n board the steamer; there were two
hundred and fifty wounded men just arrived, and the ball must end. Not
that there was anything for us to do; but the revel was mistimed,
and must be ended; it was wicked to be dancing, with such a scene of
suffering near by.

"Of course the ball was instantly broken up, though with some
murmurings and some longings of appetite, on the part of some, toward
the wasted supper.

"Later, I went on board the boat. Among the long lines of wounded, black
and white intermingled, there was the wonderful quiet which usually
prevails on such occasions. Not a sob nor a groan, except from those
undergoing removal. It is not self-control, but chiefly the shock to the
system produced by severe wounds, especially gunshot wounds, and which
usually keeps the patient stiller at first than any later time.

"A company from my regiment waited on the wharf, in their accustomed
dusky silence, and I longed to ask them what they thought of our Florida
disappointment now? In view of what they saw, did they still wish we had
been there? I confess that in presence of all that human suffering, I
could not wish it. But I would not have suggested any such thought to
them.

"I found our kind-hearted ladies, Mrs. Chamberlin and Mrs. Dewhurst, on
board the steamer, but there was nothing for them to do, and we walked
back to camp in the radiant moonlight; Mrs. Chamberlin more than ever
strengthened in her blushing woman's philosophy, 'I don't care who wins
the laurels, provided we don't!'"

"February 29.

"But for a few trivial cases of varioloid, we should certainly have been
in that disastrous fight. We were confidently expected for several days
at Jacksonville, and the commanding general told Colonel Hallowell that
we, being the oldest colored regiment, would have the right of the line.
This was certainly to miss danger and glory very closely."

Chapter 12. The Negro as a Soldier

There was in our regiment a very young recruit, named Sam Roberts, of
whom Trowbridge used to tell this story. Early in the war Trowbridge had
been once sent to Amelia Island with a squad of men, under direction of
Commodore Goldsborough, to remove the negroes from the island. As the
officers stood on the beach, talking to some of the older freedmen, they
saw this urchin peeping at them from front and rear in a scrutinizing
way, for which his father at last called him to account, as thus:--

"Hi! Sammy, what you's doin',