ouched at Fortress Monroe; and while the vessel was at anchor there
I received a gratifying evidence that this fratricidal war had not
destroyed all kindly feelings between former friends and messmates. The
executive officer of the Rhode Island called me aside to say that a
friend wished to see me in his state-room; and as he did not mention
the name, I was surprised to find myself warmly greeted by Albert Smith.
We had served together during the Mexican war, and our cruise had not
been an uneventful one; for the vessel to which we were attached ("the
Perry") after considerable service in the Mexican Gulf, was dismasted
and wrecked, during one of the most terrific hurricanes that ever
desolated the West India Islands. Thirty-nine vessels, out of forty-two,
which lay in the harbor of Havana, foundered at their anchors, or were
driven ashore; all of the light-houses along the Florida reef were
destroyed, and hundreds of persons perished. The Perry lost all of her
boats, her guns, except two, were thrown overboard, and she escaped
complete destruction almost by a miracle. She encountered the hurricane
off Havana, and after scudding for many hours under bare poles,
describing a circle as the wind continued to veer in the cyclone, she
passed over the Florida reef with one tremendous shock as she hung for a
moment upon its rocky crest. Her masts went by the board, but we had
passed in a moment from a raging sea into smooth water. Captain Blake,
who commanded her, achieved the feat of rigging jury masts with his
crew, and carrying the vessel to the Philadelphia navy yard for
repairs. Albert Smith and I had not met for many years. He offered me
any service in his power, and pressed me to accept at least a pecuniary
loan. The kind offer, although declined, was gratefully remembered; and
I was glad, too, to find that he, in common with many others, who
remained to fight under the old flag, could appreciate the sacrifices
made by those who felt equally bound, by all the truest and best
feelings of our nature, to defend their homes and firesides.

On our arrival at Fort Warren we were assigned quarters in one of the
casemates. Little more than a year had passed away since I had planted a
signal staff upon its parapet to _angle_ upon; being then engaged, as
chief of a hydrographic surveying party, in surveying the approaches to
Boston Harbor. _Then_ its garrison consisted of a superannuated sergeant
whose office was a sinecure; _now_