Fort Independence Boston Harbor

Nov 10^th 1861     

       

Dear Sister

                        I have been trying yesterday afternoon and today to draw some plan of this fort but I had no instruments and so the plan is not very nice. it is decently accurate. I went and paced it all around two or three weeks ago. I do not know as you can understand the plan but thought I would send it home. There are no casemate guns mounted. there are 39 guns mounted on the ramparts. 19 twenty four and 20 thirty two pounders. There has been ten thirty two pounders within the last week and men are at work getting ready for mounting more. There are places for 150 guns in and around the fort. On this side of the fort there are eight rooms all just alike. All are opened for this company but no one sleeps in the one that leads into the cook room. The cook room is a long narrow room arched over and there are eight portholes so eight casemate guns could be mounted on that curtain. There are large folding doors between our rooms and the cook room. we keep them / shut. If they were all opened it would make a large room. In front of the battery marked n there is a monument where a man was killed in a duel in 1817. he was a lieutenant in the artillery and was 21 years old. There are severall graves in the rear of this battery. When we lived in the house marked r we had the L. part. There is a great deal about a fort that is not known to every one. an ordnance Sergeant has charge of the fort. Sergeant Parr. I suppose this is not a very strong fort. Fort Winthrop on Governers Island is a new fort and a very strong place. Fort Warren is stronger and three times the size of this.

 

            We had quite a time here Friday night. We thought Fort Warren was all on fire the long roll was beat and we turned out with guns twenty five took a boat and started for the Fort. Cartridges were given out to us for we did not know how things were there. did not know but we would have to use them. The tide was with us and we went down pretty fast. it is six miles there. The fire proved to be a building outside of the fort. We landed and stoped a little while but had nothing given us to eat and did not go into the fort. The tide was against us coming back and it was quite a pull. There was quite a little excitement here when the alarm was given but it turned out not to be much that is to what it might have been 

 

[small inset diagram]  Section of the wall through our quarters

[diagram of fort]         Parade Ground

[legend] a  My Quarters                                  m Ten cannon just mounted

            b  Guard House                                   n  Two morters mounted and battery for

            c Entrance to cookroom                                  10 cannon

            d  Sally Port                                        o  road to my first quarters

            e  Flag Staff                                        p  "      "          third    "  and wharf

            g  Stairs up on to the Ramparts          q  my second quarters

            h  Cook room and eating room           r    "   third      "

            I  Quarters                                           s  road to Steamboat wharf

            f  Inclined Plane onto the Ramparts   t  Direction to Boston

            k  Sidewalk                                         u  "      "      "  So B. point

            l  Cannon balls                                    v  Furnaces for heating shot 

 

Last Wednesday I was in Boston all day with Bill Brown part of the time. We call at Mr. De Merretts and saw his wife but he was out. then we saw Willard Hall a little while.

 

            There is about seventy five in this company now. one fellow kept the high school in No Oxford for the last three years. he heard of this company and left off in the middle of a term and came to enlist. one fellow is from So Framingham and a cousin to Mr Coolidge. another is some relation to George Hodges and so I suppose to Samuel. his name is Arthur Hodges and his father is a baptist / minister. All these three are real good fellows. a great many of the fellows have been around the world a great deal. I am getting tired of writing. I think I shall not go home Thanksgiving but mean to see Martha as she goes through Boston. if we stay here much longer I believe I will come home for a few days. The privates in this company are next grade to commisioned officers. engineer soldiers are above the artillery. Then comes the Cavalry then Infantry. Then I believe the sappers and miners. One of the fellows came from West Point. I cant write very well. when your letter came I had one from Martha Sarah and Cornelia but had had no letters for two weeks before

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