Daniel Lyman Arnold, who has already been mentioned as a member of the Northern Pacific Railroad exploration, with his brother, General Richard Arnold, was a cousin of Mrs. Stevens. He was a private in the 3d Rhode Island, and was mortally wounded in the battle, where he had shown great bravery. General Stevens, with his son, visited the dying man soon after the battle, and did all in his power to make him comfortable.
June 30. I wrote you three days ago that General Hunter had given orders to evacuate this place. It is a large operation. The cavalry were got on board yesterday and last night, and started this morning for Hilton Head. We expect the transports back to-morrow, when General Williams’s division will be embarked. My own division will be embarked last. Raymond Rodgers came here to-day from the squadron at Hilton Head. He talked considerably about the 16th. He assured me that my conduct and management on that day is universally commended. Indeed, I have good reason to believe that here in this department, both with the army and navy, it has very much increased my military reputation. No one but Benham calls in question my perfect fidelity to my orders, and that the course I actually pursued alone gave, under his orders, the least promise of success. I moved with exceeding rapidity, without stopping to fire, and pushed in everything without reserve. The statement of the enemy shows how near the work came to falling into our hands. I know I could have seized that work with but little loss of life, and on that very day, had the entire management been mine. My own course with him after the battle was stern and determined. I compelled him to modify his report so as to do my division full justice. I warned him that the entire responsibility of bringing on that fight was his, that I had opposed it, and that I should take no part of the responsibility. He wilted and quailed under my eye and speech. He made a second attempt to falsify the truth with me, and I made him quail again, and this was in the presence of witnesses. There has been a real comfort and satisfaction in serving under Wright, which I have not had for a long time. He has shown very sound judgment in all his arrangements since he has been in command. Williams, who commands the second division, is a very agreeable and sensible man, and is highly esteemed throughout the command.
On Benham’s arrest General Wright succeeded to the command as next in rank, and field-works to protect the camps were commenced, and considerable work done upon them, when General Hunter wisely decided to withdraw from James Island. General Stevens brought off the last of the troops on July 4. He was first ordered to Beaufort with his division, except the 7th Connecticut and Rockwell’s battery, which were detached and landed at Hilton Head; but scarcely had they reached Beaufort when—including the 50th Pennsylvania, which rejoined the command—they were brought back to Hilton Head and debarked July 5, then reëmbarked July 9, and sent back to Beaufort; then, without leaving the transports, they were dropped four miles down the Beaufort River, and landed on Smith’s plantation, where the whole division was to be encamped. In the absence of wharves, all the baggage had to be put ashore in small boats. By great exertions this was accomplished, and the tents were up before dark, when orders were received to reëmbark immediately and proceed to Hilton Head, there to take ocean steamers for Virginia. After a brief rest the harassed and wornout soldiers toiled the balance of the night, reëmbarking the camp equipage, baggage, and supplies. The troops were transferred to ocean steamers at Hilton Head on July 10 and 11, and on the 12th were borne away northward, rejoiced to leave a command marked by incompetence and disaster, and to rest after the useless toil to which they had been subjected.
The point on Beaufort River where General Stevens’s division landed is of especial interest as the site of the first European settlement in the United States, made by Jean Ribaut and a party of French Huguenots in 1562, just three centuries before; and the walls of a small fort, constructed by him of coquina, a very hard and durable concrete of oyster-shells, were visible on the shore of and partly in the river, which had considerably undermined them.
Steamer Vanderbilt, July 14, 1862.
My dear Wife,—We left Hilton Head at eight o’clock, yesterday morning. I was utterly worn out, and was very glad to go to bed. I slept twenty hours the first twenty-four I was on board, and to-day I have been very well rested.
It is supposed our destination will be McClellan’s army. McClellan has unquestionably met with a very serious check. Indeed, it is nothing less than a disaster. His loss in men and material of war must have been immense. The plan of campaign of the Potomac (army) has been a monstrous folly, and disaster is its legitimate fruit. The army should never have been divided, and the route should not have been by Fortress Monroe. I doubt whether any adequate plan will be hit upon to make the most of the present condition of things. I am afraid the Confederates will by a rapid countermarch fall upon Pope with overwhelming force. I think, so far as I can gather the facts, that Pope should be largely reinforced, and that he should wage the campaign. It has also occurred to me that the wisest plan would be to withdraw McClellan from his present position, send him to the Potomac, unite him with Pope, and commence anew. But it is useless to speculate. We shall reach Fortress Monroe to-morrow, where we will receive additional orders.
CAMP OF GENERAL STEVENS’S DIVISION AT NEWPORT NEWS