For once I have been
so busy that I could not find time to note the thousand and one incidents of
our expedition.
Tuesday morning, at
two, our fleet of five steamers moved slowly up the St. Johns. Passed the
yellow bluffs, the night glorious in its blue, misty moonlight, the river wide
and beautiful. When daylight came we were delighted by the scenery of the
shores and the cosy looking homes scattered here and there.
Strange as it may
seem, the rebels were taken by surprise and the city was neither defended nor
burned, and we landed without a gun being fired. One man came down to the wharf
and caught the line when it was thrown off and the Col. was the first to step
on shore. Then followed Capt. Metcalf and Capt. Rogers with their men and soon
other companies followed, till pickets were posted in the suburbs. Meanwhile,
Col. Montgomery and Capt. Trowbridge with their men, started off in the
direction of the rebel camp. The John Adams, Boston and Burnside remain at the
wharves, while the Uncas and the Norwich lie out in the stream.
We expect to hold
this city, though I don't see how it is to be done without reinforcements. Our
men will do almost anything, but I don't believe they can do so much picket
service without exhaustion. Skirmishing is intensely exciting and they enjoy it
beyond measure. Yesterday they brought in a saddle and some instruments that
belonged to a surgeon of the cavalry, who was shot through the head. At every
fight our boys have put the rebels to flight, though they have twice made the
attack with forces superior to ours.
The rebel camp is
eight miles out. It is not easy for us to know their exact force. Under the
protection of gunboats, we are safe, but we hope, ere long, to be safe under
our own protection. Many of our men were slaves here, not long ago and you can
scarcely imagine the horror and dread the secesh have of them. We have a few
important prisoners, one of whom was a lieut. in the U. S. army and afterward
in the Confederate army.
Capt. Rogers is provost
marshal and has his powers taxed considerably. He likes his work exceedingly
and does it well. He rides a little secesh pony which he captured the first
morning here. I am sick of "loyal slaveholders," and would not resort
to the blasphemy of administering the oath to them. I think we are not doing so
much of this last as some commanders have done.
I should judge this
to be a town of 4000 inhabitants. It has excellent wharves and large brick
warehouses more than half a mile in length. The town gradually rises from the
river, back a third or half a mile. Streets and houses have gas fixtures, a New
England look to everything, streets beautifully shaded by live oaks, now and
then a Cornus Florida, the ground paved with its white petals, peach trees in
full bloom.
Our headquarters are
grand. The new brick house we occupy was owned by Col. Sanderson, one of the
ablest lawyers in the state and one of the most traitorous. He is in Dixie
while his family is north. I just now asked Serg't Hodges if he knew Sanderson.
"Oh yes, I was one of the carpenters who worked many a hard day on that
fine house."
There are probably
400 or 500 people remaining here. If everything goes right I shall convert the
Washington Hotel into a hospital. At present we keep sick and wounded on the
John Adams.
1 The report of Brigadier General Joseph
Finegan, dated March 14, gives the Confederate account. Saxton's report was
brief. 1 Records of the Rebellion, XIV. 226.
