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Our voyage from
Florida terminated at
Stono Inlet on the morning of April 18.
The steamer thence proceeded up
Folly River, but running aground, the leftwing companies were transferred to the steamer
Canonicus. Disembarking at Pawnee Landing about 3 P. M., the Fifty-fourth at once marched to
Lighthouse Inlet in a heavy rain-storm, and there crossed on a large flat boat to
Morris Island.
Shelter for the night was provided in the ordnance building for the men, the officers finding accommodations with friends.
That evening
Captain Emilio was ordered to command the outpost of
Black Island with Companies C, E, and H, as the garrison.
Camp was established where the receding sand-hills formed a sort of natural amphitheatre, at a point about a mile up the beach, near the signal hill.
There the regiment remained during its continuance on
Morris Island.
A company was sent to
Fort Wagner that evening, and the next day suffered the loss of one man, killed by a shell.
Again the Fifty-fourth was upon the sand isle, which the winds and tides had perceptibly encroached upon during our absence.
At the front the thunder of great guns rang out only occasionally, in place of incessant bombardment.
Monitors, gunboats, and supply-vessels still rode upon the near waters; and blockaders appeared and disappeared along the horizon before the beleaguered port.
But the
