April 1, 1863, The New York Herald
Our Hilton head Correspondence.
HILTON HEAD, S.C., March 27, 1863.
I wrote you a day or two since of the alarming destitution existing in city of Savannah. Since then we have received into our lines several deserters from the rebel defences at Canston’s Bluff and Thunderbolt, who more than confirm my statements. They affirm that the daily rations of the troops consist of only four ounces of bacon and seven of corn meal. Soldiers on a diet so slim cannot be expected to fight and thrive. In consequence of their privations very many of the rebel troops are failing sick, and all are fearing illness. A panic is on them. Starvation stares them in the face. The last batch of deserters who came in assert that only for the fact that they are kept on inside post duty, the entire regiment to which they belong would desert.
From what is deemed to be a source entirely trustworthy, I learn that all the women and children have been ordered out of Savannah. They left the city on Monday and Tuesday. This measure was induced not more by the fear of an attack than by the inability of the commanding General to subsist his troops while so many non combatants were to be fed.
The iron-clad steamer Keokuk arrived safely last evening. She came up the bay under her own steam, making excellent time. From the character of the vessel, and from the reputation for dash and gallantry which her captain, Commander Rhind, enjoys, we are led to assign the Keokuk an important place on the list of iron-clads in this department. Her arrival has brought a good deal of relief to us all, for the weather has not been very propitious of late, and there has been some degree of anxiety about her.
I learn that the negroes employed in the Quartermaster and Commissary departments, who by the terms of General Orders No. 17 were exempt from the conscription, are to be drafted into a regiment, to be entitled the Third South Carolina Volunteers. They are to be detailed, however, to perform the same duties that they are at present performing. The drill and discipline of a military organization will keep them in better subjection and make them more efficient as laborers than they now are. This draft would have been ordered before, but for the fact that soldiers detailed for extra duty have received an extra allowance of forty cents per day. The recent Congress having repealed this regulation, the objection is removed, and all the darkies must “come in out of the draft.”
Our new Provost Marshal General, Lieut. Col. James F. Hall, is creating something of a panic among evil doers. His method of dealing with them is as summary as could be desired. The captain and two mates of the transport Nellie Baker are in the guard house for selling whiskey to soldiers. A free negro, who was imported here by some officer from the North, was recently caught at the same business, and notwithstanding the earnest appeal of Father French in his behalf, was kept in irons until tonight, when he was placed aboard the Arago. Colonel Hall even scents corruption from afar, and is now engaged in heading off the gang of speculators in Florida. If he does not bring them to grief it will be through no fault of his.
Colonel Bisbee and Major Baker, of the Ninth Maine Volunteers, have been mustered out of the service, in consequence of the reinstatement of Colonel Rich in command. They were promoted before he was restored, and had the privilege of resuming their former grades or quitting the service, as they might elect.
The wife of Captain L. L. Langdon, of Company M, First United States artillery, died at Beaufort this morning.
General Hunter reviewed the troops on St. Helena island yesterday. All the troops, with the exception of the Ninety-eighth New York, displayed themselves to good advantage, but the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Massachusetts, One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania, Tenth Connecticut and Eighty-first New York Volunteers, were particularly deserving of mention.
The health of the command is excellent. The deaths among the soldiers in the entire department have not averaged, since the reinforcements arrived, more than five a week or less than one a day. The following is the mortality record for the week just closed: –
Corporal M. R. Musselman, Co. C, 176 Pennsylvania Volunteers, March 21, typhoid fever.
John P. Ray, Co. 1, 62d Ohio Volunteers, March 23, double mumps.
Jerry S. Weeks, Co. B, 3d New Hampshire Volunteers, March 28, ulceration of the bowels.
The tax sales in South Carolina have been postponed until fall. There is a feud between the Commissioners, who seem to have managed their business rather bungingly.