the angles of the chief streets; and the pretty town
was our own without a shot. In spite of our detention, the surprise had
been complete, and not a soul in Jacksonville had dreamed of our coming.

The day passed quickly, in eager preparations for defence; the people
could or would give us no definite information about the Rebel camp,
which was, however, known to be near, and our force did not permit our
going out to surprise it. The night following was the most anxious I
ever spent. We were all tired out; the companies were under arms, in
various parts of the town, to be ready for an attack at any moment. My
temporary quarters were beneath the loveliest grove of linden-trees, and
as I reclined, half-dozing, the mocking-birds sang all night like
nightingales,--their notes seeming to trickle down through the sweet air
from amid the blossoming boughs. Day brought relief and the sense of due
possession, and we could see what we had won.

Jacksonville was now a United States post again: the only post on the
mainland in the Department of the South. Before the war, it had three or
four thousand inhabitants, and a rapidly growing lumber-trade, for which
abundant facilities were evidently provided. The wharves were capacious,
and the blocks of brick warehouses along the lower street were utterly
unlike anything we had yet seen in that region, as were the neatness
and thrift everywhere visible. It had been built up by Northern
enterprise, and much of the property was owned by loyal men. It had been
a great resort for invalids, though the Rebels had burned the large
hotel which once accommodated them. Mills had also been burned; but the
dwelling houses were almost all in good condition. The quarters for the
men were admirable; and I took official possession of the handsome brick
house of Colonel Sunderland, the established head-quarters through every
occupation, whose accommodating flagstaff had literally and repeatedly
changed its colors. The seceded Colonel, reputed author of the State
ordinance of Secession, was a New Yorker by birth, and we found his law
card, issued when in practice in Easton, Washington County, New York. He
certainly had good taste in planning the inside of a house, though time
had impaired its condition. There was a neat office with ample bookcases
and no books, a billiard table with no balls, gas fixtures without gas,
and a bathing-room without water. There was a separate building for
servants' quarters