Revelie this morning on the drums which is the first time
while we have been before Spanish fort. Soon as breakfast is over many of the
men go out to see the forts. The report on their return the roads & all
arond the forts in the very grond we walked over was planted with hundreds of
torpedos & it was a wonder that hundreds of men had not been killed, the
reason is the caps over the tops put there to protect them had not been removed
the Pioneer Corps are taking up dead loads of them, the cannon 30 in no were
spiked with wraught iron which is taken out of most of them all ready, directly
after breakfast the general blows, it begins to rain, is 12 before we move up
on the hill by Div Hd Qtrs when 4 days rations is issued to the men, is 1. P.
M. when we start out for Blakely when, we had gone about a mile Lt Rice rides
up & tells us the news at the landing is that Petersburg & Richmond is
evacuated & Lee fallen back to Lynchburgh, 2 mile out & just outside of
Smiths rear the 13th Ind cav is out on review Latter part of the roads very bad
& were until 9. P. M. getting to camp, in the evening we are on a forced
march for some purpose, as we near Blakely meet some soldiers who say. you need
not run yourselves to death for Blakely is ours. on inquiry learned that it had
surrendered about ½ hour before
having been carried by assault. Our men losst heavily many of them torn to
pieces by the explosion of torpedos captured about 2400 prisoners & 25
pieces of artillery, some 100 Ibers we meet 9. ambulance loads of wounded, hear
that 2 rams run in & surrendered after the fort had surrendered. The negros
in the charge are said to have taken few prisoners on account of one of their
men having been shot who was captured, (this is all rumor) a slight sprinkle of
rain this evening.
SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa
Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923,
p. 587-8
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