“Other instructions will be sent to you from time to time, as occasion may require and opportunity offer.
“N. P. BANKS, “Major-General commanding.
“Colonel Isaac S. Burrell,
“42d Regiment Mass. Vols.”
“Headquarters Dept. of the Gulf,
“New Orleans, La., January 3d, 1863.
“Colonel:
“You will immediately cause to be constructed a tete-du-pont, to command the bridge which connects Galveston Island with the main-land.
“I directed an engineer officer to go there some time since, and I suppose he is there. If so, he will give suitable directions for the work.
“Very respectfully yours, “N. P. BANKS, “Major-General commanding.
“Colonel Isaac S. Burrell,
“commanding U. S. Forces at Galveston.”
The trip to Galveston was devoid of interest. The weather was fine and the sea moderately smooth. Few were sea-sick. At half past eleven on the morning of the twenty-fourth land was sighted; at noon, the gunboat Tennessee fired a shot across the bow of the Saxon, and she hove to, off Galveston Bar, for about two hours, when a pilot was taken. The navy had been expecting troops to arrive for some days. Commander Law, of the Clifton, when he ascertained what troops were on board the Saxon and their purpose, sent a boat to bring the colonel over the bar, and on board his vessel, which then proceeded up the channel a short distance. As the Saxon would not be able to get over the bar at once, an offer from Law, to take Burrell in his gig to see Commander Renshaw, was accepted. Upon reaching the flag-ship Westfield, Renshaw, who was entertaining Confederate officers in the cabin under a flag of truce, met the colonel at the gangway, extending a hearty welcome. He suggested the postponement of a conference at that time, not wishing the Confederate officers to see Colonel Burrell, and would meet him on board the Clifton with all commanding officers of gunboats then in the harbor, viz.:—