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         REMINISCENCES OF SERVICE
                 WITH THE
         FIRST VOLUNTEER REGIMENT
               OF GEORGIA,

       CHARLESTON HARBOR, IN 1863.


                AN ADDRESS
           DELIVERED BEFORE THE
       GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

              MARCH 3, 1879.

     BY COLONEL CHARLES H. OLMSTEAD.


              SAVANNAH, GA.:
  PRINTED AND PRESENTED BY J. H. ESTILL,
         PROPRIETOR MORNING NEWS,
                  1879.




ANNALS OF THE WAR.


In preparing the following paper, it has been my desire only to record
what its title suggests--personal reminiscences.

Leaving to other and abler pens the task of writing an accurate
history of the scenes and events to which reference is now about to be
made, I shall confine myself simply to the task of setting down such
things as came under my personal observation, or within the scope of
my individual knowledge.

I do this the more confidently, remembering the marked interest that
invariably attaches to the testimony of an eyewitness, and also
bearing in mind (for my own comfort) that this interest will always
incline his hearers to leniency in judging literary demerits. It is
probable, too, that some of my old comrades will be pleased at this
recurrence to an eventful period in their lives, while a younger
generation in the ranks may be glad to have placed before them a
record, not of the "pomp and circumstance of glorious war," but of its
privations, its hardships, its perils, and, it may be added, its
lessons of self-abnegation and of devotion to duty.

Early in the month of July, 1863, while stationed very comfortably at
the Isle of Hope, a courier, "spurring in hot haste," brought orders
from Department headquarters that set our camp at once in a turmoil of
eager and excited preparation. The 32d Georgia, Col. George P.
Harrison, Jr., the 12th and 18th Georgia Battalions, Lieut.-Col. H. D.
Capers and Major W. S. Basinger, and a battalion from the First
Volunteer Regiment of Georgia, were ordered to proceed with the least
possible delay to Savannah, there to take cars for Charleston.

A private note at the same time brought the intelligence that that
city, so long threatened, and, indeed, once already assailed by sea,
was now to undergo a vigorous and combined attack from both land and
naval forces. The day was an eventful one to us without this
additional stimulant. In the morning we had received the sad news of
the fall of Vicksburg and the consequent opening of the Mississippi
river to the Federal fleet, from the mountains to the sea, a disaster
that secured to the enemy the grand object of his most strenuous
exertions, while it severed the young Confederacy in twain and
deprived our armies east of the river of all the aid and comfort in
the way of material supplies and gallant recruits, that had been so
long and so freely drawn from the west bank. We had just learned, too,
of the check received by General Lee at the battle of Gettysburg, and
now came the summons to tell that our turn had come for a little
squeeze in the folds of the traditional "Anaconda," that the New York
_Herald_ had so graphically depicted as encircling the South.

The men received the orders with enthusiasm--indeed, when was it
otherwise with the Southern soldier. Thoroughly conversant, as they
all were, with the details of the war, they could not but be depressed
by the news of such grave reverses to our arms as the morning's mail
had brought them, and they gladly welcomed the relief that active
service promised from the tedium of camp life, and the necessity of
thinking upon melancholy subjects.

Our march began in the midst of a terrific thunder-storm that had the
effect, not only of cooling down any overplus of excitement, but also
of rendering the road to the city almost a quagmire throughout its
entire length.

There are pleasanter ways of spending a summer's evening than in
trudging for eight miles, through mud and rain, in heavy marching
order; but upon this, as on similar occasions during the war, I was
deeply impressed by the uncomplaining patience and cheerfulness with
which the men endured hardships that few would care to face now, but
which, then, were regarded as mere matters of course--distasteful,
certainly--but not worth talking about.

The storm delayed our march considerably, and upon reaching the depot
we found that the 32d Regiment, which had been stationed