Oct. 29, 1861

Oct. 29, 1861: From the U.S. Navy base at Hampton Roads, Virginia, near Fort Monroe, in the lower Chesapeake Bay, a fleet of 77 ships and 12,000 troops rendezvous and set sail for an undisclosed point on the Southern coast. The naval commander is Flag Office Samuel Du Pont, and the troops are under command of Gen. Thomas W. Sherman (who is not the famous Sherman).

George Templeton Strong of New York City notes in his diary: "The Grand Armada was still in Hampton Roads Saturday. This pause does not seem strong proof of high military capacity in Commander duPont and General Sherman, but perhaps it is all right. The report that these commanders have been ‘sowld’ by a treacherous officer who ran away with the sealed orders in his pocket that show their destination is still current."

Posted in the Richmond Daily Dispatch in Virginia, on this date:
Ranaway--$100 reward.
--Ranaway, on Monday, a Negro Boy, named Essex; about five feet eight inches high; black; state more align fly; about twenty or twenty two years old; weight about 50 pound; formerly belonged to Capt. John Wright, of Plain View, P. O. King and Queen county, Va. The above reward will be paid on his delivery to me at my office, in this city. He may be making his way to West Point Va. He has a wife in the neighborhood. His upper teeth are dark, from tarter on them.
Benjamin Davis. oc 22--ts