and had freed
themselves, and telling them that her own sons were in the army; she
might any day hear of their death, but that she was willing they
should die in the cause and she hoped they were ready to die too.
Quartermaster Bingham led the regiment in singing "Marching Along."
Mr. Judd had written a hymn which he and a few friends sang. Judge
Stickney spoke. The whole regiment then sang "John Brown," and was
dismissed in a few words from the Colonel to the tables for the twelve
roasted oxen,[92] hard bread, and molasses and water, except one
company and certain corporals whom he mentioned, who came to the foot
of the steps to escort the colors.

Lieutenant Duhurst was waiting to escort us to dinner at his
mess-table. We walked into the old fort, part of the walls of which
are still standing, made of oyster-shells and cement, very hard still.
It was built, say the authorities, in 1562, half a century before the
Pilgrims landed.

Miss Forten[93] had a letter from Whittier enclosing a song he had
written for the Jubilee and which they have been teaching the children
to sing at church next Sunday.

After dinner we went up to the camp, and a very nice-looking place it
was. The tents only hold five, so that there were a great many of
them, making the camp look very large. The officers' tents are in a
row opposite the ends of the streets, but with only a narrow street
between. The Adjutant took us into his, which is a double one with two
apartments like the Colonel's, as his wife is coming out to live there
and teach the first sergeants to read, write, and keep their accounts.
As dress-parade was to come off at once, we stayed to see that. Only
the commissioned officers are white; the uniform of the privates is
the same as any others, except that the pantaloons are red,[94] faces
and hands black! The parade was excellent,--they went through the
manual, including, "load in nine times." There were eighteen men
absent without leave, a circumstance not to be wondered at, as they
had kept no guard all day, and a negro thinks to go and see his family
the height of happiness. Colonel Higginson said, "Think of a camp
where there is no swearing, drinking, or card-playing among the
men,--where the evenings are spent praying and singing psalms, and it
is the first sound you hear in the morning!" He is a strong
anti-tobacconist, but he lets the men have all they can get, and helps
them get it.

We started just after sunset, and