Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 16.djvu/182

 176 Southern Historical Society Papers.

for a long time from the wound. Brigadier General Hagood, to whose brigade we now belonged, came to the conclusion that the damage we were inflicting on the enemy was not worth the ammuni- tion which we were using, and sent me an order not to fire on the enemy's steamers unless they came nearer than was their habit, or unless they first opened fire on us. This order stopped our diversion, and camp life sometimes became again a little monotonous. By way of variety, however, we had a great many battalion drills and inspec- tions, and frequently marched about two miles and a half to a field near Freer's House and joined several other regiments in brigade drills. On the 7th of February, 1864, General Beauregard had a grand review of nearly all the troops on the island, and the day was ended by a drill in evolutions of the line.

Before General Hagood stopped our daily exchange of compliments with the enemy, an incident which, as such a thing has never, in the history of modern warfare, so far as my knowledge goes, occurred under fire, I deem worthy of special mention. Private Jack Lambert, of Company C (Wee Nee Volunteers), and Miss Scott, of Williams- burg District, were married. Chaplain A. F. Dickson performed the marriage ceremony. The bride and groom were happy, and the soldiers present enjoyed the occasion, though there were no great festivities. I am not sure that General Gilmore gave a ball in honor of the occasion, but he so often entertained us in that way that one sent us just then would not have greatly interfered with the hilarity of the wedding party.

Several times during the winter our supply of meat gave out, and for weeks at a time we were on dry rations. The men and officers, who were able to have supplies sent them from home, fared better than those who were not so well provided. I am not sure that any of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina volunteers got to eating rats, which were very numerous and large at the post, but some of the officers and soldiers of the artillery indulged in savory messes of those delicate rodents. A fat rat was worth ten cents. On the nth of January Lieutenant-Colonel Brown and Dr. Thomas Grimke in- vited me to a rat supper. I went, but was not sufficiently hungry to partake of the viands. The Colonel and Doctor pronounced the repast excellent.

March nth to April 1 4th, 1864. The regiment was relieved from further duty at Secessionville and went into camp just inside the new lines, on the right hand side of the road leading from the Presbyte- rian church to Dills'. The new camp was about four or five hundred