re,
grass was growing in the streets, and there was desolation everywhere.
We could plainly hear the guns firing from our batteries on Norris
Island. On arriving at the jail, the lieutenant shook hands with us and
bade us good-bye. We were taken to the top floor and had an entire
corridor to ourselves. There being about sixteen large cells, twelve
feet square, we had plenty of room--in fact, each of us could have had
an entire suite to himself had he desired it.

Everything looked very familiar to me, as it was the same place in
which I was confined before my trial in 1856. The newspapers, giving an
account of our capture, stated that I was supposed to be the same George
Thompson who had been tried in the United States District Court for
murder a few years previously. On account of the notice in the
newspapers in regard to my being a prisoner of war and confined in the
jail, a number of citizens visited me, but, having no permit from the
commandant, they had their trouble for nothing. Major John Ryan, chief
of subsistence on General Beauregard's staff, and an old friend of my
father, was the only person allowed to see me. Our interview was quite
sociable at first, then we gradually became belligerent, while
conversing about the war and its issues. He had questioned me about my
rank and the amount of pay I received in the Federal navy. Then the
proposition was made that I join the rebel navy with the rank of
lieutenant. When I refused, he became exceedingly wrathy. Finally he
cooled down a little, and said that General Beauregard would send for me
very soon, as he wished to have an interview with me. I replied that it
would only be waste of time for him to do so. Now, from the questions
that had been asked me, I knew exactly what the rebs wanted to know.
They had sent out a torpedo boat to sink the Ironsides, but it was a
failure. An ensign was killed by a rifle-bullet from the torpedo boat,
but no damage was done to the ship when the torpedo exploded. Admiral
Dahlgren had ordered a raft of timber to be placed all around the
Ironsides in order to prevent any more torpedo boats getting near enough
to do any damage. The rebs could see with telescopes from Sumter that
the Yankee sailors were hard at work around the ship, but could not find
out what was being done. The Charleston papers stated that the Ironsides
was in a sinking condition, and could only be kept above water by the
use of heavy timbers. That same torpedo boat