Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-02-24

ana made an advance, when flags of truce an
peared in all directions and were nailed In
many OF their buildings. An unconditional
surrender was made. When Gen. Burnside
came riding back, and informed his advancing
co umn OF the surrender, such shout Went
up from our soldiers, with tile discharge of
many OF their rifles, as never before saiutcd
cur General; and it reared on through the
whoiS advancing army. Different regiments
were sent to all parts of the island, TO prevent
the escape OF prisoners. Boat loads were
found leaving, but few shots from our rifles
brought them back. In one of tile boats were
sixty five prisoners. Capt. o. Jennings Wise.
son OF Henry a. Wise, vas taken among the
rest with seven wounds, and with him two
lieutenants. He died that night from his
wounds. Had his father been we'll he would
have been on the island, and we should have
had him.
When we were marched into the encamp.
ment, our eyes fell upon more than two thous-
and prisoners, and such looking set of men
never before were seen. No unifurms--some
with bed quilts, others with carpeting, and
some with meal bags upon their shoulders
and such an ignorant set of people
L never before saw together. Many of
their officers were arstocratic shareholders,
with two or three servants, and the soldiers
were considered some OF the best fighting
men in the southern army, having been eight
months lnsthe service and having been in SER
vice latterly in northern Virginia, and at Ma.
nassas The Louisiana Ben McCuloch Rang
ers and the Richmond Blues, were among the
| fighting regiments, aud they are hard set of
men. They were armed with muskets re-
volvers, and large cleaver knives, nearly two
feet long, with sword handles and hand pro-
| tectors and having engraved upon the blades
| yankee slayers " Near the encampmcnt
nf
| ing the channel. one of which had twelve guns
OF the largest calibre, ten being rihed and
| steel bound. In this fort Gen. Burnside SAYS
| there is ammunition enough to last week
| hiring every day from sunrise to sunset Anoth'
| err fort near it has four guns, and the fort low
| er down, which was bombarded by our gun.
| boats, the day we landed, bad eight guns. We
| so scared them by taking the masked battery,
that they surrendered all three forts without
making stand, or firing a single gun; and
| Gen. Reno has since said that one thousand
men could have held these for six months
against any force that could be brought against
| them, for the land side tor two miles was
| marsh, with mud over a mans head. The
only way it could have been taken, would
| have been by throwing up entertainments in
this marsh, and advancing, till the swamp was
all filed up. The rebel soldiers are so mad
about it that they say they ought to have shot
Col. Shaw, and made stand on their own ac-
court. These are the hard fighters, and 9th.
ers say they are glad they are beaten. for they
did not like fighting.
EXCITEMENT AND DISCOVERIES
On Sunday afternoon we had false alarm,
which created quite an excitement, and the
prisoners really thought that reniorcements
had arrived and were making an attack on us,
in order to release them. 1t happened thus
A large amount of rebel arms had been taken;
they were all loaded, and several companies
took them into the road and discharged them
by voleys, one after another. All the different
regiments were ordered to fall in with their
equipments, and then ordered to load their
guns, and be in readiness for action The
prisoners countenances lightened up, and
some Of them put on knapsacks, ready for a
start, but they soon learned that it was false
alarm. 1t has been said that the southern
army were not well fed, but we find it Tar diff
ferent, Tor those here are better led than we
are, and nearly all of them have beds to lie in,
and their quarters are by far better than ours
were
The night of the surrender of the island the
battery on the main land was blown up and
burned by the rebels, thatit might not tall into
our hands. l forgot to mention, that before
the surrender OF the forts the rebels made an
attempt to spike their guns, but used wrought
than half days time Gen. Burnside had them
all taken out AT one fort, they threw into the
sand on the beach, large quantity of shells
with the fuses all cut off. Ore magazine they
opened and threw in water On Monday, our
regiment, after all the fatigue they had passed
through, and without blankets or their khan.
sacks for change of clothes, were put on
guard duty Tor twenty four hours, in a cold
snow and hail storm. Co. A had had no quar-,
far cft tl,a,, III. ~.
stood around their camp fires by night, and of
course had no sleep, expecting every day they
should 60 back to the steamer New York, but
there being so many prisoners our generals did
not deem II safe to lessen the force of our army
until they had been removed. This afternoon
one hundred and sixty five of the officers have
been put on the steamer S. r. Spaulding, and
the soldiers will most likely embark tO-mor-
row. Among the officers are two captains
who have been released from fort Warren with
in short time, and were here acting as cap-
tans of rebel companies. We also found
man acting as captain, who was peddling The
'"Rose OF Baltimore" in all the camps at An
napolis. He was there as a spy. Thus it is
that they learn OF our movements.
The slaves OF the officers have told us where
they secreted their nice arms, and we have
found them covered with blankets and buried
in the ground. Some OF them are very expen-
slve. One rifle is mounted with gold, breech
ana a II. ouch scare was never before heard
or The roads, fields, and woods, Tor miles,
were strewn with arms and equipments of ev-
cry kind, and many letters have been found.
some OF which you may have the privilege of
| publishing
REBEL Loss, INCIDENTS &C
! The rebels, at an immense expense. had for
| two mites driven piles ami sunk new vessels
IN the bay, Tor the purpose of blockade, in