Companies "I" and "E" are to alternate in furnishing
what picket is needed across the river—about twenty men each day. Our party
went over this noon. We had been up since three o'clock this morning, and
manned the breastworks, but nothing came of it. The gunboats and Rodman's Point
had a duel, lasting till nearly five o'clock. As we went over the bridge at
noon we could see about two miles down the river, and all was peaceful—in
looks. The outposts being placed, the rest of us spent our time pitching quoits
with rings, which were found among the ruins of the old foundry (our camp), or
crawled into the ovens and slept till six o'clock in the evening. Then we left
camp: six on inside post, three on outside, and the balance at the breastwork.
We do not like being away from the company, but day after to-morrow others will
come over and we stay, changing work from picket to digging.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While
Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June
1863, pp. 45-6
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