night in boats, and landed a boat howitzer. About the. same time a foothold was gained by our forces further up the river. The next morning, May 3d, a general advance was ordered, and soon the line of the enemy opened its fire and the "ball" began.

The Twenty-first Connecticut, supported by our regiment, advanced against a piece of woods filled with the enemy, about half a mile from the river. A terrible fire met them, when the Twenty-first dropped their colors and retired. The old Fourth had been there before, and clearing themselves of the rush of the Twenty-first, bravely faced the storm. It was one regiment against twenty, We could not advance against such odds, being unsupported. Comrade Seagraves, of Company H, went forward and picked up the colors of the Twenty-first, and under orders, the regiment fell slowly back to the river where they halted, holding their position until dark, losing one killed and four wounded.

Without the protection of the gun-boats it is probable they would have been driven into the river, as the rebel force was found to exceed ours greatly, and would have tried to make another Ball's Bluff affair of it if they had not been stopped by the huge shell from the fleet. Soon after dark the recrossing of the troops commenced, and about midnight the regiment reached camp with a loss of six wounded in this battle or skirmish, two of whom died soon after. The writer being on guard duty at camp, did not participate in this fight, but has given as good an account of it as he has been able to obtain. If there are any mistakes, comrades, pass them over.

The result of this movement was the formal retreat that night of nearly the whole rebel force, thus effectually raising the siege of Suffolk.

Longstreet and his rebel horde now left this vicinity for Fredericksburg, to coöperate with Lee in his second invasion of Maryland.

May, 1863

CHAPTER XIII.

T

TO PORTSMOUTH, AND UP THE PENINSULA.

HE weather was now extremely hot. Thursday,
May 14th, orders came to pack up, and at ten that

morning we marched out, bag and baggage, on the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, and down the track towards Portsmouth. The sun poured its piercing rays down upon us, the dust rose in clouds around us, and the march soon became awful.

Halting at times, we sought the shade of the woods near by, and wondered why it was we should travel in the heat of the day, when we could accomplish twice the distance in the cool hours of the night in much the same time, and with ten times as much comfort.

We had accomplished about five miles of our journey, when we were overtaken by a heavy thunder shower, which drenched us to the skin, but cooled the air, laid the dust, and made the march much more agreeable. When about ten miles had been tallied, we turned in to the right of the railroad, and about a mile farther on encamped.

Hastily stripping our weary shoulders of their heavy load of knapsack, haversack, canteen, gun, and equipments, we put about to build a fire and cook our scanty supper, and after gathering a few armfuls of pine boughs for a bed, we turned in for the night.

As the cheerful music of the reveille sounded through the groves and fields next morning, we reluctantly turned out to roll-call, and were then ordered to lay out our camp for permanent occupation. After breakfast we set at work, and with axes cut down poles, crotches, etc., suitable to raise our tents three feet from the ground, and to provide them with bunks to sleep in.

We labored hard all that hot day, and by night had the prettiest camp we had seen in a long time. Now we could rest from our weary campaign of the last two months, and feeling that we stood a pretty fair sight of enjoying camplife for some time, we went to sleep that night happy and contented, in our new quarters, so nice and cool.

The next morning we busied ourselves in putting the finishing touches on our new quarters, when suddenly "Pack up, pack up," was heard, "Strike tents, and get into line here." Alas! our beautiful camp. All our labor and pains-taking had been in vain. Down came our arbors and tents, etc., in a hurry, and with a vengeance, and we shouldered our baggage and started on again about noon, the hottest part of the day, of course. Striking the railroad, we headed towards Portsmouth again, and marching along at routestep through the heat and dust of that sultry afternoon, sunset found us at a point four miles distant from Portsmouth, when we turned in to the left of the railroad and encamped.

Here we were informed we should at last find rest for the soles of our feet. A new line of fortifications were to be constructed for the defense of Norfolk and Portsmouth at this place, extending from the Nansemond River to a point beyond the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad. On the strength of this information, we began to prepare our quarters for a permanent residence. We built up our tents. three feet high, having an arbor in front, supplied with rude seats and a table, and soon were taking as much comfort as was permitted a soldier to take in this hot country.

Soon after our quarters were completed we began work, throwing up a large fort on the south side of the railroad and near our camp. On account of the excessive heat, (the thermometer dancing around between eighty and 120 degrees most of the time,) we could labor but four hours per day, from five in the morning until nine.

The rest of the day was spent lying under the shade of our brush arbors, or strolling about among the neighboring farms, picking up what we could to replenish our larder.

Blackberries were very plenty and large. Night expeditions were organized for raids upon the neighboring potato fields, which would go out after roll-call, at 9 o'clock and return about midnight, loaded down with sweet potatoes and other vegetables; and though the old farmers would watch their fields all night with dog and gun, yet the boys generally outwitted the old men and got what they went after without being discovered.

Every comrade who was there will call to mind these happy days of our soldier life, and the many comical scrapes we got into while we lay here in camp, but by which we were enabled to live on the fat of the land at the expense of these old "bushwhackers," who would gladly have blown us out of existence if they could, for the equal benefit of their crops and their beloved Confederacy.

June 4th we began to build a line of stockade, extending from the fort towards the river, and just in rear of our camp. Piles were cut in the woods near by, sharpened at one end, hauled in, and planted in the ground so that the top reached a height of eight feet from the ground. They were set snug and close together, and crevices or loop-holes were made between them, about three feet apart, and at the height of four feet, for the use of the infantry, to fire through.

This we thought at the time to be an insurmountable bar

rier to an enemy, presenting, as it did, to its defenders the advantage of being almost impervious to bullets, while we could maintain a constant fire upon the enemy through the loop-holes. But in our after experience, we learned how weak and futile they would have proved had we been attacked by the enemy in force. Though we had seen many long months of hard service in front of the enemy, we had much of the science of war yet to learn.

Wednesday, June 17th, we celebrated the battle of Bunker Hill by a flag raising in camp. A high flag-staff had been erected on the parade in front of Colonel Steere's headquarters, a large and beautiful flag provided, the services of the Thirteenth New Hampshire Band brought into requisition, and amid much cheering, music, and enthusiasm, the old Stars and Stripes floated out above us. After the exercises were over, at the invitation of Colonel Steere, we marched up to his quarters, and received a treat of lemonade, very nice, but without the "stick." It was no less acceptable, however, ånd giving old Father Steere three rousing cheers, we went back to our quarters to take up the usual duties of the day,

Preparations now began for another move. The work on the fortifications was pushed forward with the greatest celerity, and extra forces of troops and contrabands were put to work along the line to hurry up matters.

On the 19th, the first gun, a heavy thirty-two pound siege gun, was mounted on the fort, and others soon occupied their respective places.

On the 21st we received marching orders. At midnight the long roll was beat, and arousing from our slumbers, in response to its alarm, we packed our knapsacks, filled our haversacks with three days' rations, and leaving our tents standing until we came back under care of the convalescents and the usual force of non-combatants,— who some