Yesterday we had a
very large fire here. About 9 o'clock a fire broke out on the commissary boat
"Admiral." I was "officer of the day" and was just about to
be relieved by Captain Prior. I hastened to the boat but found her so enveloped
in smoke that it would be useless to attempt to save her. The fire soon
communicated to the store ship "Philadelphia" which had on board a
large lot of loaded shell and cartridges. They soon commenced to explode.
General Dodge, Post Commander, soon came along and ordered all hands to
commence moving boxes of shells and cartridges that were on shore. Soon the
shells on the boat commenced to burst and fly all about; several of the men were
knocked down. The danger was very great but most of the men stood it well. Both
boats were a total loss. The other day when I was "officer of the
day" I had charge of the prison in which were a number of rebel prisoners.
No one had a right to enter without a permit from the Provost Marshal, the
commanding officer of the post or myself. A sickly looking woman with a baby in
her arms, a little girl about five years old beside her, came to me and said
she had walked thirty miles to see her husband who had been confined two months
on charge of being a guerilla. Her wan and dejected appearance confirmed her
story and I escorted her to the sick ward where her husband was lying. The
moment she saw him she rushed to his cot, threw her arms around him, the little
thing climbed up on his bed, and such tears and exclamations of affection I
have never heard before. At the same time another prisoner who was confined for
the same offence and who was lying directly opposite, died. His friends crowded
around his cot and they gave way to their tears and sobs. I could not but turn
away and feel the hot tears trickling down my own cheek; there was not a dry
eye in that room. I was the only Union soldier present and the wife turned on
her knees toward me and begged that I would let her husband go home with her,
that he was dying then, as he certainly was. He, too, begged me for his life,
but I, of course, was powerless to act in the matter. The friends of the dead
man crowded around and begged that they might be permitted to send his body
home, which was granted. I was only too glad to get away from such a scene. I
have more than my share of such duty as there are only four captains able for
duty, all the rest being sick. Making the grand rounds at night, with an
orderly for a companion, is not so pleasant when you have to ride through a
dense wood for ten or twelve miles. It would be an easy thing for the Rebs to
pick me off and I wonder they don't do it. I had a present from home of a box
containing cake, preserves, etc., from several of my young lady friends. It was
most acceptable.
SOURCE: Joseph Stockton,
War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier
General Joseph Stockton, p. 3
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