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I believe the army to be a first-rate school, which very often ruins its pupils; but if they can sustain the training, they come out with greatly increased self-confidence, knowledge of men, power of self-government, and very many of those qualities which go so far to make up a real man.In speaking of his army life he regrets the loss of Sunday and of religious worship. In one of his letters he says: ‘I have not heard a sermon nor attended a religious meeting of any kind for three months.’ In another, written some time after: ‘Religion does not flourish on this soil, and Sabbaths are unknown in our brigade. Each Sunday is for the men a day of cleaning up and beginning anew.’ He follows this with quite a graphic account of the ‘Sunday inspection.’ Soon after arriving at Folly Island he had been placed third in the order for promotion on the list of Second Lieutenants; and in a letter written January 21, 1864, he speaks of having been recently promoted First Lieutenant (November 21, 1863), and then says, ‘I find no trouble in making myself at home in camp, and enjoy the life there perfectly.’ In the same letter he says, referring to his regiment:—
I admire the spirit which these men show. They have evidently enlisted on principle, and, moreover, being so nearly akin to the Fifty-fourth, they are eager to emulate their example. I have not the least doubt that they will fight to the death, the more because they expect nothing but the worst treatment from the Rebs. I admire, too, the manner in which they stick together in the pay matter. They have not taken a cent yet, and will not until the United States pays them as it does white soldiers.About the 14th of February, 1864, his regiment was sent on an expedition to Florida, and participated in the battle of Olustee, where it covered the retreat of our defeated forces. Of this expedition he wrote under date of February 28th:—
Just two weeks ago to-day we left South Carolina, and ceased, forever and a day, I trust, to be foolish islanders. We broke camp at daylight, . . . . and embarked at noon . . . . for the State of Florida. We had a delightful voyage, and I dreamed (by day) of De Soto and Ponce de Leon, and the romantic search for the fountain
