of the whole
expedition at the St. Mary's," and Sergeant Hodges, a master-carpenter,
capable of directing the labors of numerous journeymen. Another said,
addressing a meeting at Beaufort, that he had been restless, nights,
thinking of the war and of his people,--that, when he heard of the
regiment being formed, he felt that his time to act had come, and that
it was his duty to enlist,--that he did not fight for his rations and
pay, but for wife, children, and people.

These men, as already intimated, are very much like other men, easily
depressed, and as easily reanimated by words of encouragement. Many have
been reluctant to engage in military service,--their imagination
investing it with the terrors of instant and certain death. But this
reluctance has passed away with participation in active service, with
the adventure and inspiration of a soldier's life, and the latent
manhood has recovered its rightful sway. Said a superintendent who was
of the first delegation to Tort Royal in March, 1862,--a truthful man,
and not given to rose-colored views,--"I did not have faith in arming
negroes, when I visited the North last autumn, but I have now. They will
be not mere machines, but real tigers, when aroused; and I should not
wish to face them." One amusing incident may be mentioned. A man
deserted from the regiment, was discovered hidden in a chimney in the
district where he had lived, was taken back to camp, went to Florida in
Higginson's first expedition, bore his part well in the skirmishes,
became excited with the service, was made a sergeant, and, receiving a
furlough on his return, went to the plantation where he had hid, and
said he would not take five thousand dollars for his place.

But more significant, as showing the success of the experiment, is the
change of feeling among the white soldiers towards the negro regiment, a
change due in part to the just policy of General Saxton, in part to the
President's Proclamation of January 1st, which has done much to clear
the atmosphere everywhere within the army-lines, but more than all to
the soldierly conduct of the negroes themselves during their
expeditions. I had one excellent opportunity to note this change. On the
6th of April, Colonel Higginson's regiment was assigned to picket-duty
on Port Royal Island,--the first active duty it had performed on the Sea
Islands,--and was to relieve the Pennsylvania Fifty-Fifth. When, after a
march of ten miles, it reached the a