Downing’s Civil War Diary.–Alexander G. Downing.

Wednesday, 19th–A thunderstorm last night cooled the air some, though it is still extremely hot. There was a boat blown up this morning down at the wharf and thirty or forty lives were lost, mostly negroes. The boat was being loaded with ammunition and the explosion was caused by a negro’s dropping a box of loaded shells. A number of persons thrown into the water were rescued from drowning.