May 10th. Heard this morning of the arrival of our advance at West Point. The troops had a small fight with a few rebels, but nothing to speak of; detailed companies F and G for a two days’ tour of building wharves; shortly after they left camp we were ordered to strike tents, and move forward to the ground vacated last evening by the Irish brigade. When we got there, we were obliged to detail half the regiment to police the ground before we could occupy it, the Irishmen having left it in such a villainous condition. The present site is close to the town, almost overlooking the docks; in the evening the colonel invited me to go in swimming with him. We drove down to the beach in a two-wheeled ambulance. Upon reaching a spot the colonel thought suitable, I got out and undressed, the colonel remaining inside to try the English plan, driving out far enough into the water, so that he could jump out, and swim without wading. When he got undressed and walked to the rear to plunge in, the old affair suddenly tilted up, and away went colonel and clothes, pell mell into the water! When he came to the surface and saw me laughing and the driver hiding his face, he swore like the army in Flanders, and pitched into the driver right and left; pretty soon, however, he began to laugh, too, but declared he would never bathe in a two-wheeled ambulance again. I sent the man back to camp to get him some dry clothes, so he was not very much put out after all.
