[Illustration] JOHN CALL DALTON _M.D., U.S.V._ Privately Printed 1892 Copyright, 1892, BY CHARLES H. DALTON. _All rights reserved._ _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company. _These pages are the beginning of a narrative of the personal military experience of John Call Dalton, M. D., Surgeon U. S. V., written during the last year of his life, at the request of his family, and now printed for the instruction of its younger generation._ _March, 1892._ CONTENTS PAGE IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH 5 THE EXPEDITION TO PORT ROYAL 35 THE SEA ISLANDS AND FORT PULASKI 64 MILITARY HISTORY OF JOHN CALL DALTON, M. D. 103 IN WASHINGTON WITH THE SEVENTH. On the evening of Saturday, April 13th, 1861, the intelligence reached New York that Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, had yielded to the rebel authorities, after undergoing a bombardment of thirty-six hours. It was felt by all that this act of violence closed the door of reconciliation, and dissipated every hope of a peaceful solution for our political difficulties. Two days afterward President Lincoln issued his proclamation calling upon the states for seventy-five thousand troops to reassert the authority of the government, to "cause the laws to be duly executed," and to "repossess the forts, places, and property" which had been seized from the Union. The first object of importance was to secure the safety of the national capital; and the President had expressed a desire that one regiment from New York, already organized and equipped, should be sent forward at once for that purpose. Learning that the Seventh regiment had volunteered to meet this call, and that the assistant surgeon then attached to it had resigned the position, I applied to be taken in his place, and had the gratification to receive my appointment on Thursday the 18th. The regiment was under orders to assemble and start for Washington on the following day.