t was not
humble enough. The female portion of the inhabitants were
also very insolent.

"'Upon arriving at Libby Prison the officer in charge asked
the commander of our guard if the 'niggers' would fight. His
answer was, 'by G--d! if you had been there you would have
thought so. They marched up just as if they were on drill,
not firing a shot.'

"'After being lodged in Libby, Salisbury and Danville
prisons, we were returned to Richmond about February 17th,
paroled on the 21st, and reached our lines on the 22d.'

"An article in the New York _Herald_ of November 4th, 1864,
copied from a rebel newspaper, arguing for the arming of
slaves, has in it the following passage:

"'But A. B. says that negroes will not fight. We have before
us a letter from a distinguished general (we wish we were at
liberty to use his name and influence) who says 'Fort Gilmer
proved the other day that they would fight. They raised each
other on the parapet to be shot as they appeared above.'

"The officer referred to was understood to be Gen. Lee.

"After the four companies had disappeared in the ditch of
the fort, Capt. Pratt, with Company F, was ordered to move
forward as near the work as he could get and keep down its
fire and cover their retreat. Capt. Smith and Lieut. Prime
came back, both severely wounded. Later in the day companies
A, B, E and I, under Capt. Spaulding, moved to the left and
relieved the four companies of the Eighth, who were out of
ammunition. Co. F lost two men killed and twenty-three
wounded, and the four companies under Capt. Spaulding had
eleven men killed and wounded. Lieut. Teeple, commanding
Company I, was wounded in the arm, but remained in command
of his company during the day.

"Four companies annihilated, 70 killed, 110 wounded and 129
missing tells the story of Fort Gilmer.

"The regiment, or what was left of it, remained at the front
until 9 o'clock P. M., when the wounded were gathered
together and it moved half a mile to the rear and slept on
its arms.

"This day proved the most unfortunate one in the history of
the regiment. The storming of a strong field-work, whose
garrison was on the alert, with a thin skirmish line without
supports, resulted as could easily have been foreseen.
First,