Our troops are rapidly
evacuating Norfolk, and as all of them pass through Suffolk, we are, as a
matter of course, in a high state of excitement. It goes hard with our troops
to see such places as Yorktown and Norfolk given up without a struggle, but we
have every confidence in our leaders, and hope for the best.
To-day we completed
the reörganization of our company—our officers now being
Edgar F. Moseley, Captain.
Benjamin H. Smith, Senior First Lieutenant.
Henry C. Carter, Junior First Lieutenant.
James S. Utz, Second Lieutenant.
First Lieutenant,
John M. West, declined to serve, and sent in his resignation, making an
appropriate speech. We part with him with regret, for no kinder heart than his
ever beat within the breast of man.
To-day our
"right section," under the command of Lieutenant Smith, left for Zuni
station on the Norfolk and Petersburg railroad. We will leave in a day or so.
SOURCE: William S.
White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 114-5
