Richmond Enquirer
April 20, 1861
Reported for the Richmond Telegraph.
(Special Dispatch to the Richmond Enquirer.)
NORFOLK, April 19—Col. Elzey and Dr. Jones, both from Maryland, and stationed at Old Point, sent in their resignations yesterday. Both of these gentlemen have served in the army with distinction for a number of years, and last in the Mexican war. Dr. Jones has been in the army for 24 years.
An interesting scene occurred when these officers who had resigned reached here with their families from the Navy Yard. Boats with their furniture crossed the Harbor with the officers and their wives and little ones before them.
Every officer in the Navy Yard, except McCauley, has resigned. The finest spirit prevails here. The best houses have been tendered for quarters, when necessary to concentrate troops here. A gallant set of navy officers are eager for duty. The Harbor is obstructed and war vessels can neither enter or depart.
The Baltimore Boat was searched today, by Captain Sinclair. An infamous effort to obstruct the Rail Road with trees was discovered. The offender is from Brooklyn, N.Y. He was apprehended and carried to Suffolk Court House. A company has been ordered to protect the Railroad.
The Norfolk Herald states that the bridge at the fort has been taken up, and all communication between the Fort and the citizens cut off. There are now 300 men, rank and file, in the fort, and all the officers are Black Republicans, with the exception of three who hail from Virginia.
A son of Dr. Banks, of Hampton, was ordered from the fort, where he occupied the position of clerk in the sutlers store, because he would not sympathise with the Black Republican remarks which were daily and hourly uttered in his presence; and the wife of a man who deserted on the same account was summarily ejected from the fort, without any previous notice, but the citizens of Old Point and Hampton immediately took up a subscription to supply her wants and send her further South to join her husband.