FORT BEAUREGARD.
One fact in this attack is worthy of special mention. General Drayton commanded the Confederate forces on Hilton Head, and the home of the family was located on a prominent point near the shore, overlooking the bay, while his brother, Captain Drayton, commanded the gunboat Pocahontas, which participated in the bombardment. Some time afterwards, in company with other officers, I visited the Monitor, which he then commanded, and his grave and saddened demeanor told of the sacrifice he had made in his loyalty to the government.
DRAYTON'S MANSION.
I know that patriotism is a word with some considered stale and obsolete. Such know little of the temper of the brave men who composed our army and navy during that terrible struggle. For while few were called upon to make such sacrifices as Captain Drayton, the number of those who went to war for hire only was but a small detachment of that great army. And the arguments, even of those unlettered men who formed so large a part of the rank and file, as I have often heard them stated, though clothed in rude and homely language, had in them a degree of intelligence, and were so charged with honesty and sincerity, so backed by courage and fidelity on many a gory field, that it were shame to say the stream of patriotism has run dry. It has not now, and never will, while men have manhood left, honor to defend, homes to protect, good laws and a righteous government to transmit.
November 9 we were all ready to land, having been provided with two days' cooked rations, but for lack of transportation we were detained on board the steamer until Sunday morning, the 10th. The night previous was spent in securing boats and attaching them to our steamer, so that on Sunday morning, as soon as the word was received, we pulled for the shore with a will. At this time, the harbor presented a most animated appearance. The transports were crowded together near the shore, all busy in discharging freight. Boats of all sizes and descriptions were passing to and fro, and horses and other animals were being hoisted from the holds by means of broad bands which encircled them, swung over the sides of the vessels, and gently dumped into the water, to find their way to land as they could, while men stood by ready to secure them on the shore. Occasionally the poor distracted brutes, confused by the unwonted sounds, and half drowned by their sudden and unexpected immersion, turned seaward, but were soon brought back.
