53
Fort Warren
When we reached Fort Warren, late in the afternoon of the 31st, Colonel Dimick came on board, as I have stated, and informed us that he had only expected about a hundred "political prisoners." He invited several gentlemen to go ashore and see the quarters he had set apart for us. Among these were Commodore Barron, Mayor Brown, and Messrs. Faulkner, Charles Howard and Kane. They hurriedly inspected the various rooms by candlelight, and after about an hour's absence they returned. That night they selected their quarters and their roommates, as Colonel Dimick had requested them to do.
About 10 o'clock the following morning we landed, and were marched into the Fort, where the roll was called, and we were shown to our respective quarters. The Fort is situated on an island containing forty-three acres, nearly the whole of which is covered by the fortifications. The interior work is built in the most substantial manner, of granite, and encloses a space of some five or six acres. It is an irregular structure, which it is impossible for me to describe accurately. The five principal sides are each about three hundred feet long. Two of these sides are divided into deep casemates, on a level with, and opening on the parade-ground. One other side contains rooms intended for officers' quarters. There were ten of these rooms on a level with, and looking out on the parade-ground, and immediately in the rear of these were ten more fronting on the space between the curtain and an exterior work. Beneath these twenty rooms, both in front
