Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-02-04
From The 18th Wisconsin.

marched 81 miles in two DAYS. We crossed
/ the Bay at Brashear City and arrived at Al
! giers on the 18th, embarked on the steamer
/ Thos. 4. Scott on the 10th, and sailed from
/ New Orleans at noon on the Goth. While at
Algiers we got back our camp equipage that
| had been in store at New Orleans ever since
our departure from Carroton, but it was in
such condition that we hardly valued what
was left of it. 1t appeared to have been free
plumber for everybody, there was hardly a
knapsack that had not been opened and rifed,
very few of the officers trunks or valises had
anything left in them; more indiscriminate
plumber of property can hardly be imagined
We had as fellow travellers on board the
Scott, General Hamilton, Military Governor of
Texas and his staff; Gen. Tolbert, Texan,
and Gen. Cortes, a Mexican, with his inter-
| prefer. 1t is well enough to travel in distin-
guished company on some occasions, but in
| the present instance the Generals and their
retinues occupied all the berths with the ex-
ception of three, and these were left for the
| accommodation of about forty officers, so
that | think we all wished the Generals in
some other company.
The narrative Of u sea voyage, like a tale
| of wooing has been so often told that it
would be strange if any new feature could be
cleaned from one short trip Of course the
| great event is sea sickness, but this in large
crowd like ours, 600 mem is only a question
| able evil, for miserable as the sensation is, it
is known to be so insignificant in comparison
with the more serious ills soldiers "desh
is heir to-" that it is always regarded as food
for merriment, and even the poor unfortunate
might between spells find consolation in the
knowledge that he had afforded amusement
to a large number of his comrades.
Passing one distressed-looking individual,
whom in better days | had known as a very
different looking man, he wiped his fore
| head, and, with desperate effort to rise SUI
perior to his fate, remarked, q wish that the
man who wrote Life on the Ocean Wave
was on board this ship, I'd throw him over
board" We anchored off BraZos de Santiago
about noon on the 23d of November. The
Scott drew too much water to pass any Of the
bars, we were therefore entirely dependent
on light draft boats coming out to take our
cargo. In the evening Lieut.. Col WhittIesey
with about one hundred of the Eleventh were
transferred to the steamer ". p. Banks by
means of small boats, the sea being too heavy
to allow the steamers to lay alongside. Dur
ing the ensuing night norther came up, and
the Scott rolled so dreadfully at anchor that
we were obliged to put to sea again. About
noon we were hailed by the dispatch boat
LeOjathaT and ordered to Arkansas Pass. We
arrived there about noon next day. and at
once commenced transferring to the AlaJanaa.
Imagine, If you can, transferring freight from
one large vessel to another in sea that al
ternately elevates and lowers each ship from
| six to ten feet. We had about twenty horses
Col. Harris had those belonging to our brigade
put on board a schooner very successfully,
| Int Gen Hamilton wDn1A haya
board the other steamer. They had to be
t slung over the side of the Scott and pulled
into one OF the ports of the AIa6oma !
have seen good many things in the service
) but this handling Of horses in a heavy sea
was little different from my past experience
The best horse was dropped overheard and
put out to sea on his own responsibility
and was picked up by the boats crew of one
Of the gunboats lying off the bar and became
their prize. Of course a large quantity OF
property was lost overheard, and the wonder
! is that some OF the men were not Early in
, the gale that drove Us to sea from Brazos a
man fell overheard; the ship was rolling aw-
fully; a rope was promptly thrown out, which
the man caught, but as the vessel rolled he
had to let it 90; this he did three times at
, length a slip-noose was thrown over him and
he was hauled on board, having taken as close
+ a look at "Davy Jones" as man can do with
out being actually slowed away in his locker
For the benefit of those inexperienced il
crowded travel, [ will mention a continuance
very successfully adopted by some of oul
officers in their efforts to crowd themselves
on the cabin floor. 1t was to lie heads anG
tails, each buttoning his comrades feet in the
breast of his coat; by this continuance two
men can lie very much like a couple of sar
dimes, and very little space is wasted
| IN, EriJaU rbo Col
balance of the 18th and half of the 22d Iowa
landed at Arkansas City, on St. Joseph's
Island, leaving all their luggage at Mustang
Island on the other side the bay, having no
transportation, and every man from the Col
onel down shouldered his haversack and
blanket for one of the bluest looking marches
that can be well imagined. Blue as was the
prospect the realization left it far behind,
The march of sixty miles to Saluria occupied
nearly five days, (the greater part of the first
being occupied IN cooking rations for the
march) during three OF which a fierce north
wind swept across the islands, carrying the
) sand into our faces with the cutting sensation
caused by facing a heavy hail storm in the
North. At night it was bitter cold, the ice
formed an inch thick; not a tent or shelter
of any kind, sleep could only come from sheer
exhaustion and was but ftful drowsness at
best. The water procured on the march was
very brackish, the idea of ouenchine thirst
with was out OF the question. Nav such ex-
perence seldom fall to the lot of Uncle Sans
soldiers; | could not wish such luck even to
the Rebs. We arrived at Fort Esperanza,
Salurla, on the 1st of December This fort
is one Of the neatest | have seen. 1t is said
to have beeu constructed by a Polish engineer
and to have cost the Confederates two mil
lions. 1t mounts eight guns, viz: six old
fashioned, long twenty-fours, one old twelve
FOUNDER and one long 13O-pounder-all
smooth bores. The large gun called the
"Rebel" seemed to have been quite favor
tie with the "corn-feds" and to it they de-
voted special attention, throwing solid shot
If they had been wiser they would have used
their smaller and better guns and have thrown
shell, but suppose such soldering is neces-
sarlly incident to the depression of an un
holy cause" as Gen. Washburn replied to a
flag of truce from Magruder. Our old Vicks-
burg soldiers did not try to stop any of their
solid shot, unless the fact of an Indiana man
having had his shoe torn by one of them
without serious injury to his foot, can be.con-
strued into such an attempt.
We had advanced to within good range of
the fort and had thrown up cover for rifemen
and deployed party to get into their rear,
when the explosion of three Of their maya
zines, IN quick succession, told the story that
| the fort had been or was about to be evacu-
ated; the former proved to be the case, and
we took but few prisoners the first use made
Of them was to have them dig up eight tor
pedoes which had been buried for our es-
pecial benefit.
The alabama arrived on the 9th, bringing