THE SECOND EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT FISHER. 909 doned until its reduction is accomplished, or another plan of campaign is ordered from these headquarters. "My own views are, that, if you effect a landing, the navy ought to run a portion of their fleet into Cape Fear river, while the balance of it operates on the outside. Land forces cannot invest Fort Fisher, or cut it off from supplies or reinforcements, while the river is in possession of the enemy. "A siege train will be loaded on vessels and sent to Fortress Monroe, in readiness to be sent to you, if required. All other supplies can be drawn from Beaufort as you need them. "Keep the fleet of vessels with you until your position is assured. When you find they can be spared, order them back, or such of them as you can spare, to Fortress Monroe, to report for orders. "In case of failure to effect a landing, bring your command back to Beaufort, and report to these headquarters for further orders. You will not debark at Beaufort until so directed. "General Sheridan has been ordered to send a division of troops to Baltimore, and place them on sea-going vessels. These troops will be brought to Fortress Monroe and kept there on the vessels until you are heard from. Should you require them, they will be sent to you. "U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. "BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL A. H. TERRY." Fort Fisher, the strong earthwork against which this second attack was about to be made, was one of the most formidable fortifications on the coast. It had two faces, one, landward, across the Federal Point, four hundred and eighty yards in length, twenty-five feet thick, an average of twenty feet in height, with twelve or fifteen traverses rising ten feet above the parapet and running back thirty or forty feet from the interior crest; the other front seaward, running at right angles with the first, and of equal thickness and height with it, thirteen hundred yards in length, and parallel with the lee shore of the peninsula. This front was a succession of strong batteries, from the frowning bastion at the angle to the mound battery at its lower extremity, and all the batteries were connected by curtains and strong infantry parapets. A deep ditch encircled the fort, and on the landward side, rows of palisades; while lines of torpedoes, each containing a hundred pounds or more of powder, were sown thickly all along the two fronts and the approaches, and were connected with the fort by electric wires. It mounted on each front twenty-four heavy guns, five or six of which had been disabled in Admiral Parter's first bombardment. Above it, on the north, were Flag Pond and Half Moon batteries, each mounting two guns. The expedition under General Terry sailed from Fortress Monroe on the morning of the 6th of January, 1865, arriving on the rendezvous off Beaufort, on the 8th where, owing to the difficulties of the weather, it lay until the morning of the 12th, when it got under way and reached its des tination that evening. Under cover of the fleet, the disembarkation of the troops commenced on the morning of the 13th, and by three o'clock P. M. was completed without loss. On the 14th, a reconnoissance was pushed to within five hundred yards of Fort Fisher, and a small advance work taken possession of and turned into a defensive line against any attempt that might be made from the fort. This reconnoissance disclosed the fact that the front of the work had been seriously injured by the navy fire, which had been maintained with great fury on the 13th and 14th, and was kept up with increased vigor on the 15th, from eleven A. M. to half-past three P. M. General Terry finding that a considerable Rebel force under General Hoke had left Wilmington, and were intending to attack him in rear, established a strong intrenched line across the peninsula, about two miles from the fort, strengthened it as much as possible, and planted his siege cannon upon it to defend his troops from any assault in that direction, and manned it with Abbott's brigade. Then turning his attention to the fort, he came to the decision that it was better to assault at once, while the garrison were suffering from the effects of the terrible bombardment of the navy, than to attempt a siege in this inclement season. The guns of the fort had been silenced for the time, and a considerable number dismounted or disabled by the fire of the fleet, and the electric wires connecting the torpedoes with the fort had also been broken, though the assailants were not aware of this at the time. Under cover of the fire from the ships, sixteen hundred sailors, armed with cutlasses, revolvers and carbines, and four hundred marines, the whole commanded by Fleet Captain K. R. Breese, were landed on the beach, and by digging zig-zags and rifle-pits, worked their way up to within two hundred yards of the fort. The attention of the garrison was occupied by these, and they were preparing to beat off this assault, which they believed to be the main one, while the land forces were creeping up in their rear, on the landward front of the fort. At half-past three the signal was made to the fleet to change the direction of the fire, that the troops might assault, and at the word of command the sailors rushed furiously toward the parapet of the fort, which was soon manned with Rebel soldiers, who met them with a murderous fire of musketry. The marines, for some cause, failed to perform their duty of covering the assaulting party, and the sailors, after a gallant struggle, were forced back and retreated to the shore. But though unsuccessful in their direct assault, they had contributed largely to the success of the land forces. The Rebels, glowing with triumph at having beaten off their invaders, turned about to find the parapet already surmounted by the land forces, who were steadily pushing them back from one traverse to another. The fighting SKETCH OF GENERAL TERRY. 911 which followed was desperate in the extreme, and much of it hand to hand. No artillery could be used, and, indeed, the Rebel guns were mostly dismounted. An hour and a half of this terrible conflict had passed and nine of the traverses had been carried by hard fighting, but the brigadier-generals in command were all wounded, and the men were becoming sorely wearied, when General Terry, having obtained from Admiral Porter permission to use the sailors and marines, who were still on the shore, to man his rear defensive line, brought up Abbott's brigade of fresh troops to reinforce the assaulting column. With their aid the fight was renewed with unceasing fury, and at about ten P. M. the Rebels were driven from their last traverse, and falling back to Federal Point, surrendered about midnight unconditionally. The garrison numbered originally about two thousand three hundred men. Of these, two thousand and eighty-three, including one hundred and twelve officers, surrendered, the remainder were killed or severely wounded. The Union loss was, in the army, one hundred and ten killed, and five hundred and thirty-six wounded; and in the navy, three hundred and nine killed and wounded. The next morning, by an explosion of one of the magazines of Fort Fisher, about one hundred and eighty soldiers and sailors were killed or severely wounded. On the 16th and 17th the enemy abandoned and blew up Fort Caldwell, and the works on Smith's island, which were immediately occupied by the Union troops. This gave the Union authorities the entire control of the mouth of Cape Fear river, and a considerable number of blockade-runners, unaware of the change of owners of the fort, ran in and were made prizes. Thus was secured, by the combined efforts of the army and navy, one of the most important successes of the war. Major-General Alfred Howe Terry, the successful leader of the land forces in this expedition, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, November 10th, 1827. He graduated at Yale College, studied law, and was admitted to the New Haven bar in 1848. He speedily took a high position in his profession, though manifesting a strong taste for military studies, and had, during the Crimean and Italian campaigns, made himself master of the theory of military movements. In 1854, he had been chosen colonel of the second Connecticut regular militia. In April, 1861, at the outbreak of the war, he was commissioned, by Governor Buckingham, colonel of the second regiment Connecticut volunteers. His regiment took part in the battle of Bull Run, but was one of the few which did not run. Returning home after the three months' campaign, he was commissioned colonel of the seventh Connecticut volunteers; took part in the reduction of Port Royal and the capture of Fort Pulaski; was made brigadier-general of volunteers April 25, 1862. He was in the battle of Pocotaligo, in June, 1863; took part in the siege of Wagner and Sumter, July, August, and September, 1863, and by a feint on James island, on July 10th, drew the attention of the Rebels from Morris island. In May, 1864, he joined the army of the James; fought, as we have seen, in the battles of Deep Run, Richmond Central railroad, etc. He was twice for several months in command of the tenth army corps, and after its consolidation with the eighteenth, as the twenty-fourth corps, commanded the first division. He was brevetted major-general in July, 1864, and, as we have seen, was selected by General Grant to lead the second assault on Fort Fisher. He subsequently, reinforced by Schofield, moved upon Wilmington, which was captured February 22d, 1865. Thence he marched to Goldsboro to join Sherman. After the close of the war he was appointed to command the Department of Virginia, having been promoted to be major-general of volunteers for his gallantry at Fort Fisher, and soon after made brigadier-general, and brevet major-general, in the regular army. Rear-Admiral David D. Porter, whose management of his squadron and protracted bombardment of Fort Fisher contributed so largely to its overthrow, was born in Philadelphia about 1814; he was instructed at the naval school at Annapolis; entered the navy as a midshipman February 2d, 1829; cruised in the Mediterranean for several years; was rated as passed-midshipman July 3d, 1835; and was for some years connected with the coast survey. Promoted to be lieutenant, February 27th, 1841, he was ordered to the Mediterranean, and afterward to the Brazil squadron. He was assigned to duty at the Washington Observatory in 1845; took part in the capture of Vera Cruz in 1847; was next ordered to the naval rendezvous at New Orleans; and thence again to the coast survey. From 1847 to 1853, he commanded the United States mail steamers Panama and Georgia; in 1855 he was made lieutenant-commander, and was first in command of the storeship Supply, and afterward on duty at Portsmouth navy yard. In 1861 he became commander, and was assigned to the Powhatan, on the West Gulf blockading squadron. In April, 1862, he commanded the mortar fleet below New Orleans. He was made acting rearadmiral, and placed in command of the upper Mississippi squadron, October 22d, 1862. He co-operated in the siege of Vicksburg, sending portions of his squadron up the rivers tributary to the Mississippi, attacking and running past the Vicksburg batteries, bombarding Grand Gulf, Haines's bluff, etc. He was commissioned rear-admiral July 4th, 1863. For some months following the fall of Vicksburg he patroled the Mississippi with his fleet, and in May, 1864, took part in the disastrous Red river expedition. On the 1st of November, 1864, he was transferred to the North Atlantic squadron, where he planned and executed the naval portion of the two attacks on Fort Fisher, and subsequently aided in the reduction of Wilmington. After the close of the war, he was appointed superintendent of the naval academy at Annapolis. SHERMAN'S GRAND MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS. 913 CHAPTER LXX. THE GOLDSBORO CAMPAIGN-SHERMAN DETERMINES TO MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS GOLDSBORO? WHICH ?-CROSSING THE WATEREE-THE APPROACH TO, and capture of, OBJECT-THE GENERAL SHERMAN had scarcely taken possession of Savannah, before his active mind was again employed in planning another important movement of the most vital importance to the national cause. Hood's army being now completely broken up, Tennessee and Kentucky fully controlled by the Federal authority, and no considerable Rebel force-except Lee's army in Virginia-remaining in the southern Atlantic States, the field of operations was virtually reduced to three States. In his own mind, therefore, General Sherman had decided-and the plan met with General Grant's approval-to sweep, with his powerful army, through the two Carolinas, without halting or seeking a base, from Savannah to Goldsboro, and at that point to open communication with the sea by the Newbern railroad. Thus, crippling and rendering useless the coast seaports, |