Return to city April 20/61

Several days after Jenkins’ regiment arrived to relieve ours and on the 20^th Apl. we returned to the city; the day before the return of Col. M. Jenkins, who as Brigadier General was killed in Virginia shortly [32] after, witnessed a drill of our company and highly complimented us for our movements.  While leaving the island wharf on board of the Steamer “Osiris”, a boat was seen to leave there also for Fort Sumpter containing Gen. Beauregard and staff, when it became known among our men that it was he, they gave him three cheers and a “tiger” to which compliment he responded by rising in the boat and raising his cap.  This was my first sight of him which made a very good impression on me.  After an absence of nearly two months we were once again in the city, heartily welcomed by the people and more so by our loved ones; resuming our drills again on our arrival.

On the 12^th Sept. we received orders to assemble to take charge of 150 federal prisoners that had been captured at the battery of Manassas;  at about 8 or 9 o’clock in the evening we marched to the north eastern R.R. depot, with fixed bayonet, loaded muskets, and 40 rounds of ammunition in our cartridge boxes, there we found the whole regiment assembled to escort the prisoners to the jail, where they were first to be taken to.  We waited the whole night but [33] no train came; at last at daybreak the distant sound of the whistle warned us of its approach and the company was hastily formed to receive our unwelcome and no doubt unwilling guests (?); while forming the command “Order arms!” was given by Capt. Chichester and executed with so much precision that it attracted the attention of the Major of our regiment, Ellison Capers, a graduate of the Citadel and now a minister of the gospel who was standing near, and was so much pleased by the execution of that order that he said: Well done, men!  and thereupon made us go through the movement of the manual, much to his satisfaction, from that time he took a lively interest in our company.  When the train came up and I saw the prisoners come out, a sensation of fear overcame me for a while as I thought that 50 of us, boys you could almost call us, as the majority of our men were hardly more, were to take charge of 150 of the roughest looking fellows in creation, a large number of them were of the “New York Line Zouaves” who were known to be regular bullies, this feeling though was soon overcome.  [34] 

Charleston Jail with federal prisoners 12^th-20^th Sept. 61

The company formed a hollow square taking the prisoners in the centre, and with the regiment divided in our front and rear, and we marched down to the jail, followed by a large crowd from whom we feared some hostile demonstration against the prisoners, though for naught.  Arrived our destination the prisoners were marched in and our company took charge of the place posting sentinels all around the same; we remained there till the 20^th Sept. when we were ordered with the prisoners to Castle Pinckney; on our arrival there we found everything in disorder, but immediately putting the prisoners to work we soon set things to right and made the place more tenable.  We found the prisoners much easier to manage than we expected, though, no doubt our treatment of them had a great deal to do with it the same being strict, but not severe, they fared also well getting a full soldier’s rations;  some of them told us that if the fortune of war should ever reverse our respective positions by making us prisoners and they as guards they would not forget our treatment of them if they could help it we should fare no worse.  [35]

Among the prisoners were a number of officers, among whom were Gen. Meagher and Cols. Stone & Corcoran, these were quartered in the eastern part of the barracks while the men occupied casemates which had been fitted up as rooms for them, the treatment of the officers was somewhat different than that of the men, no services being required of them, and their being allowed the freedom of the inner parade to a certain extent.  Our company was quartered in the western part of the barracks where the largest room, in which with others I had my quarters, being called “the Rebel’s den”;  This became the loitering place of the men, and many a trick was there played upon the inmates and the loiterers, much to the merriment of the others.  One of these, perpetrated upon nearly every one of the inmates by turns, was the taking out of the slats in the bottom of the bunk in the absence of the owner of the same, when the unfortunate owner came in and laid or sat himself on his bed as they most generally did he would soon find himself bedding and all underneath with a hearty laugh from the others at his expense in [36] the bargain.  Although the members of the company formed a jovial set, and during the whole time of our stay together no ill feeling was engendered among them.  At certain hours of the day the various messes, or rooms, of the prisoners were allowed an airing for a certain length of time in the parade ground at which time they would form themselves in groups, and amused themselves with songs, there being a number of excellent voices among them.

Our men while on guard were not allowed outside of their rooms without their side arms, that is their bayonet with them as a precaution for any attempt at mutiny among the prisoners.

Detached Oct. 61

About the middle of October, Mr Bornemann, who had the printing of the small bills for the State, and who needed me procured a detachment from headquarters for me and I came over to the city and went to work, though I did not look upon this as compatible with my duty to my state.  About the latter part of the month the prisoners were ordered to be brought to the city to be sent on to Virginia for exchange at the request of Capt. Chichester I went over to the Castle to make during [37] the removal.  On calling the roll of the prisoners just before embarking for the city one of them was reported as missing, search was immediately made throughout the castle and on some of the sloops lying near but the same proved of no avail, and as the missing man had been considered sickly it was supposed that he had fallen overboard and been drowned;  so no more was thought about the matter, until about a week later a suspicious character was arrested on Sullivan’s Island, who, when on examination he told his story, proved to be our missing prisoner;  he had feigned sick for the purpose of  perfecting his plan of escape, the sick being allowed to go to the “necessary” which was outside of the castle, without guard during the day making his preparations accordingly while allowed that liberty, taking an old “gun cover”, a wooden shed or cover used during the peacetime to cover the guns, as a substitute for a boat and two small pieces of board as paddles;  during the confusion preparatory to embarking he had hid himself and that night entrusted himself on this frail bark to the water, hoping [38] that an outgoing tide would carry him out to the fleet, but instead thereof he drifted over to Sullivan’s Island where he was arrested.

Charleston Jail with Prisoners Oct. 61

The prisoners having been brought to the city were again taken to the jail & left in charge of a sergeant and 3 men, myself among the number, until another company took charge of them next day;  our company returning immediately to the castle to perform garrison duty there.  Our detachment at the jail having been relieved I returned to my work while the others reported at the castle.  From this time I remained steady at work until on the fall of Port Royal Nov. 7^th 1861, when an order from “Head Quarters” revoked all furloughs, details and detachments, and ordered all such men to join their respective commands immediately, when I reported at Castle Pinckney for duty.

Castle Pinckney Nov. 8^th 61

On my arrival at the castle I found the men engaged under direction of Lieut. Scanlon of the engineer corps, with the assistance of the Emerald Light Infantry, also a company of the Rifle Regiment, who had bee sent over to help our company in getting the place ready for defense, [39] mounting guns, building merlins &c and soon, after very hard work though, the place was in thorough order.  The Emeralds being soon relieved our company was left to garrison with Capt. Chichester in command, our little fortress.  After a thorough drilling as heavy artillery our boys soon became proficient in the handling of the guns.

Visit of Gen. R. E. Lee

About this time, Gen. Robert E. Lee having been assigned to the company and of our department, while on an inspecting tour, paid us a visit and inspected our company and the fort. This was my first and only glimpse of that afterwards so noted Chieftain, who so endeared himself to his army and people.

Visit of Gen. R. S. Ripley

On another occasion we were inspected by Gen. Ripley, who succeeded Gen. Lee when the latter was ordered to Virginia;  during his visit we were practiced in firing hot-shot at an imaginary enemy, or rather at an old hogshead anchored some distance off in the channel, during which we succeeded in making several good shots.

Our company, being now in sole possession of the barracks, the men were [40] able to make themselves more comfortable, that is, by a less crowded state of the quarters.  I became the occupier of a small room adjoining the one occupied by Capt. Chichester and his lady, who had recently joined her husband at the castle; there I could keep everything to my own satisfaction, soon getting from the officers from the inspections of the quarters the praise of having the best-kept room on the place.  About this time my brother George, had joined the company and reported for duty at the castle.  

Altogether we had a very pleasant time of it there, so much so, that the men became tired of the lazy and monotonous life, and wished for more active service in the field; of that they got, no doubt, to their heart’s content or more, for many of them, poor fellows, never returned therefrom, having fallen in the battles in Virginia, having joined other commands after the disbandment of our company; among these were many fine young men whose prospects of the future were of the brightest and best. [41]

Great Fire Dec 12^th 1861

It was at times rather tantalizing to us to have the city always in view and not be able to go over, but never was my patience more tried than on the night of the great fire December 12, 1861, when, as it seemed from the castle, the whole city appeared to be in flames; my fear pictured our house too, among the ruins, and Mother and Brother homeless, but on being allowed to visit the city next day I found the destruction to have been bad enough, but fortunately, our home had not fallen a victim to the destructive element and instead of Mother and Brother being homeless, they had been able to offer a home to the unfortunate the whole Fehrenbach family who had been burnt out in meeting near to Queen Street, being quartered there.  With a thankful though a sad heart at the desolation I had witnessed, I returned next day to the castle and resumed my duties. 

Running Blockade SS “Isabel”

An event that caused some commotion and interrupted for the time the monotony of our duties, was the appearance at daybreak one morning of a large [42] steamship fast entering the harbor, as no colors were shown by her it was thought to be one of the enemy’s blockade vessels, so the long roll was beat and the men ordered to their posts at the guns, ready to give a warm reception to, as we thought, the daring intruder;  as no colors were shown by her it was thought to be one of the enemy’s blockade vessels, so the long roll was beat and the men ordered to their posts at the guns, ready to give a warm reception to, as we thought, the daring intruder;  some amusement was caused by the great state of fear in which our colored drummer, now Captain Joe Green, was, whose knees were shaking so that he could hardly beat the alarm; but when the men got to ramparts of the fort they soon became serious for all eyes were strained watching the vessel which came steadily nearer and nearer.  When about abreast of Fort Sumter, she fired a gun and ran up the “Stars and Bars” to her masthead, when cheer after cheer went up from the different forts and batteries and her salute returned by the same.  She proved to be the “Isabel” which had run the blockade with a valuable cargo for the government. 

Burning of Cotton &c.

Some sad feeling was caused during this time by the illumination of the horizon on all sides by the burning of cotton and other produce on the neighboring [43] islands to prevent the same from falling into the hands of the enemy;  also some concern caused by the operation of the “stone fleet”, old hulks or vessels loaded with stone sunk by the enemy the entrance of the harbor to more effectively blockade the same.   An incident occurred, too, in our midst to cause some merriment among the men at the expense of some few unfortunate ones; our guard had been in the habit of during the night entering the kitchen and making a good pot of coffee for their own especial benefit about midnight and of course help themselves to the necessaries therefore, such as the coffee, sugar, &c.  from the rations for the next day, making no doubt quite a deficit in the same; 

Croton Oil

our member who charge of the cooks to see to the proper preparation of the rations after these nightly depredations had gone on for some time, determined to put a stop to them, for which purpose he procured some croton oil from the city with which he dosed some sugar which he placed in the usual place; that night of course the guard helped themselves as usual, and next [44] morning he could tell by the frequent running “to the rear” who had helped themselves to the sugar that night;  these unfortunate ones had the laugh quite against them, “croton oil” became their sore spot for a long time after, while the whole company nearly had already done what they had though without its unpleasantness.

Upset at Southern Whf

On being relieved from guard two of the members, old guard as they were called, were allowed to go to the city with the boat in the morning to return the same evening.  On one of my returns I met with an accident that proved a serious thing to me though only a joke to those who witnessed it, the same was caused by the upsetting of our boat at the Southern Wharf, through the thoughtlessness of one of our members who had climbed to the wharf by the shrouds causing the boat to rebound and upset with Mr. H. Sturken, who was to go to the castle to take our measures for new uniforms, and myself.  On reaching the wharf, although in a sad plight myself, I could not help joining the others in a laugh at Mr. Sturken’s frantic cries for “Mine shears! Mine shears!”  and how he alike considerate for his beaver [45] had taken out his silk pocket handkerchief, wet of course, and carefully stroked his equally as wet beaver.  I have had many a laugh with Mr. S. about it since, when he persists in saying that I had caught him by the throat and tried to choke him although it was the one who rescued him as well as myself, he still blesses Henry Ostendorff, too, who he says was the cause of the accident.  This little digression from our regular order was considered by the others as fun in which I might have agreed with them had I now, by going over to the castle, when the boat was righted, in my wet clothes, become the sufferer of a very bad cold which confined me to my bed at the castle for a week, during which time I received very kind attentions from Capt. Chichester and his estimable lady, for which to this day yet, I am thankful to them; being even then not quite better the captain procured me a week’s furlough to recruit my health at home, after which I reported to duty quite restored.

Return and disbandment Feb. 5^th 1862

On the 5^th Feb. 1862 after a stay of five months at the castle, we were relieved by a company of regulars as the militia [46] was to be enrolled for Confederate service for a year, or disbanded, the Governor having ordered a draft to take place on the 20^th should enough troops not volunteer.  Not being able to get enough men to remain in the company, as a large number wanted to join other branches of the services, the same was disbanded, when a number of us decided to join the Washington Artillery just then being recruited for a light battery;