I went aboard the Eolus, which proceeded up the Roanoke river, and at 4:30 p.m. we met the Cotton Plant, with Commander W. H. Macomb aboard, eight miles below Halifax. The Eolus, with the Cotton Plant, returned to Edward's Ferry, where we arrived at 7 p.m. I went ashore. This place, which is a large plantation, and was owned by Mr. Wm. Smith, who owns, or did own, quite a number of slaves, who worked the plantation. At this time the slaves were cultivating corn. The male slaves, with hoes to hoe the corn, followed after the female slaves, who drove the horses and directed the cultivators or ploughs. The rebel ram Albemarle was constructed at Edward's Ferry, and there was another ram or iron-clad in process of construction at this place; but it was destroyed by the rebels at the close of the war. I saw the landing where these rams were constructed; the chips from them could be seen lying all around.
Thursday, May 25.—We left Edward's Ferry at 10 a.m., and at 8 p.m. the Eolus came to an anchor near Poplar Point, where we visited the graves of those who had been killed in the late action at this place.
Friday, May 26.—The Eolus, with Commander W. H. Macomb on board, got under weigh and steamed to Plymouth, where we arrived at 12 m. Commander W. H. Macomb went aboard his own vessel, the Shamrock. At 8 p.m. the Eolus got under weigh and steamed towards Roanoke Island, and came to an anchor at 12 p.m. in Albemarle Sound.
Saturday, May 27, at 4½ a.m., the Eolus got under weigh and proceeded to Roanoke Island, where we arrived at 7:15 a.m. At 2½ p.m. I took passage in the boat Washington Irving, which got under weigh and steamed till 9½ p.m., when I changed into the boat Arrow, which steamed two miles up the Dismal Swamp canal, and passed by the wreck of the Fawn, which had been previously captured, sunk and burned by the rebels, and there came to an anchor. During the night I slept on a bench, with my boot for a pillow.
Sunday, May 28, the boat Arrow left Coinjock at 5 a.m., and arrived at Norfolk, Va., at 1 p.m. I took dinner at the National House in that place. At 2½ p.m. I took passage from Norfolk in the Louisiana, and arrived at Fortress Monroe at 3½ p.m. We passed by the wreck of the rebel iron-clad Merrimac. At 5 p.m. the Louisiana got under weigh for Baltimore, where she arrived Monday, May 29, at 6 o'clock a.m.; and then I went by way of Philadelphia home, where I arrived about noon of May 30, 1865.
The atmosphere never seemed to me more salubrious than at this time; the grass never appeared greener, the flowers never seemed to exhale more fragrance, and the people never seemed kinder. It seemed a perfect Paradise compared with the swamps of North Carolina.
During the time of my "leave of absence," I met with the following men of note, all of whom are now dead: Hon. Thaddeus Stevens I met in the reading-room of the United States Hotel at Harrisburg, Pa., seated on a chair with his feet resting on a table, reading the newspapers, a number of files of which he had lying all around him. He would first glance at one file and then at another, till he had examined all. I have heard of two anecdotes told about him. One was, whilst meeting an enemy face to face on the street in Lancaster, Pa., his enemy said to Mr. Stevens, "I never turn out of the road of a fool." The latter said sharply, "I do," and passed around the former. The other incident occurred whilst Mr. Stevens was very ill in Washington, D.C. A friend visited him and complimented him on his appearance. Mr. Stevens very jocularly replied that it was not his appearance that interested him (Mr. Stevens) so much as his disappearance. I have since visited his grave in Lancaster, Pa., which has the following inscription upon the tombstone:
Thaddeus Stevens,
Born at Danville, Caledonia County, Vermont,
April 4, 1792.
Died at Washington, D.C.,
August 11, 1868.
STEVENS.
I repose in this quiet and secluded spot,
Not from any preference for solitude,
But finding other cemeteries limited as to race
by charter rules,
I have chosen this, that I might illustrate
in my death
the principle which I advocated
through a long life,
Equality of man before his Creator.
1792-1868.