at handsomely do.

UP THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER.

There was not much stirring in the Department of the South early in
1863, and the St. Mary's expedition had afforded a new sensation. Of
course the few officers of colored troops, and a larger number who
wished to become such, were urgent for further experiments in the same
line; and the Florida tax-commissioners were urgent likewise. I well
remember the morning when, after some preliminary correspondence, I
steamed down from Beaufort, S. C., to Hilton Head, with General Saxton,
Judge S., and one or two others, to have an interview on the matter with
Major-General Hunter, then commanding the Department.

Hilton Head, in those days, seemed always like some foreign military
station in the tropics. The long, low, white buildings, with piazzas and
verandas on the water-side; the general impression of heat and
lassitude, existence appearing to pulsate only with the sea-breeze; the
sandy, almost impassable streets; and the firm, level beach, on which
everybody walked who could get there: all these suggested Jamaica or the
East Indies. Then the head-quarters at the end of the beach, the Zouave
sentinels, the successive anterooms, the lounging aids, the good-natured
and easy General,--easy by habit and energetic by impulse,--all had a
certain air of Southern languor, rather picturesque, but perhaps not
altogether bracing. General Hunter received us, that day, with his usual
kindliness; there was a good deal of pleasant chat; Miles O'Reilly was
called in to read his latest verses; and then we came to the matter in
hand.

Jacksonville, on the St. John's River, in Florida, had been already
twice taken and twice evacuated; having been occupied by
Brigadier-General Wright, in March, 1862, and by Brigadier-General
Brannan, in October of the same year. The second evacuation was by
Major-General Hunter's own order, on the avowed ground that a garrison
of five thousand was needed to hold the place, and that this force could
not be spared. The present proposition was to take and hold it with a
brigade of less than a thousand men, carrying, however, arms and
uniforms for twice that number, and a month's rations. The claim was,
that there were fewer Rebel troops in the Department than formerly, and
that the St. Mary's expedition had shown the advantage possessed by
colored troops, in local knowledge, and in the confidence of the loyal
blacks. It was also urged, that it was worth whil