Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Wednesday, June 19, 1861

Embarkation of the Second Battery on the steamer Kill Von Kull, and of the Second Rhode Island Infantry, on the State of Maine.

Early in the morning the tents were struck, everything packed up, order was given to mount, and by nine o'clock we commenced our march through Westminster street; from thence, through South Main street, to India Point, where the steamers lay, and started by about four o'clock in the afternoon. The docks were crowded immensely during the day; the fair sex, especially, was strongly represented. Amid the pealing of cannon and the farewell cheers of the multitude, we gradually distanced the shore. Those present will well remember that memorable day. Gov. Sprague and the patriotic Bishop Clark accompanied the Second Regiment, infantry, on the State of Maine. On our approaching Fort Adams, we were saluted by the artillery there. By nightfall, we were made acquainted with the first government ration—pilot bread, the so-called salt-junk, and a cup of coffee. The meat was of a rather poor quality, although it was served out with good grace by our respected captain, W. H. Reynolds.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 6

Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas: General Orders, No. 12, April 27, 1861

General Orders,

No. 12.

WAR DEP’T, ADJT. GEN.'S OFFICE,

Washington, April 27, 1861.

1. The Military Department of Washington will include the District of Columbia, according to its original boundary, Fort Washington and the country adjacent, and the State of Maryland as far as Bladensburg, inclusive. Col. J. K. F. Mansfield, inspector-general, is assigned to the command, headquarters Washington City.

2. A new military department, to be called the Department of Annapolis, headquarters at that city, will include the country for twenty miles on each side of the railroad from Annapolis to the city of Washington, as far as Bladensburg, Md. Brig. Gen. B. F. Butler, Massachusetts Volunteers, is assigned to the command.

3. A third department, called the Department of Pennsylvania, will include that State, the State of Delaware, and all of Maryland not embraced in the foregoing departments. Major-General Patterson to command, headquarters at Philadelphia, or any other point he may temporarily occupy.

4. Bvt. Col. C. F. Smith, having been relieved by Colonel Mansfield, will repair to Fort Columbus, N.Y., and assume the duties of superintendent of the recruiting service; to which he was assigned in Special Orders, No. 80, of March 15. Major Heintzelman, on being relieved at Fort Columbus, will repair to this city, and report for duty to the department commander.

5. Fort Adams, Rhode Island, is hereby placed temporarily under the control of the Secretary of the Navy, for the purposes of the Naval Academy now at Annapolis, Md.

The necessary transfer of property will be made by the departments interested.

By order:

L. THOMAS,

Adjutant-General.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 2 (Serial No. 2), p. 607; Jessie Ames Marshall, Editor, Private and Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler During the Period of the Civil War, Volume 1: April 1860 – June 1862, p. 52 which contained an extract (No. 2) of this order mentioning Butler.

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant George G. Smith: June 24, 1864

Whole force landed at Fort Adams this morning. Cavalry scouts went out ten miles towards Woodville. Captured no rebels. At Fort Adams there is a mountain about five hundred feet high towering up like a sugar loaf. Up about forty yards from the base two indentures resembling the remains of old rifle pits are what are known as Fort Adams and Fort Washington. The former looks up the river and the latter down about thirty rods apart. I could not learn when they were built or what they were built for. My greatest desire was to stand on the top of that mountain and so Captain Pearson and myself undertook the job. The view from the summit amply repaid us for our labor. As far as the eye could reach to the North and South was the broad Mississippi fringed with the deep verdure of the cottonwood, while to the East stretching far into the interior was a succession of wooded hills full of grandeur and sublimity. To the front lying peacefully upon the broad bosom of the river were our beautiful steamers and a little to the right, with their camp fires blazing, was the human hive. It seemed strange that amid all the beauty and lovliness of nature around us that our errand there was to hunt and kill like wild beasts, our fellow men. Our musings were cut short by the muttering of thunder out of a black cloud in the West and we must hasten down, and we were none too soon for we hardly reached the steamer before the rain drops began to patter around us, and as though wonders would never cease, as soon as the shower had passed a little, the sun came out and a rainbow appeared directly over the mountain completely enveloping it like an aureola, one end of the arc resting on Fort Adams, and the other on Fort Washington. The mountain looked like a picture framed by a rainbow. All the troops went aboard the transports, and at ten p. m. we landed in Morganza. Nothing of importance occurred while we were here. It was guard duty and review.

SOURCE: Abstracted from George G. Smith, Leaves from a Soldier's Diary, p. 123-5

Major-General George G. McClellan to Major-General John A. Dix, September 5, 1861

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,

September 5, 1861.

Respectfully referred to the general commanding with a recommendation that the seventeen prisoners referred to by General Dix be transferred to some other place for' safekeeping; and I beg to repeat my suggestion that some other suitable place be selected for keeping prisoners at war that may be captured in future. For present purposes it seems to me that Fort Independence, Boston Harbor, or Fort Adams, Newport, might suffice.

 GEO. B. McCLELLAN,

Major-General, U.S. Army.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 2, Volume 1 (Serial No. 114), p. 593