JOHN CALL DALTON
M.D., U.S.V.
Privately Printed
1892
Copyright, 1892,
By CHARLES H. DALTON.
All rights reserved.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A.
Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company.
These pages are the beginning ofa narrative of the personal militaryexperience of John Call Dalton,M. D., Surgeon U. S. V.,written during the last year ofhis life, at the request of his family,and now printed for the instructionof its younger generation.
March, 1892.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH | 5 |
| THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL | 35 |
| THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI | 64 |
| MILITARY HISTORY OF JOHN CALL DALTON, M. D. | 103 |
On the evening of Saturday, April 13th,1861, the intelligence reached NewYork that Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor,had yielded to the rebel authorities,after undergoing a bombardment of thirty-sixhours. It was felt by all that this act ofviolence closed the door of reconciliation,and dissipated every hope of a peacefulsolution for our political difficulties. Twodays afterward President Lincoln issued hisproclamation calling upon the states forseventy-five thousand troops to reassert theauthority of the government, to "cause thelaws to be duly executed," and to "repossessthe forts, places, and property" whichhad been seized from the Union. The firstobject of importance was to secure the safetyof the national capital; and the Presidenthad expressed a desire that one regimentfrom New York, already organized and[Pg 6]equipped, should be sent forward at oncefor that purpose.
Learning that the Seventh regiment hadvolunteered to meet this call, and that theassistant surgeon then attached to it had resignedthe position, I applied to be taken inhis place, and had the gratification to receivemy appointment on Thursday the18th. The regiment was under orders toassemble and start for Washington on thefollowing day.
Meanwhile other states had also beenexerting themselves to forward any militiaregiments that could be had at short notice;and, as usual, when called upon to act, Massachusettswas the first in the field. Withinthree days after the President's proclamation,two regiments from that state, the Sixth andthe Eighth, were on the move. The Sixtharrived in New York early on the morningof April 18th, by the N. Y. & New Havenrailroad. The terminus of this road wasthen at Fourth Avenue and 27th Street,where I saw the regiment disembark andform in line