Harper's Weekly 1862 part 4 of 4

732 HARPER'S WEEKLY. [NOVEMBER 15, 1862.
NOVEMBER 15, 1862.] HARRER'S WEEKLY. 733
SALT-WORKS IN
FLORIDA.
WE publish on page 732 a view
of_the DESTRUCTION OF A SALT
MANUFACTOHV ON THC COAST OF
FLORIDA bv the crew of the United
States bark Kingfisher. The affair
is described in the following letter
from an officer engaged:
"U. 3. BARK •KniorisnCT,' ST.
JOSEPH'S BAT, FLA., Sepf. 18,1862.
"I am glad to say that, after
waiting all this time, I have had a
chance to see active service. You
can imagine with what pleasure we
received the order to up anchor, as
we knew our destination was the
salt-works, at the head of the bay.
"About two weeks since we had
a lot of contrabands come off, who
informed us that there were extens
ive salt-works at the town of St.
Joseph, making from 100 to 150
bushels a day, and not yet com
pleted. We sent a flag of truce,
and politely informed them that
they must stop, or we should de
stroy them. They paid no atten
tion to us, but continued their fire
day and night.
" We got under way at daylight,
sailed up the baj- with a fair wind,
and came to anchor about a quar
ter of a mile from the works. As
wo came in sight we could perceive
an unusual excitement, and ob
served wagons driving inland at a
furious pace. We gave them two
hours to quit, and then fired a few
shells into the works, which had the
effect of bringing two contrabands
to the beach with a salt-bag, which
they waved moat furiously. We
sent a boat for them, and found out
that they had removed about two
hundred bags of salt and some pro
visions, but that every thing re
mained with this exception; and
also the intelligence that there were
about eighty guerrillas, mounted,
three miles hack in the country,
and would probably be down to
see what was going on. As soon
as we obtained this information
we manned all the boats, leaving
enough men on board to man the
battery. I had been ordered to take
command of the picket-guard, and
station them about a quarter of a
mile inland, surrounding the works.
You may imagine that was rather
skittish work with twenty men to
go into the woods out of sight of the
ship ; but we all drew up on the
beach, the pickets in front (in all
about fifty men), loaded muskets
and fixed bayonets—the whole un
der command of Mr. Hallet, ex
ecutive officer. We started, whis
tling Yankee Doodle. I advanced
my men in a straight line to the
other side of the works, when we
entered the woods and extended our
lines entirely around the place. The
main body then began their work
of destruction, and in less than two
hours the whole place was in flames,
and the machinery broken up.
"I send you a sketch. The
whole coast of Florida is lined with
these works of a smaller size. This
one, when finished, would have been
capable of making five hundred
bnshels a day, at $10 per bushel."
When the new military colony is
fairly under way these salt factories
will probably become of some na
tional importance.
SUMMIT STATION ON MARYLAND HEIGHTS.—LSKETCHED BY MR. A. R, WABD.]
THE ARMY OF THE
TOTOMAC.
WF, republish herewith a pictnre
by Mr. Waud, representing
SUMMIT STATICS ON MARYLAND
I1KIUIITS.
Maryland Heights is the highest
point occupied by the army. The
signal-station commands the whole
country for many miles around, and
is in constant communication with
other stations, conveying messages
to and from head-quarters. Ma/y-
land Heights is hy nature nearly
impregnable, and could easily be
held by fonr regiments against
50,000 men. From it Harper's Fer
ry, and Bolivar, and Louden Heights
are entirely commanded, as well as
Pleasant Valley, and the towns of
Sandy Hook and Knoxville.
The view from the summit is a
magnificent one. The Potomac and
Sbenandoah rivers, the Blue Ridge,
the Bull Run Mountains, the Kit-
toctan Mountains, North and South
Mountains, etc.—the towns of Win
chester, Charlestown, Martinsburg,
Hagerstown, Williamsport, Shep-
herdstown, and a number of others,
are all overlooked by these heights,
from which the lines of both ar
mies are also visible. At night,
through a powerful glass, the ene
my's pickets are visible. But per
haps the most interesting scene is
the view at sunrise, when the val
leys are filled with joy — looking
over the clouds tinged rosy-red by
the sun, it seems as if a violent sea
had been frozen into stillness at an
instant, the mountains rising like
islands from the heavy masses of
vapor.
CONVALESCENT SOL
DIERS.
WE publish on page 721 an illus
tration of CONVALESCENT SOLDIERS
ON THEIR WAY TO JOIN THEIU
REGIMENTS, from a sketch by Mr.
J. A. Oertel. He writes:
" The subject struck me when I
saw it as one of interest in the pres
ent period. Washington just now
is very dry and dnsty, as I have
indicated in the sketch. The sol
diers were under escort. This is
military fashion. They were on
their way to the railway station near
the capital, and belonged to differ
ent regiments, representing nearly
all the States, and were in every
variet}' of garb. .You will perceive
they are not in Broadway fashion.
The soldier who has seen service is
a different looking object from the
trim gent he was when he left
home."
The thinned regiments of the
Army of the Potomac which re
turned from the Peninsula in Sep
tember last have been considerably
recruited by the arrival of conva
lescent soldiers from hospital. At
one time there were 20,000 soldiers
sick and wounded in the great mil
itary hospitals at Newport News
and Fortress Monroe—at least so
said the newspaper correspondents.
Now these hospitals are compara
tively empty. Wonnds have been
healed, and the bracing air of Octo
ber has dispelled the fevers engen
dered by the Chickahominy mala
ria.
THE REBEL STEAMER "OVETO" RUNNING THE BLOCKADE OF MOBILE CHASED BY THE U. S. STEAM-SLOOP "ONEIDA."—[SKETCHED BT THE SCBOBOH OF TM "0»n>A."]