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Excerpted from A Brief History of the Thirty-fourth Regiment by Lieutenant Louis N. Chapin (1903):

March 29, 1862, finds the Thirty-fourth Regiment, with nearly all the rest of the First Brigade, onboard steamer, R. Williams, anchored for a little time directly in front of Mount Vernon, on the Potomac River, having shipped from Alexandria same day. But this stay is only, and incidental. Two days later the same regiment finds itself on the same good ship, anchored within a stone’s throw of the famous Fortress Monroe, and Old Point Comfort. Nearby were many other ships, crowded with men, who had come down the river on the same expedition as ourselves, whatever that may be. Likewise, you might have seen a little boat that presently is to revolutionize all modern naval warfare, and all the navies of the world; albeit, it was the most unpretentious object in the whole aggregation. It was the little Monitor, resting after her conflict with the Merrimac, March 9. The sail down the river, except for a heavy snowstorm just at the start, had been uneventful, although, for a portion of the voyage, it was pretty rough sailing. The next day, April 1, the vessel proceeded to Hampton, where the troops were landed. The condition of Hampton at this time was that of a perfect ruin. By order of the Confederate authorities, every building in the place had been burned. The inhabitants were turned out, destitute, forlorn, forsaken. This destruction was probably about as wanton and cruel, and uncalled-for as any act in the whole history of the rebellion. The story is told by the good Chaplain, Rev. J. J. Marks, attached to Kearney’s Division, and who wrote a little book about the Peninsular campaign, that after the rebels had evacuated the town, a detachment of soldiers was sent back to attend to this burning business; and that one of the officers stayed at night with his uncle. After he had a good visit with his uncle’s family, and they had talked about old times in a very tender fashion, and breakfast being over, and family prayers being said, the officer informed his astonished uncle that he had been sent back to burn the town, and that, as a matter of conscience, he considered it his duty to begin with that house, which he did.

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