Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1911-06-16
a Reminise ance of War Time.
The Chicago Conspiracy A..

The neSt morning we went over to
Ia" iort where W. had left our prisoner.
lir was pleased IT, see us for his H., ers
ts.t not eXrrtrd themselves very much
'" promote his h'priu"ss and conse-
qnently the poor fellow had come to the
conclusion that our little detachment Of
soldiers We're the hest irl-uiS h- had on
auth, and from that moment great
'Ig lot OF my sympathy went out to
nln as ! asked myself, Nv hat will uur
"res ambition lead them to?" Juo'
t'nk to what condition this man's
inhitlo" has brought hln. pitied him
king him back to the city with us, W.
''ohtine'i hi'n nt Old Battery Barrack,
iHtll aftr noon, when We took him OF.
',Otrd he steamer. A location was as
gnci ns and We settled ourselves to
.mjol a sra vovag-. Was | afraid ol
'eIng sea sick? On, 10, for had just
iinlsied nine years of sea lille before ell
,rling the army. had visited nearly
al the principal seaports on the globe
aud was all done being sea sick.
There were several officers aboard the
steamer, Who were returning to their
regiments in the South after being home
on thirty days leave of absence. There
we're also two hundred recruits on board
being sent to Mobile for the 18th Regi-
Dent Regulars-but of these mention
may be made later.
We had pleasant passage to Key
West, where we remained SO hours
while big cannon, which was brought
down on the steamer from New York,
VAS being taken ashore. That done,
we made fine run of sixty miles in the
direction of Cuba, to the Dry Tortugas.
| went ashore, or rather, | stepped from
the steamer to the fort, there being no
land there except what is enclosed with
in the walls, and was met by Major e..
| +. Wentworth, the commander of that
post, and to him | reported. My men
took the prisoner into the fort aud |
delivered him to the commander. He
gave me a receipt which read as follows:
Headquarters, Fort jefferson, Florida,
October, Sth, 1865.
Received of First Lieutenant f. W..
Wyman, 4th U. S. V. ", one prisoner,
named G. st. Ledger Grenfel, for con-
tinement. Geo. E. Wentworth,
Major, SOD U, S. Colored Infantry,
Commanding Post.
There are several of those Tortuga>
Isles, wholly of coral formation, the one
on which the fort is located contains
five acres and is the only one that is
not flooded at high tide. The whole
island is enclosed within the walls of
the fort and if one could be placed there
without experiencing a sea voyage, they
would think they were in some tropical
garden for the high. massive brick walls
)f the fort shut out all sight of the sur
rounding ocean. A soil has been formed
from earth shipped from Key West, a
part of which is given up to raising all
kinds of vegetables, a portion to fruit
tion of tropical plants and flowers. All
beef, pork aud poultry that is consumed
is shipped there alive, put into enclos-
ures made for the purpose, and slaugh
tered as required. There are several
blocks of fiue brick building, used fol
officers quarters, storehouses and bar
racks. The officers aud soldiers, who
are stationed there seem to he surround
ed with many luxuries and massive
walls, but l felt no desire to make it my
permanent home.
| We remained at Fort Jefferson two
days while large supply of ammunition
and provisions were being unloadet
from the steamer. During this time
was the guest of Major Wentworth anc
ady-ever officer seemed to have lad,
And to say that / was nicely enter
tanned and had pleasant time, woul,
be stating it mildly. l still have som
of the coral aud sea shells which the
gave me and which intend to keep il
everlasting remembrance of their kind
ness to me.
On leaving Tortugas, we were t
60 to Mobile, thence to New Orleans
and at the request of Major Wentwort
took charge of eleven prisoners, VIII
had served out their term of imprisou
ment, and took them to New Orlean
where | delivered them to the Proves
! Marshal.
We remained one day at New Orean
then procured transportation on one c
the Mississippi steamers to Cairo. Ou
, steamer made a two hours stop I
Vickshurg and our little party wer
ashore to look over part of the ol
works where most of us had served VI
der Sherman a year before. There VIZ
small force stationed there but II
fighting was going on-what chang
had been wrought in little more than
, year. We visited filled trench, tn;
| we knew contained nine hundred of OF
J | oo.,,oIoo Noao ,E o,, ,Do -,