.
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 at 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 29TH.

"'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 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.'"

At daybreak on the 8th of March, 1864, the 7th Regiment, having left
Camp Stanton, Maryland, on the 4th and proceeded to Portsmouth, Va.,
embarked on board the steamer "Webster" for the Department of the South.
Arriving at Hilton Head, the regiment went into camp for a few days,
then it embarked for Jacksonville, Fla., at which place it remained for
some time, taking part in several movements into the surrounding country
and participating in a number of quite lively skirmishes. On the 27th of
June a considerable portion of the Regiment was ordered to Hilton Head,
where it arrived on July 1st; it went from there to James Island, where
with other troops a short engagement with the confederates was had.
Afterwards the regiment returned to Jacksonville, Fla., remaining in
that vicinity engaged in raiding the adjacent territory until the 4th of
August, when the regiment was ordered to Virginia, to report to the
Army of the Potomoc, where it arrived on Aug. 8th. The 55th
Massachusetts Regimen