Tuesday, October 29.—Off at last. Last night we steamed out towards the sea about four miles, and then anchored. This morning I was waked up about 6 o’clock by the moving of the paddle-wheels. By the time I was up and dressed, which was about 8 o’clock, I found that we had at last fastened our tow-line to the Ocean Express, and about ten we started slowly on our way, with the most delightful weather imaginable, the air being warmer than it had been for some days previous, and the sea being moderately calm. When we passed Cape Henry we could see the lighthouse standing up boldly on a barren sand-hill, and no signs of civilization visible except two small huts, situated at the foot of the light-house. To make the place seem still more desolate than nature had made it, a wrecked schooner could be plainly seen about half a mile from the lighthouse, a monument of the wickedness of these rebels who destroy lighthouses as well as try to destroy their government. The cape is a barren, desolate spot, with high sand-hills rising up in the background, and gradually decreasing in size until they terminate in a narrow sand-spit. We passed within two miles, and might easily have been disabled by a battery placed there. The sight of so many vessels leaving the port at once, with different colored flags on their masts as signals or to denote their names, was a most beautiful one. When we had passed the cape, our tow-line parted, repairing which delayed us about an hour. We finally got off at two o’clock, proceeding as slowly as possible all the afternoon, in order to keep with the rest of the fleet.
The sea was pretty rough all the day, but most of the ships stood it well except the ferry-boats. In the evening different signals were displayed from the war-ships, of red, white, blue, and green lights, which looked very prettily, flashing up as they did on all sides of us. I spoke to Captain Hascall about getting me a place on General Wright’s staff as volunteer aide. A society was formed for the “confusion of useless knowledge” the other evening, and we had a meeting this evening.