Guard Duty Charleston Harbor

We remained in the city till the 26^th of February, in the meantime doing guard duty in the harbor and on board of steamers sent out at night to cruise [21] around inside of the bar to intercept any vessel or boat that might come in to aid or relieve Fort Sumter; the militia companies in the city were called on by turns for the duty;  these trips generally began very well, with a plenty to eat and drink but as soon as the vessel reached the swell at the bar the men were all more or less sea sick, and could have been easily overcome by half their number of the enemy.

Drills, Citadel Queen

Besides this we had regular company drills 2 or 3 times a week on the Citadel Green;  these being in the afternoon were witnessed by many who were attracted by the singularity of our maneuvers, the same being the skirmish drill of the french Zouaves, and therefor different from that of the other companies.

Secessionville, James Is’d Feb. 26/61

On the 26^th Feb. the Regiment of Rifles, to which our company was attached, received orders to assemble at Military Hall the next morning for immediate service.  We were marched to Chisolm’s Wharf, foot of Wadd Street, where we embarked on board of a steamer for Secessionville, James Island.  At Dill’s Bluff or Landing [22] we disembarked, and marched to the village, about 4 miles distant;  arriving there the companies were quartered in the various houses in the village, ours being in that of Mr. Wm. H. Rivers.  The place called Secessionville by the Planters who had seceded from Legareville John’s Island, and established this as a summer residence for themselves, it is situated on Light House Creek and was a very pretty place for the purpose, little had been known of the place though outside of their neighborhood until the bloody battle fought there on the 16^th June 1863 gave it quite a notoriety.  While there we laughed at the idea of putting a whole regiment in such an out of the way place, wondering how the enemy would ever get to it.

Divine Service Presbyterian Church, James Island

We had a very pleasant time while there, regimental and company drills and guard mountings breaking the monotony of our stay.  The first Sunday after our arrival on the island a large part of our company and regiment attended divine service at the Presbyterian Church, the sermon was a very impressive one, in which the soldier’s [23] duties were especially treated by the Rev. Mr. Mellichampe, whose son afterwards was a comrade in the Washington Artillery;  after the sermon the singing of a hymn and a prayer, in which the soldiers were also duly remembered, offered to the throne of grace we marched back to our quarters.  The church was built in a very pretty and secluded spot and was a very neat one;  this was my first attendance at a country church and I was very much impressed with the peace and quiet that reigned there, in fact everything tended to the development of a feeling of praise to the Almighty on that beautiful Sabbath morning.  Spring was just making her appearance, the air was clear and balmy and filled with the fragrance of the jessamine, the trees and shrubs were putting out their tender leaves and buds, while the feathered songsters, foremost among which was the mocking bird, sang on all sides their sweet tunes; verily it was a fitting place to commune with nature, and with nature’s God.  On many and many occasion has the thought of that pleasant scene come to my mind and a feeling of longing [24] came over me for the peace and quiet of the Sabbath morning.  In my ramblings over our fertile islands, those garden spots of our coast, during the war I have met with none to impress me as much as that did.

But away with sentiment, write of peace!  peace was then yet far off;  the quiet of that lovely spot was that of the calm that precedes the storm, war was yet to show its grim spectre there, and the song of the birds to be replaced by the whistling of shells and bullets, and the groans of the wounded and dying men; and that temple of God should fall a prey, even in a time of peace, aye what as hollow mockery, a peace only in name, to the vengeful spirit of some black demon to whom even that holy place was not sacred.