11
Fortress Monroe
We reached Fortress Monroe about 6 o'clock, on the morning of September 14th. Major-General John E. Wool was in command of the Department within which the Fort was situated, and had his headquarters there at the time. — As no arrangements had been made for our reception, we did not land until late in the day. The boat lay at the wharf for several hours, and then ran up above the Fortress about a quarter of a mile, and anchored in the stream. In the course of the day General Wool sent for Messrs. Brown and May. He stated to them that our arrival had taken him by surprise, and that he had no quarters prepared for us, but said that some of the casemates were being made ready for us. He evidently felt that the accommodations he was about to give us were not such as we had a right to expect, and intimated that a building known as Carroll Hall, or a portion of it, would, in all probability, be assigned to us in a few days. This was the last that any of the party saw of General Wool, and we heard no more of Carroll Hall. About 5 o'clock we landed, and were marched to our quarters. These consisted of two casemates, from which some negroes were still engaged in removing dirt and rubbish, when we got there. Each of these casemates was divided by a substantial partition, thus making four rooms. The two front rooms were well finished, and were about fifteen by twenty-three feet each, and each had a door and two windows which opened on the grounds within the Fortress. The windows had Venetian shutters to them, and there were Venetian doors also, outside of the ordinary
