DOWN THE RIVER.

The Valley City left Jamesville at 8 a.m., December 12, and dredged the
river, as I have described. In the evening we had proceeded a few miles
above Jamesville. I will now quote as I have it in my diary, which was
written at that time.

Tuesday, December 13, at 5:30 p.m., we were ordered back to Jamesville
to cover the army. (I will state by way of parenthesis that the army
forces at Plymouth, commanded by Colonel Frankle, had promised the
fleet their co-operation, but in this the fleet was disappointed.) We
proceeded down the river as far as the fleet, when our orders were
countermanded and we returned to dredge the river. The remainder of the
fleet would lay at anchor, whilst the dredging party, with the Valley
City, would proceed four or five miles up the river; then the balance
of the fleet would get under weigh and steam up to the Valley City, and
then come to an anchor again; but when the rebels commenced to thicken
in the woods along the river, the fleet kept together behind the
dredging party.

Friday, December 16.--We have been dredging the river, and have
advanced to within a short distance of Williamston. At 12 m. we arrived
at Williamston. I went ashore at this place. It is a small place on the
right bank of the Roanoke river--the ground rising gently from the
river to the rear of the town. The houses are built of frame, and very
much scattered. A family I visited there showed me a hole in their
house made by a Federal shell passing through it. One of the inmates of
the house had been sitting in a chair in a room in the line of the
shell, and just a moment before the shell came crashing through the
house the lady went into an adjoining room, thus escaping. The chair in
which she had been sitting was knocked to atoms. At 1 p.m. we left
Williamston, and at 5 p.m. we anchored.

Saturday, December 17.--We lay at anchor all day. In the morning I was
astonished to see a hog swim across the Roanoke river immediately in
front of us, because I have always heard it said that swine will not
swim. This was the first and only hog I ever saw swim. At 11 a.m. I
went ashore to where an old man lived; he was covered with rags, and
lived in a secluded spot close by the water's edge. He had no family
but a little boy about eleven years of age. There was not even a cow or
horse to be seen--everything around him betokened distress and misery.
I asked him how long he had been living here. He replied, "I hav