e been
living here six years." I then asked him if he enjoyed this sort of
life. He answered, "No." I asked him if he had an education. He said,
"I can neither read nor write." I then asked if he intended to give his
son an education. He replied that before the war he had intended to
give his son an education, but now times were so hard that it was
barely possible for him to get sufficient to eat. After bidding him
farewell, I returned aboard.

Sunday, December 18.--At 2 p.m. we got under weigh to dredge the river.
At 5 p.m. we anchored for the night. The nights are dark and foggy, and
the rebel musketeers and sharpshooters frequently come up under cover
of the darkness behind the dykes, and give us a wholesome dose from
their rifles; but they are soon hurled back again by a dose of grape
from our guns. During the nights, to prevent floating torpedoes coming
down the river, small boats or skiffs that we had captured from the
enemy were tied in line across the river above the fleet.

Monday, December 20.--The launches that have been dredging the river
have been fired into, and Acting Master Wells and two men of the
Chicopee were wounded. This event caused the rowers to become so much
panic-stricken that they dropped their oars, lay down in the bottom of
the launches, and allowed their boats to float down with the current.
It was with much difficulty that Captain J. A. J. Brooks, by calling to
them from the Valley City, could get them aroused; but finally they
came alongside. We, however, kept on dredging the river till we came to
a point in the Roanoke river, where we anchored. The river at this
point where the fleet is anchored makes a bend like that of a
horseshoe. The ground on the inside of the bend, on the right bank of
the river, is low and level, and covered with young saplings or
undergrowth. At the heels of this horseshoe bend ran a high ridge,
covered partly with poplar trees and partly with white-oak trees. The
fleet lay on the Plymouth stretch of the river, or near stretch, and at
the end of the far stretch where the river runs under the high bluff,
the rebels, as we ascertained afterwards, had fortified with artillery,
and an army said to be ten thousand strong. We did not then suspect we
would find the rebels in force, till we got to Rainbow Bluff. This
place was known by the name of Poplar Point.

All the fleet was at anchor, and had been since 3 o'clock p.m. The day
was beautiful. The fish were nibblin