Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1861-11-16
INCIDENTS AND PARTICULARS CONNECTED
WITH THE VICTORY AT PORT ROYAL.

From letters which we find in some of our
exchanges, We make some extracts 10 sllo"
some of the experiences and adventures Oh
our men ut Port Royal. We begin with an
extract from letter written by Lieut.. Col
Hawley, OF the Connecticut seventh regiment
to the Hartford Evening Press Rev H. l..
Wayland, hate OF Worcester, is chaplain OF tins
regiment Col 1Iawley says -
''Our seventh regiment landed first, and hat
the honor OF taking charge OF the fort (fOrI
Walkerl over night. And besides, the com
MES of Capts. Francis and heulhah' under
charge OF your humble servant, dld the ad-
vanced picket duty Tor the night. Friday the
regiment was sent about five miles III west
ery direction, Oh an armed reconnaissance 10
Seabrook's Ferry or Landing we caught no
rebels, but found large quantity OF proNla'
ions &C. The enemy ran III the EXTREMIST
fright. and abandoned almost everything hut
the clothing on them. On our way we passed
the residence c, Gen Drayton who command
ed the rebel forces the day previous.
A copy OF the Charleston Mercury, dated
this week, says the steamer Union went
ashore The property was lost, (lnciullhg our
regiments horses and baggage,l bat the men
were saved, 73 in numb>r including seven
ieamSters OF our regiment, VIZ John flshef
OF New Britain, Daniel Wilmot OF New la
ven, Charles fitzsimmons OF New York, oiI',s
Davis OF Meriden, Horace Rogers OF Norwich
or vicinity, Henry Stratton OF Bridgeport, and
Gilbert H. Brewer of Avon. Warner, Tuck
er, aud Nichols, the wag ,ners Of companies
+. X and G, are with us. We much regret
the loss OF these men. They were useful and
faithful, especially Fisher, the chief wagner,
an invaluable man.
| am sitting on log in the open Held, near
the fort. On its parapet walk the sentin 'is-oi
the Rhode Island third. Around me are the
shops, barracks &C., all more or less shattered
ty shell and shot. Near the shore are about
forty sail. About the large open field the sol
diers drilling, resting, cooking, reading,
writing, teamng, &c. Ii is as warm as June.
| have oranges in my pocket, picked at SEA
brooks. The palmetto Is plenty about us,
the leaves are green all the trees, the cot
ton fields are white, waiting for the second
picking, and sweet potatoes are plenty There
is scarcely a white man left on the island. The
negroes are jolly, and, after the first lnqulr-
ing look, greet us with great pleasure, run to
bring water, aud are wonderfully hearty Ill
crying, God bless you, mass'r Their mas
tiers told them to dodge when we came; that
we should take them TO Cuba and work them
Sundays and all, and keep them in dungeons,
but they would not believe it"
Correspondence Of the New York World
THE ooNTRABAND ELEMENT.
AS soon as the negro slaves observed us
coming on shore, they Hooked along the banks
III great numbers, some bearing parcels and
bundles, rs if expecting us to take them at
once to home OF freedom. Every variety
of negro and slave was represented. As fast
as tile contraband article came "ltIlin reach,
it was placed i'll the guard-bouse an old frame
unit
collection was made. They were budding
together, half in fear and halt in hope, when a
naval officer of the Benyille looked in upon
them, asking, "Wel, well, what you all
about e.
"Dat's jest what we'd like to find out,
masr," Was the response The officer assured
them that they would be kindly taken care OF,
and perhaps found something to do, and need
not be alarmed. Tank God for dat, masr,
was the reply. Two slaves were found recon"
noitering about on their own account, and ON
being brought into camp, exclaimed that they
belonged 10 Mrs. Pinckney OF Charleston, and
came down to "see what de white people were
all about" They said that the white people
all ran away when the ships came up, crying,
Great God Great God Great God the
Yankees are coming fire the boats" Other
slaves reported that when de white folks
de little boats coming up, dey LATED at dem,
but when dey see de big checker sided vessels
comm, dey LATED on de oder side der mouts."
Correspondence of the N. Y, Evening Post
THE CoNTRABANDs.
The negroes ran 10 greet our boats as we
landed to take possession OF the fort, and
among those found on the shore by our ma
rines We're several belonging to Gen. Drayton,
commander Of the post whose plantation on
Hilton Head Island was well stocked with fell
Low # tlleau t4bp pa Wo #
were taken ON board the Wabash, and gave
much interesting and reliable information i'll
regard to the situation OF the affairs on the isl
and. One Of them asserted that his master
had that morning assured him that he might
fall into other hands before night, and lie
seemed to have been sufficiently pleased with
the prospect OF a change OF masters to get his
little bundle ready to be taken of.
Early III the morning after the victory the
plantation negroes began % come into camp,
and, with the genuine African instinct Tor
trade, each had provided himself with u tur-
key, shou der OF bacon, OF TWO shoulders aud
brace OF hams in the shape OF a struggling
porker, which lie bore kicking and squealing
under his arm. Is was amusing to see the
pcrtinacity with which the fellows would
cling to their prize, even while waiting to he
questioned under guard OF a. file OF soldiers,
The instant one was spoken to, the bit OF wide
awake Or the rimless crown vi straw which did
duty us a hat would be jerked of with charac-
terstic obsequiousness, the negro standing
scraplng and bowling, answering meanwhile
his catechism as well US lie could with the
noisy and struggling beast distracting his at
tenlion. Several who came IN brought wagons
LOADED with knapsauks aud other accouutre-
mentS winch they had picked up on The way.
All seemed ready to work, and those who
were fortunate to Lave possessed themselves
Of some stray horse or II pair Of plantation
mules found abundant occupation.
As our troops were at first too busy making
good their position to attend 10 anything else,
and the quarternasters had already more on
their minds than they could well attend to,
the negroes who appeared were not encourag-
ed to remain, but were at once sent back,
on one pretence and another to take care OF
themselves. But by the morning OF the Sec
ond day fifty were already gathered at head
quarters and signs OF much greater influx
were ABUNDANT Those who remained were
put under the charge Of Capt Goodrich, the
quartermaster OF Gen. Wright's brigade, who
saw that their wants were well attended to,
giving up all old building TO their accomnoda-
ton. Our troops were accompanied in their
first reconnaissance into the island by DIR. j. j.
Craven, the efficient surgeon OF the third
brigade, whorepOrted the negroes on the plan
tatOns further inland as almost wild with de-
light at the advent OF our troops, and hastY
flight Of their masters, which they described
with the utmost gusto.
30 Lord | massa," said one, "we're SO glad
to see you. We'se prayed and prayed de good
Lord that he would send yer Yankees and we