Litchfield enquirer., 1861-12-19
LIFE AT PORT ROYAI-THE DOMBARD
 MENT,

Oai hOlAlL, COutu SafOllHd, I<O OF. IUtn.
 DEAR FRIEND B-Yours and Us long wished and long looked for letters have arrived and you can believe l was glad to hear from home. l had been out foraging with the company after cattle, sheep, hogs horses, mules and other things named Seccssonsts, but caught none of the latter. We got in about half past eight o'clock, in the evening, aud some one told me there was letter for lac, fairly jumped with joy at it.
 7hts letter is written on secession paper, with secession ink and on secession ground, where they made their boasts that the Stars and Stripes should never wave, but they were doomed to dis appointment.
 Well, now I will give you the particulars of our first battle. We awoke Thursday morning.
 Nov. 1th, the sea was calm and still, We could see the seccssionists on shore. The fleet did not move untl about two o'clock then the man-of war, the Wabash began to close up and the lit tie gun beats followed her example. About three o'clock she got off against their forts and they open'd fire upon her which took no effect and when our gunboats got near enough they re- turned their fire, but a great many shots fell short; at length, the Wabash got range, and also the war sloop Susquehanna, and poured into
 them shot and shel any quantity, which w re- turned from the shore, but without much dam age being done. never in my life, and TO oth- CT man, saw such bombarding as that was. For about four hours it was a continual stream of fire and smoke; we could see the shells burst in and around the fort perfect shower. At last they stopped firing from the shore, and we were l all ready to land, which we did about dark A
 boat load Of marines landed first and pulled down | the secession flag, and run up the Stars and
 Stripes, then the band struck up Hail Columbia. and Yankee Doodle. Oh then there was some
 cheering and hallooing, you can bet. We were the next ones to land, and as soon as we were l on shore, they formed our company (B) ip line, and marched Us out and placed us on picket guard about a mile from camp, and gave us or dcrs to shoot the first man, or into the first body I of men that approached us, so did not have a chance to get anything that night. The secess-
 ionists had all ran except those that were killed and wounded, which was quite number. That night some our boys was startled, one in partic- ular, he was picket by some bushes, kind of an old swamp, and in the night it was pitch dark, he heard some one, he thought, coming out of the bushes, (well it was somethng) he thought. it was a man creeping towards him he halted him but he did not stop, he halted him the sec
 ond and third time, then he fred and such Q
 squealing you never heard It was pig, and and we had him cooked for breakfast As soon
 we had been relieved from picket we had to go
 out skirnishing through the woods and over
 plantations of cotton, (of which I send sample of my own picking,) sweet potatoes, and through groves of orange tees, loaded down with oranges,
 to which we helped ourselves, and plenty of con- trabands cattle sheep horses, mules, hogs and all kinds of poultry such as turkeys. chickens
 geese, ducks, &c. We live like fighting cocks here now.
 We now about our skirmshing, all along the road through the woods, and all over the d., cfr hoa4 ia and shoes, swords and pistols and muskets, alto gether enough to furnish four regiments All through the woods the road was also strewn with knapsacks, any quantity of them where they threw them off in their flight. We went on through one plantation, then another, down to the dock where they went off and such a scene of confusion, everything you could think of was there in the shape of clothing. got pair of stockings, a pair of slippers, towels, handker- chiefs and everything wanted. 1 got few dollars of South Carolina money in paper. I found it one of the deserted houses under the head of bed
 If you take an arsenal with about eight hun dred stand of arms about eighteen of those large houses in Chapel street, some of the dry goods stores and provision stores and scatter their contents along the streets, and you have part of the scene. I wish you could have been here to see for yourself. l cannot describe it, 1 do not try to overrate this battle, everything that 1 write to you is nothing but the truth.
 Now for the fort, it is large one, covering about four acres of ground, and nice one it is too, there are under ground rooms way down un der the fort. On the parapets are some very large guns, thirty in number, and four or five ri fled cannon. They left in such a hurry that they never spiked but one gun, and that was with pine plug.
 We did not have to fire gun in our regiment for they ran so first the balls could not catch them. When we went out we drove in thirty
 head of cattle, mules and horses, tomorrow we are going out after more.
 It is nice place down here it is so warm I Ihave to take off my coat and fairly strip myself, to sit still long enough to write this letter to 1 you. Yesterday there was lying in the fort and alongside of one of the guns which was burst,