It made our sorrow at departure no less, though it infinitely enhanced the impressiveness of the scene.
*"The colored regiments had nothing at all to do with it; they behaved with propriety throughout" _Boston Journal_ Correspondence.

("Carleton.") "The negro troops took no part whatever in the perpetration of this Vandalism."_New York Tribune_ Correspondence.

("N.

P.") "We know not whether we are most rejoiced or saddened to observe, by the general concurrence of accounts, that the negro soldiers had nothing to do with the barbarous act" _Boston Journal_ Editorial, April 10, 1863.
The excitement of the departure was intense.

The embarkation was so laborious that it seemed as if the flames must be upon us before we could get on board, and it was also generally expected that the Rebel skirmishers would be down among the houses, wherever practicable, to annoy us to the utmost, as had been the case at the previous evacuation.
They were, indeed, there, as we afterwards heard, but did not venture to molest us.