Sunday, 24th—It is raining again—there is nothing but rain and mud. Company B is now in camp and we received our pay today, including $50.00 of the new bounty. I got $63.00 in all. We received orders to be ready to move in the morning at 6 o’clock, and go to Cairo, Illinois. It rained all day and so we had to stay in camp. We had preaching here this afternoon. I had a couple of likenesses taken yesterday and today I am sending them away.
“Disappointment is the common lot of man.”
Huntsville, Sunday, April 24. Awoke to hear the rain pattering thick and fast on the pine boards overhead. At first I was dissatisfied with the anticipation of a wet day with mud —very blue, but at the thought of yesterday’s dusty ordeal I could but say, “blessed be the rain that clears the atmosphere and makes all nature look more pleasing when it ceases.” Cleared off into a most delightful day by 9 A. M., and I listened to a thorough scientific sermon from Dr. Boss upon technical points, existence of evil. His arguments were very concise and binding. Although differing in opinion I received many new ideas. He is one of the leading Southern clergy and formerly a rabid secessionist, and to-day he touched upon the war, but so nicely that it could not displease any of his audience which was composed of the two extremes, viz: Yankee soldiers and secesh women. He sat way up, he said, upon his faith in God, “looking down upon the struggle with as much composure as though they were but the convulsions of so many pigmies—God would do it right”. Just found it out I suppose. Two regiments of Osterhaus’s Division marched by toward Decatur this morning with no wagons or ambulances. Go to the front.
April 24.—The steamer John J. Roe was burned by the rebels at a point, below Natchez, on the Mississippi.—A scouting party of the First Michigan cavalry, sent out from Alexandria, Va., under command of Lieutenant Jackson, came across a band of rebel guerrillas, about nine miles up the Occoquan road, when a brisk skirmish ensued. Four of the rebels were wounded and taken prisoners. Lieutenant Jackson had two of his men slightly wounded, and succeeded in capturing one horse.—Governor Brough issued an order, calling the National Guard of Ohio into active service for one hundred days.
by John Beauchamp Jones
APRIL 24TH —Cloudy and windy, but warm.
We have none of the details yet of the storming of Plymouth, except the brief dispatches in the newspapers; nor any reliable accounts of subsequent movements. But a letter from Gen. Whiting indicates that all his troops had been taken northward, and we may expect something further of interest.
It is still believed that Lee’s and Grant’s armies are in motion on the Rappahannock; but whether going North or coming South, no one seems to know. Our people unanimously look for a victory.
I bought a black coat at auction yesterday (short swallow-tailed) for $12. It is fine cloth, not much worn—its owner going into the army, probably—but out of fashion. If it had been a frock-coat, it would have brought $100. It is no time for fashion now.
Gen. Johnston’s Chief Commissary offers to send some bacon to Lee’s army. A short time since, it was said, Johnston was prevented from advancing for want of rations.
Saturday, April 23. — General sounded at 4 A.M. Left camp at 8.15 A.M. and marched to within one mile of Patuxent River, about 14 miles, where we encamped. As usual with a new regiment, the men overloaded themselves and for the first five miles the ground was strewn with blankets, knapsacks and clothing. The day was excessively warm, and notwithstanding all our efforts, the men straggled a good deal. Captain —— left his company without leave, probably on account of Captain Putnam’s place in line.
23rd. Went to the White House and went through the East Room and two or three reception rooms. Eight very large mirrors in the East room, velvet and gilt papering, heavy brussels carpet, elegant sofas. Reception room surpasses anything I ever saw. Waited at Soldier’s Rest from 9 till 1 P. M. for Major Seward. Then got teams for baggage. Went to depot to have boats ready. Weather as mild and warm as in June. Streets very, very dusty. Willard’s and Metropolitan fine hotels. Passed Treasury Building. Moved at 4 P. M. to Camp Stoneman, via Giesboro Point by boat. Drew tents.
Saturday, April 23rd.
When the mail for the Company was distributed today, Sergeant Theben received a package containing two pairs of heavy woolen socks, and until I explained the situation, his gratitude to the unknown donor was unbounded. I had forgotten to inform him that at Stevensburg I had written home for the articles, and inasmuch as only enlisted men were permitted to receive such things through the mail, I had, without any regard for the postal rules, directed that they be sent to me via Theben, and hence the contretemps. Previous to leaving Fort Marcy, and following the advice of a relative who had been out for two years with Duryea’s Zouaves, I had supplied myself with woolen under and over shirts, but had neglected the socks, but with our experience at Stevensburg I made haste to complete the woolen outfit.
Yellow Bluff, Fla.,
April 23, 1864.
Dear Sister L.:—
The change of place indicated in my date is an accomplished fact. We came down here last Sunday. Yellow Bluff is on the north bank of the St. Johns about seven miles from the mouth. We have a fort here, a stockade and some rifle pits.
Our regiment garrisons the post and there are no other troops here. Having no other commander we have things all our own way. Captain Dickey is provost marshal of the post and I am commanding the company. Companies K and B are at post headquarters and do post guard duty and river patrolling.
Our court-martial, after a six-weeks’ session, was disbanded the day before I came down here, and on arriving I was sent on picket. Imagine a slashing of five hundred acres with an impassable swamp on each side, woods in front and the camp in the rear, and you have my field of operations. After posting my line, I selected a log in the center for my headquarters and awaited developments. They came. Development No. 1, a commotion among the darkies on the hill, the discharge of a musket, and beating the ground with clubs, ending in the reception at picket headquarters of a black snake seven and one-half feet long and thick as my wrist. No. 2, similar to No. 1, except the musket and the kind of snake; No. 2 being a brown cottonmouth five feet long. No. 3, 11:30 p. m., a bellow that beats all the bulls of Bashan, shakes the ground and huddles the darkies in heaps. Boys think it is a bear, but I conclude it is an alligator. No. 4, a buggy containing a woman, five children, a trunk and a box of tobacco, and drawn by a Florida pony arrives at the line. The woman wants to “Come over to you-all.” She is admitted and sent in to headquarters. No. 5, Lieutenant Young relieves me and I return to camp.
Well, as I told you, Company K is provost guard and river patrol. About all the duty I have is to patrol the river one night in three. The steamers Maple Leaf and General Hunter have been blown up by torpedoes, and our business is to prevent the rebels from putting down any more of them between here and St. Johns Bluff, six miles below. We have four boats’ crews beside the guard in the two companies. I come on to-night and I will give you an outline of the night’s work. About dark I shall leave the wharf with a crew of seven men and run down the river among the islands and past the mouths of creeks and bayous to St. Johns Bluff, keeping a bright lookout for any strange boat. I shall get out on shore, build up a fire and wait an hour for my oarsmen to rest, then come back again, reaching camp about midnight. Then I shall take a new crew and do the same thing over again, getting back at sunrise.
To-morrow night Lieutenant Griffin will go with his company, next night Lieutenant Thompson, and next I go again. After breakfast I shall take a snooze, then get up and play a few games of chess with the adjutant or somebody else, or perhaps go fishing. Fish are abundant here, and strange fish some of them are, too. Catfish just like our bullheads, weigh thirty pounds. Sheephead, shaped like a pumpkin seed with teeth exactly like a sheep’s, and lips too, for that matter. Garfish with a bill like a duck’s only hard and full of sharp teeth, and eight or ten inches long. Sea trout—Thompson caught one the other day that weighed twenty-six pounds, delicious eating. When one of them bites, it is a fair question which is caught, the fish or the man. Sea crabs and oysters are plenty, too. Don’t you think we can live?
The regiment is camped rather scattering. Two companies are in the fort, two at the stockade, and two here, two in reserve and two down at St. Johns Bluff. There are three or four houses here. One is used for headquarters, one as hospital, one commissary. Lieutenant Thompson and I have a tent with a fly in front and a floor under the whole. Captain Dickey has a tent for himself and one for his office. The men to-day are putting up “A” tents and discarding the shelter tents. Altogether we intend to be comfortable while we stay here.
The white troops are all gone or are going north and we are to stay and hold the river to prevent smuggling. Next time I will give you some description of the country and river scenery..
I am collecting some beautiful shells and curiosities to send you if I ever get in reach of an express.
I’ve got three little alligators a foot and a half long in a tub. I keep them for playthings.
Saturday, 23d—Company E reported for duty this morning, and in addition ten recruits. Our regiment has more than one hundred recruits. We signed the pay rolls this forenoon, and were expecting to receive our pay, one month’s, but as Company B has not yet arrived in camp, the paymaster withheld the pay. I swapped watches with Henry Clark, trading my cylinder escapement watch for his American lever watch, and gave $10.00 to boot. The boys still keep straggling into camp, and all who have reported are in high spirits and glad to return after their thirty-day furlough.
Huntsville, Saturday, April 23. Worked hard all the forenoon hauling the refuse from picket rope, but not to enrich the corn field as of old. Drew twenty-five good new horses direct from Nashville, nearly enough now. The weather was most disagreeable. Warm and sultry wind all day, driving the dust in blinding clouds, finding its way through the many cracks of my bachelor’s hall, settling in thick layers of clean dust upon bed, desk and everything, the dust filling my eyes, etc. Awful!
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