elapsed before the boys were somewhat familiar with sponge and rammer and handspike; and three months had not passed before they responded as readily to the commands, "Load!" "In battery!" "Fire!" as to the "Right-shoulder-shift-arms! of their musket drill.

During our stay there, we fired over two thousand pounds of powder in salutes, one hundred and fifty guns at the surrender of Lee, and two hundred guns upon the day of public mourning for President Lincoln. We were differently situated here from any other place in our service. The river abounded in fish and the very nicest oysters; and the boys had them fried, stewed, fricasseed, "on the half shell," and many another way suggested by the ingenuity of a soldier. There was a bakery connected with the fort, so that the boys had soft bread instead of hardtack.

We had communication with Savannah and Hilton Head (S.C.), by telegraph and steamer. We had a number of sail and row boats, with a good boat's crew who could make quick trips to Savannah, eighteen miles away, when the steamers were not frequent enough. Many of the boys enjoyed more boating and sea-bathing here than in all their lives previous.

On the 15th of May, Chief-Justice Chase, then on a tour of inspection along the coast, visited the fort, accompanied by his daughter and Gen. Gillmore, in command of the department. As they came up the river, they were received by the "regulation" salute of fifteen guns. During the three hours' stay, Gen. Gillmore explained to the distinguished visitor, from several positions, the details of his remarkable siege of three years before. As Judge Chase stepped on board the steamer to proceed on his tour, he said to Capt. Hall, taking his hand, Captain, when you write to your friends, tell them that a New-Hampshire boy has been to see you."

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During our stay at Fort Pulaski, an order was received to be on the lookout for a Rebel ironclad which was expected somewhere along our coast. From the first, a schooner carrying a thirteen-inch mortar had lain in the Roads, below the fort, ready for any emergency; and now a gunboat, commanded by

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Commodore Morris of "Merrimac" and "Monitor" notoriety, was sent into the river opposite the fort. The mortar-schooner also moved up and took position just below the gunboat. A plan of signals was agreed upon, so that the action could be concerted if the anticipated visitor should appear. But the conflict was in the Bay of Biscay, and the Rebel cruiser never appeared on this side the sea. Had the attempt been made to pass up the river, the plan was to sink the schooner across the channel opposite the fort, and to fight her with a battery of four hundredpounder Parrrott guns, stationed behind a breast work of sand just at the water's edge; while the gunboat would fight from above the schooner.

But little use was to be made of the fort. It must be said, that, at one of the interviews for arranging the plan of action, Commodore Morris was so beastly drunk as to unfit him for any business; and during the three weeks of his stay, I never saw him, on ship or shore, when he was not under the influence of liquor. And this is the man of whom the poets have sung as "the gallant Morris." In fact, it has been told me that in that very action with "The Merrimac," he was much of the time. below deck and "very weary," while his lieutenant was managing "The Cumberland." Liquor was the curse of our army, and its blighting touch was felt even in the Fourteenth.

At midnight upon one of the last days of May, a war-vessel steamed up the river, anchored off the wharf, and sent a boat ashore. Upon landing, the corporal of the guard escorted the two officers which the boat contained to the fort; where they presented papers showing that they were from Richmond, Va., with orders to deliver three very important prisoners into the custody of the fort. These were the noted Rebels Campbell and R. M. T. Hunter, famous in connection with the peace negotiations early in 1861, -the latter once Secretary of State of the Confederacy, and ex-Secretary of War Siddons. Lieut. King, with a suitable guard, conducted the prisoners from the boat; and they were given two rooms, where they were kept closely confined at night, while in the daytime they were allowed the privileges of the inside of the fort, always under the eye of the guard.

Campbell and Siddons were tall, spare men, of the Clay type of Southrons, very morose and exclusive in their manner; but Hunter was one of those fat, "jolly good fellows," who soon become acquainted and make friends wherever they go, however uncongenial the elements by which they are surrounded. The very next morning he began negotiations with the boys to get him some whiskey from Savannah, giving them greenbacks to make the purchase and get something for their trouble. He would talk very freely of political matters, and seemed especially to delight in recalling memories of his twelve years in the United-States Senate, speaking of the character of its members, and relating incidents of Congressional life. He was a good story-teller, and candid in his judgment of men.

Nothing could be drawn from the others save the briefest answers to questions proposed. Upon their landing at the wharf, Siddons handed his valise to one of the boys to bring to the fort, half a mile distant; but the "Northern clodhopper" turned upon the Southern aristocrat, saying, "I have quit carrying carpet-bags for Rebels;" and the gentleman realized on that midnight march that things are not as they were.

Early in May, Fort Pulaski was made the quarantine-station for Savannah, and the post-surgeon was appointed quarantineofficer. We were ordered to place a twelve-pounder upon the wharf, and, in case vessels refused to heave to, fire across their bows to remind them of what was required. The next morning Commodore Morris came on shore, and asked what that gun meant. Upon being told, he said, "I have control of these waters. If you fire upon any vessel, I shall consider it an insult, and shall open upon the fort at once." He was told that he could do so if he thought best. But there was no occasion for his putting his threat into execution. Upon reporting the matter the next day to Gen. Grover, commanding the district, he replied, "You have your orders."

The detachment was relieved June 5, and returned to the regiment at Savannah. Lieut. King, who had been detailed in March as acting assistant commissary of subsistence, acting assistant quartermaster, and provost-marshal of the post, was

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not relieved till about ten days after the detachment. Those who were at Fort Pulaski have some of the pleasantest memories, of the time spent there, of their entire army life.

Early in March the convalescent wounded men returned to the regiment in considerable numbers, thirteen arriving by one boat on the 1st.

Sunday, the 5th, the regiment had dress-parade. On the 6th the entire division was reviewed by Inspector-Gen. Williams; and the next day the quarters were inspected by Gen. Williams, accompanied by the division and brigade commanders.

March 11 Lieut. A. W. Richardson took command of Company F, a position which he held to the end. About this time it was rumored, that, while the division was to leave the city, the Fourteenth would remain. Many officers in the regiment occupied important positions in the city, and the administrative phases of military duty were growing in responsibility as the final collapse of the Rebellion approached. The excellent morale of the Fourteenth, together with its peculiar fitness for the service then required, made it probable that it would remain. On the morning of the 13th the regiment was again inspected by one of Gen. Grover's staff.

In the afternoon the regiment changed its camp, moving into A-tents, half a mile south of the city, about on a continuation of Whitaker Street with the fine parade-ground between the camp and the city. The boys will remember the magnificent park at the head of Bull Street, and on the edge of the city nearest the camp.

On the 14th the regiment voted for State officers. We are unable to give the totals, but in Company F there were seven Republican and three Democratic votes cast. On the 17th the Ninth Conn. remembered St. Patrick's Day, also their own disgrace in the Valley; and they made a fine parade through the principal streets. On the 18th the brigade of colored troops stationed in the city was reviewed by Gen. Williams, and made a remarkably fine appearance.

On the 21st, fatigue-details from the regiment began work on the defences two miles east of the city. The immense halfmoon breastworks of the Rebels were deemed inadequate, and a desperate attempt to recover Savannah to the Confederacy was among the possibilities to be provided for.

During the latter part of March, diarrhoea was prevalent in the regiment.

On the afternoon of the 24th the troops were reviewed by Gen. Grover, and directly following the parade of the white regiment came a review of the colored brigade. The Fiftyfourth Mass., especially, made a fine appearance on the march.

A brigade dress-parade on the 26th, with a review of the brigade, marked an era in the associations of the Fourteenth; as the old first brigade was dissolved, and the Eighth and Eighteenth Ind. became a part of the brigade, with the colonel of the Eighth, Brev. Brig.-Gen. W. W. Washburn, as brigade commander. He became popular with the Fourteenth, and he was a man of decided ability. On the 29th came the monthly inspection; and April 1 the brigade was reviewed by Gen. Washburn, while on the 2d there was a brigade dress-parade.

These parades and reviews were continued; and we have alluded to them particularly in order to show the excellent state of discipline maintained in the Fourteenth, while in so many commands there was a laxity, as the war drew to a close, which amounted almost to demoralization among those troops not immediately confronting the enemy.

The quartermaster, at this time, issued a novel but timely article, a mosquito-netting. Not half the men knew how to adjust them to advantage; and some, in disgust, cut them up, and spread the pieces over the head at night.

April 12 the writer went with the excursion, on the steamer "Blackstone," to Hilton Head and Charleston. The officers of the department participated in a grand ball at Hilton Head, given by Gen. Q. A. Gillmore and staff, and then proceeded to join in the celebration connected with raising the original flag on Fort Sumter, which Major Anderson hauled down to the enemy in 1861, and which Gen. Anderson raised again with his own hands April 14, 1865.