dr. Dalton reports from Morris Island, S. C, as 
 Chief Medical Officer. 
 October 10, 1863 : 
 
 Reports that he has been relieved from duty in 
 the Department of the South and ordered to 
 report to Medical Director Department of the 
 East at New York. 
 October 15, 1863 : 
 
 Reports at New York city. 
 October 24, 1863 : 
 
 Forwards copy of order relieving him from duty 
 in the Department of the South and ordering 
 him to report at New York city. [8. O. 558, 
 dated Department of the South, Headquarters 
 in Field, Folly Island, S. C, loth October, 
 1863.] 
 October 31, 1863 : 
 
 Reports that he is stationed at New York city 
 and assigned to duty as Medical Attendant 
 on Volunteer Officers, and Medical Director 
 of Transportation. 
 November 30, 1863 : 
 Same as above. 
 December 31, 1863 : 
 
 Same. 
 January 31, 1864: 
 
 Reports on duty at New York as Examining Sur- 
 geon of Recruits, and Medical Director of 
 Transportation. 
 February 29, 1864 : 
 Same as above. 
 March 7, 1864: 
 
 Resignation accepted by the President ; to take 
 efEect March 5, 1864. 
 
 105 
 
RB 
 
 9.3.^ 
 

 
 .-^ 
 
 ^;<^ 
 
 c^ 
 
 
 .0 
 
 
 » S\ t?^f //I ^ A^ " \n c,-^ *■ rC\\ fes /A o <> "^ 
 
 <■ ^ ?-. 
 
 
 p^,' / \ '•'Tf^T-'^* ^^ ■MWy^^^^' \ '^f:^ 
 
 
 S?J= -, 
 
 ,G 
 
 -. .o- ,.^-. -, .^.:^',--. '°\->S- °^ 
 
 
 ■/>?y>u 
 
 '^- 0^- 
 
 
 ."i;^^^: ^0^, 
 
 ^^. 
 
 0^ 
 
 ^^^x 
 
 b v 
 
 c 
 
 ,0 
 
 
 .f^ 
 
 
 
 " a <> . 
 
 .•■^^ ,G 
 
 A 
 
 <'. 
 
 
 'o V 
 
 x^--V 
 
 
 ^. 
 
 -W^', .1^ 
 
 ^. 
 
 ^^p^^ 
 
 
 :mM^^°' '"^^^ ">:^tB§^: "^'^^^ ^^^^M^v)^"; V'^ 
 
 ^^IS;^^ .'^^^ lW£W» aV-^ 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 0^ . V . o 
 
 *-., 
 
 ^ 
 
 v^ , . . -^ 
 
 .V 
 
 
 < ?>■ ° " ° ♦ <^Js 
 
 -^0^ 
 
 
 
 ,v 
 
 \^ 
 
 
 
 ^/; 
 
 
 
 ^'. \ ,/ 
 
 l,*o ^^ .<i, 
 
 
 
 ,j> . « = 
 
 ^o 
 
 
 0^ .^1 ^;4.% 
 
 ./f:^^^-/:^^^^^^ : 
 
 ,-^ .<^°.:;v ^ 
 
 .^^iXPK, 
 
 
 .0 
 
 ^'''^^. 
 
 FLA. :>;/, V-^;^' "^f^l^- ^"^ "^^^#%t V^;^ ,"k; 
 
 r V 
 
 :,2084 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 013 763 719 4 .*