| Lieutenant Colonel Louis Bell 4th New Hampshire Regiment Appointed Commander of St. Augustine by Gil Wilson |
HEADQUARTERS THIRD BRIGADE,
Jacksonville, Fla.,
April 8, 1862.
Lieut. Col. Louis BELL,
Comdg. Fourth N. H. Regiment,
Saint Augustine, Fla.:
COLONEL: The major-general commanding the department having directed
the abandonment of Jacksonville as a military post and the re-enforcement
of the garrison at Saint Augustine, I send by the Belvidere four companies of
your regiment and the regimental quartermaster to report to you. There will
also be delivered at the same time subsistence and forage for about sixty
days and 60,000 rounds of cartridges (caliber .69), for all of which
Quartermaster Kelly has receipted. The remaining three companies of your
regiment, under Major Drew, will go to Fernandina, to re-enforce the
garrison at that point. The post at the mouth of the Saint Johus, at which
Captain Sleeper, Fourth New Hampshire Volunteers, with his company, is
now stationed, will also be abandoned. What the arrangements in regard to
commands and brigades will be I am unable to say at present. Until further
instructions are received you will therefore consider yourself as the
commander of the post at Saint Augustine, and make your reports to the
headquarters of General Benham, commanding the Northern District.
Captain Ransoms battery, likewise on the Belvidere, is to proceed to Hilton
Head on that vessel without delay. Please afford the steamer all dispatch in
unloading. I shall advise that the Belvidere or some other light-draught
steamer be sent back to ply between Fernandina and Saint Augustine. I go
to Hilton Head with the Ninety seventh Pennsylvania Regiment.
Very respectfully,
your obedient servant,
H. G. WRIGHT, Brigadier- General, Commanding.
Jacksonville, Fla.,
April 8, 1862.
Lieut. Col. Louis BELL,
Comdg. Fourth N. H. Regiment,
Saint Augustine, Fla.:
COLONEL: The major-general commanding the department having directed
the abandonment of Jacksonville as a military post and the re-enforcement
of the garrison at Saint Augustine, I send by the Belvidere four companies of
your regiment and the regimental quartermaster to report to you. There will
also be delivered at the same time subsistence and forage for about sixty
days and 60,000 rounds of cartridges (caliber .69), for all of which
Quartermaster Kelly has receipted. The remaining three companies of your
regiment, under Major Drew, will go to Fernandina, to re-enforce the
garrison at that point. The post at the mouth of the Saint Johus, at which
Captain Sleeper, Fourth New Hampshire Volunteers, with his company, is
now stationed, will also be abandoned. What the arrangements in regard to
commands and brigades will be I am unable to say at present. Until further
instructions are received you will therefore consider yourself as the
commander of the post at Saint Augustine, and make your reports to the
headquarters of General Benham, commanding the Northern District.
Captain Ransoms battery, likewise on the Belvidere, is to proceed to Hilton
Head on that vessel without delay. Please afford the steamer all dispatch in
unloading. I shall advise that the Belvidere or some other light-draught
steamer be sent back to ply between Fernandina and Saint Augustine. I go
to Hilton Head with the Ninety seventh Pennsylvania Regiment.
Very respectfully,
your obedient servant,
H. G. WRIGHT, Brigadier- General, Commanding.
| Lieut. Col. Louis Bell Fourth New Hampshire Regiment 1st Union Civil War Commander of St. Augustine |