eous cries for help of the suffering, the groans of the wounded
that had not yet been removed (the ambulance corps not having yet been
able to reach them) the roar of artillery and the rattle of musketry where
the battle was still going on, the riding back and forth of mounted
orderlies hurrying up re-inforcements, all served to make up a picture
that I am unable to adequately describe.

The Johnsons, who were wealthy planters, had taken the oath of allegiance
and claimed to be Union men, and were somewhat embarrassed at having us,
with whom they had been on such friendly terms, brought to their farm as
prisoners. They seemed to feel a sympathy for us, and one of them said to
me, privately, that they were really in sympathy with the Union cause, but
were obliged to be very careful of their conduct toward us while the
Confederate troops were there, for their property, and even their lives,
were at stake. I now believe they were honest. I do not wish to confound
these Johnsons with one of the same name, who lived on the Washington
road, near our vidette post. He pretended to be loyal, but we did not take
any stock in him, and found after our capture that he was an open and
exultant Secesh. While at the Johnson farm we could hear the crack, crack,
crack of muskets, down in the swamp where the negroes had fled to escape
capture, and were being hunted like squirrels or rabbits, I can think of
no better comparison, and the Johnnies themselves laughingly said (when
questioned about where they had been after their return), "They'd been out
gunning for niggers."

After the surrender of Fort Williams we were marched back into Plymouth,
where I received permission, on the pretext of getting some linen bandages
for a wounded Confederate, to go into my quarters. I found half a dozen
Johnnies in there hauling over my wardrobe and appropriating what they
took a fancy to. I picked up my blanket, a cavalry jacket, a pair of new
shoes and a satchel containing my papers, and tried hard to get a fellow
to give up my dressing gown that I had received as a Christmas present a
few months before, but he was so well suited with the bright colors and
fit of the garment, that he could not be persuaded to give it up. Taking
what I could carry, I went and delivered the linen bandages and fell into
line with the rest, when we were all marched out on the Washington road,
where we were joined by those who had been taken at Fort Gray and Fort
Wessels.