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
