Montgomery’s conduct on the raids was often disapproved of by other Union officers, and uniformly condemned by Confederates. On this particular raid, Colonel Higginson was at the wharf in Jacksonville when Montgomery and his men returned from the upriver excursion. Higginson recorded in his journal: “The steamer seemed an animated hen-coop. Live poultry hung from the foremast shrouds, dead ones from the mainmast, geese hissed from the binnacle, a pig paced the quarter-deck, and a duck’s wings were seen fluttering from a line which was wont to sustain duck trousers.” While Higginson was sometimes perturbed and embarrassed by Montgomery’s tactics, he was also impressed by his fighting qualities. On March 24, 1863 he recorded: “Montgomery is splendid, but impulsive & changeable never plans far ahead, & goes off at a tangent.” See Higginson’s Army Life in a Black Regiment and Looby’s The Complete Civil War Journal and Selected Letters for these and other mentions.