_April 14._ The soldiers had been there [at Fripp Point] in the night,
but had only caught old Simon and Mike, a boy of about fifteen, though
one of them had shot at Dan's Peter, about seventeen, and wounded him
in the head slightly. They went in squads all over this end of the
island except Pine Grove and here. They got sixty men in all, most of
them old, a waste of Uncle Sam's money. Of course our people here are
warned and all off again. The white officer said they took what men
they could get without reference to the superintendents' lists.
_April 15._ Hamlet's wife, Betsey, came to buy salt, said her husband
was carried off the other night and she left with ten children and a
"heart most broke, shan't live long, no way, oh my Jesus!" My new
cook's husband was shot (and killed) as he ran away when the Secesh
tried to make him go with them--how are they to understand the
difference? Captain Dutch[128] says he thinks that six or eight have
gone onto the Main from this island; they openly say, some of them,
that they wish the old times were back again.
_April 23._ The men at Fripp Point are said to have fired on the
soldiers from their houses. They are very bitter that negroes should
be sent against them. They would not mind white men, they say. R. has
persuaded all his men to go up to Beaufort,[129] and only a few were
retained. The rest have come back as happy as kings--no more bush for
them! I wish all would do the same.
_April 29._ Mr. Philbrick went off to the wharf before breakfast, and
as he was coming back met Phillis on her way to tell the men who were
at work on it that the soldiers had come. As we sat down to lunch we
could see the gleaming of the bayonets as they came through the first
gate, and Primus sent up to say that he was taken and wanted Mr.
Philbrick to come down. Mr. G. appeared from Pine Grove, where they
had taken only two men, who will probably be let off. Soon William
appeared, saying they had been at the Point, too, but had got no one.
Mr. Philbrick rowed down to the [Fripp Point] quarters and presently
returned with Captain Hoyt and Captain Thompson, who were very tired,
to lunch. They all received him very crustily and coldly at first, but
they were prejudiced against him and vexed at their want of success,
and I think it did something towards removing ill feelings to see him.
When they reached the nigger-house here, where the men [the soldiers],
about fifty, had been waiting, they found they had tracked two men
down through the marsh from Fripp Point and caught them just here,
after shooting one. The people were in a wild state of confusion. The
soldiers had been telling our people all sorts of stories--that they
had orders to shoot because Mr. Philbrick had said in Beaufort that he
had a battery here to defend his people, etc. They came flocking round
him, all women of course, and all talking at once to try and get at
the truth of things, and Mr. Philbrick had to quiet them before he
could make out a word. Then Amaritta naturally stood forward as
spokeswoman to get "satisfaction," and they were easily made to
understand that the soldiers had been telling lies, and their
confidence in Mr. Philbrick quieted them.