Tuesday, May 30, 1865

Today the 13th Army Corps was ordered to embark on transports for Texas.  Some of the division went aboard, but there arose a dispute among some of the commanders.  Some of the regiments who were close to being mustered out believed the orders did not apply to them.

General Canby was contacted and he telegraphed back from New Orleans to not move until he arrived.  He came in a day or two and resolved the disputes.

Saturday, May 27, 1865

This morning the troops in Mobile received an official dispatch announcing the surrender of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi.  This caused great joy throughout the camp, as it was the last known organized Confederate force.  The war was at an end and peace would soon be restored to the land.

Thursday, May 25, 1865

Today the 77th Illinois was camped about two miles from Mobile.  A large warehouse in the northeast part of the city filled with ammunition and gunpowder somehow ignited, causing an explosion so great that it destroyed nine blocks of the city and killed several hundred people.

Private William Wiley described it this way:

We were something over two miles [away] and the concussion nearly took the tops of our heads off... One of our company Wm Avery  was down in the city at the time with one of the commissary teams and him and his team had a very narrow escape.

William Fleming also remembered the day:

about 2 oclock on the 25 we was startled by a severe shock occasioned by an explosion of a ordanance warehouse where it was said to contain 52 tons of amunition such as kegs of powder and catterages an fired amunition with a large amount of shot and shell, the shock was great an the explosion terrific doing damage to the city and resulted in the loss of a great many noble lives and in the distruction of  great amount of valuable property...the shells did not sease exploding till late next day an it was dangerous to be near the scene 

Tuesday, May 16, 1865

The regiment was inspected today by Lt. Colonel Potter from General Benton's staff.  They concluded this was a very good indication they would soon be marching.  William  Fleming noted that after the inspection,

the boys was not idle in gathern all the information they could relative to the matter, and circulated all they heard and the camp was filled with all maner of reports and rhumors 

In the evening there was long, loud and boisterous cheering. The soldiers in Mobile learned that Jefferson Davis was now a prisoner, and there was good reason for cheering.

William Fleming recalled,

on the night of the 16th we got an official dispatch of the capture of Jeff Davis an staff which caused great excitement...and in a few minets the hole camp was filled with loud cheers and the band struck up hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree &c 

Monday, May 15, 1865

The 77th, along with other regiments, received orders to be ready to move at an hour's notice.  All of their surplus baggage was to be stored at Mobile.  They were to draw rations for five days and fifty rounds of ammunition.

William Fleming recalled:

we held ourselves ready for any emergency that might present itself

but we was not without camp rhumors and fals reports.  we would here that the order was countermanded and that we was not to go and then we would here that we was a going, so we in this way kept in suspense.

Tuesday, May 9, 1865

This morning all of the boats were loaded with the Union troops and supplies.  About noon the signal gun was fired and the Cherokee, with General Benton's headquarters aboard, moved out.  The men of the 77th Illinois followed, aboard either the St. Nicholas or the St. Charles.  All of the other boats fell in line behind them.

They sailed down the Tombigbee River and landed at the wharf at Mobile about 7 o'clock this evening.  They disembarked and by 10 o'clock they had moved out to the grove about 3 miles beyond the city in the direction of Whistler, went into camp.

Private Wiley described the appearance of the dispirited Confederate soldiers he saw: 

The rebel soldiers were coming in from all directions. . . The most of them looked pretty sad. They looked pretty badly used up. Their old butternut clothes were all in rags. They felt very different from what we did. They had staked their all and lost it and were beating there way back as a vanquished army to desolate homes and were expecting soon to return as a conquering host to pleasant homes.

William Fleming noted that, despite the good news, there were still concerns:

there is all kinds of rhumors in camp concerning an expedition which is likely to be sent to Texas if Kirby Smith does not surrender

Monday, May 8, 1865

The first of the Confederate fleet bgean to arrive today.  The names of the boats, according to William Fleming, were the Jeff Davis, Black Diamond, Magnolia, Southern Republic, Cherokee, Robert Watson, Mary Stone, Admiral C W Dorence, Reindeer, Black Diamond, Duke, St. Charles, St. Nickolas, Marengo, Sumter, White Lilly, and the gunboats Morgan, Nashville, and Baltick.

Saturday, May 6, 1865

In William Wiley's journal entry for today he noted,

A national salute was fired on account of the surrender of the department of the Gulf by the rebels to Gen. E.R.S. Canby. All hostilities were ordered to cease and we felt our work was done.

Friday, May 5, 1865

According to William Fleming they were paid for six months today and they also received the news of General Dick Taylor's surrender.  The Union troops stopped their work at Fort Granger and turned their attention to chopping wood.  They would need to supply the transports that were coming down the river.

It was a joyous day:

the news was received with cheers by the men working on the fort and soon spred from one end of the camp to the other

Tuesday, May 2, 1865

The 2nd Brigade was sent out on a foraging expedition today. When they were about four miles from camp they met a flag of truce.

A letter was handed from the Confederates to Colonel Day of the Union Army.  It was an offical document from Confederate General Dick Taylor to his forces at Citronville, stating that an armistice had been agreed upon between himself and Union General Canby. The Brigade immediately returned to camp, and an officer was sent to Mobile on the gunboat Octorora with the news.

As a result of this armistice all the personal effects of the "Confederacy," including gunboats and transports, became the property of the United States. The rebel fleet at that time was at Demopolis, about 140 miles north of Mobile.  They would soon make their way to McIntosh Bluff, and then the work of loading the troops and stores would begin.