This afternoon we anchored off Fortress Monroe. At night half a dozen prisoners were brought over to the steamer from the fortress. They have been at the fort for a week. They are from the West—some Morgan’s men.
I saw Captain Darling making a bed for himself on a hard bench and invited him to share my stateroom, which he did. He said he had a very high opinion of the patriotism of the citizens of Washington, particularly the ladies, and spoke with warmth of the parting scene at the wharf, where the Federal guards brought their guns to a charge on the ladies and drove them off.
Saturday, March 28.—Awoke about seven o’clock. Still at anchor between Fortress Monroe and the Rip Raps. Two English war ships anchored off in the Roads. Many of our company are complaining of seasickness. I felt a little dizzy and weak before breakfast, but went below and got a cup of coffee, a slice of bread and a piece of fat pork. After eating this I felt better. Sea quite high for some time. A heavy rain storm came up about ten o’clock, with thunder and lightning. The water then became calmer but the rain continued.
At 12:45 the captain came over from Fortress Monroe and we started from the anchorage in the midst of a heavy rain. The guard here left us, good-naturedly bidding us good-bye and hoping to meet us soon in more peaceful times. They were of Company K, Third New York Regiment, and were on the best of terms with us during the trip.
When opposite Newport News, saw the wrecks of the United States frigates Cumberland and Congress, sunk in the fight with the Confederate iron-clad Virginia (Merrimac),[H] on the 8th of March, 1862. A portion of one mast only of the Congress being visible, while we could see parts of three masts of the Cumberland and a part of the bowsprit above the water. They were but a short distance from the shore, off the point. A little beyond we saw the United States steamer Minnesota and two other vessels, ironclads, and a little farther off the Monitor lay floating at ease.
Hundreds of sea-gulls hovered around our boat, circling overhead, occasionally stopping in their flight and beating the air with their wings, then floating along like a boat on smooth water, darting down now and then, attracted by the pieces of bread and scraps of food thrown into the water by the men on board, all the while uttering a peculiar cry resembling the creaking of an old wagon wheel in need of oiling. A man on the lower deck threw a piece of coal into the flock which struck one of the birds, apparently breaking a wing, as it fell over into the water, helpless. The rest of the flock ceased following us and gathered round their wounded companion, who lay on top of the water. They fluttered around him, chattering and seemingly endeavoring to aid or save him. Soon, however, they again gathered around us and seemed to forget their loss in their efforts to catch the tempting morsels thrown to them from the boat.
MAP OF JAMES RIVER
From Fortress Monroe to Richmond
How rudely cut off from life. How soon forgotten, poor bird. But how like man the conduct of these birds. A poor mortal is stricken down in the midst of his cares and his enjoyments. Friends and relatives cluster about him and pour forth their lamentations. But how soon does their grief wear off, and they are carried away in the whirl of excitement of the giddy, thoughtless world, and all is forgotten.
A guard-boat hailed us, and the captain in reply said that we were going to City Point with five hundred Confederate prisoners, for exchange. “All right,” was the answer from the guard-boat. Two hundred and forty prisoners were brought to the Old Capitol the night before we left, and we left there with four hundred and eighty-eight.