LATER. -- 3 p. m. -- From a reliable source, it 1s learned that Mobile was captured on
the evening of the 9th by a portion of Gen. Smith's command, assisted by light draught gunboats,
after a short resistance by the enemy.*”’

"Reveille at 3 o'clock,” was the order again on Friday morning [April 21]; and hardly had
the drums and fifes ceased their rattle and squeak, when the rain began to patter too. Getting up
in the morning, and making fires, and cooking coffee and hard-tack, in the midst of a soaking rain,
is very easy to write about, but not the most cheering and comfortable of realities. It has a
tendency to make soldiers either very glum, or very jolly; and generally we chose the latter,
which proved to be the better way.

Early in the forenoon we passed through the grounds of the United States Arsenal at Mt.
Vernon, which was unanimously pronounced to be among the loveliest spots our ennuied eyes
had seen. The place appeared now to be deserted, but not much injured...

From the arsenal to our camp that night, the march was not long, but it was a hard one.
The rain that had been resting for a while, commenced again with renewed vigor, and soon
drenched every thing. Every gully was a creek, and every creek a river. The very road itself,
for perhaps a mile or two at a time, on the more level places, was covered with water, through
which the splashing column waded drippingly. At half-past 11 our camp was reached, in a pine
swamp, near the Tombigbee River. Much difficulty was experienced by our accomplished
brigade-commander, in finding the worst possible place for us, and even more than the usual
marching and counter-marching in consequence ensued; but finally the ground was chosen so
that the whole brigade might rest in line. Military discipline, as interpreted by martinets, may
require that in a mere bivouac for a night or two, not less than in regular Winter-quarters, the
whole force must be disposed in strict line and order, whatever else may be the result; but
Common Sense, if it had ever had the pleasure of commanding a body of soldiers, would, on
all such occasions as this, have consented to much irregularity of line for the sake of the comfort
the men would gain by having the best ground for camp.*”

Capture of Spanish Fort!
Twenty-five Officers, Five Hundred Men. Five Mortars and Twenty-Five Guns Taken!
Rebel Fortifications at Blakely Taken! General Granger's Forces Occupy Mobile.
[OFFICIAL]
War Department
Washington April 18.

To Maj. Gen. Dix:

The following dispatches from Maj. Gen. Canby report the capture of Spanish Fort and
Fort Blakely, which form a part of the rebel defences of Mobile:

Headq. Military Div. North Mississippi In the Field, April 9th a. m.,
To Maj. Gen. Halleck, Chief of Staff:

Spanish Fort and its dependencies were captured last night. We have 25 officers and 538

 

*°” The Manitowoc Pilot, Manitowoc, April 21, 1865, p. 1/2.

*° A. F. Sperry, History of the 33rd Iowa, p. 159.
159