Of course it would have been burned to the ground by us, but that this would have involved the sacrifice of every other building and all the piles of lumber, and for the moment it seemed as if the sacrifice would be righteous.

But I forbore, and only took as trophies the instruments of torture and the keys of the jail.
We found but few colored people in this vicinity; some we brought away with us, and an old man and woman preferred to remain.

All the white males whom we found I took as hostages, in order to shield us, if possible, from attack on our way down river, explaining to them that they would be put on shore when the dangerous points were passed.

I knew that their wives could easily send notice of this fact to the Rebel forces along the river.

My hostages were a forlorn-looking set of "crackers," far inferior to our soldiers in _physique_, and yet quite equal, the latter declared, to the average material of the Southern armies.