_July 31._ In at our open door walked Captain Hooper, and with him
Captain Rand of the First Cavalry, now on General Saxton's staff.
Captain Rand told us that our wounded who came down from Charleston
had been miserably cared for--the rebels acknowledged that they could
not take care of them. The surgeon said but one man had been properly
operated upon, and his wound had been dressed by one of the navy
surgeons, a prisoner. No men or officers of the Fifty-Fourth among
them: they said the officers we should hear of by way of Richmond; the
men, I suspect, are not. No one knows who are among the dead or
living--only that Colonel Shaw is dead, and probably Cabot Russel. It
is said to have been a very imposing sight, when, in the midst of
heavy firing from every fort, battery, and gunboat on each side, the
_Cosmopolitan_, with the rebel wounded on board, her hospital flag and
flag of truce flying, steamed up toward the city. Instantly every gun
ceased, and white flags appeared from each fort and ship till she had
passed, met the rebel steamer (a very fine one, which had run the
blockade in the morning!), exchanged her wounded cargo, and returned.
To give complete the story of the siege of Charleston as
seen from St. Helena Island, some letters have been included
in advance of their chronological place in the series.
Therefore the next letter goes back to an earlier date.