BATTLE AT HATTERAS INLET. 107 be surrendered. The Monticello was ordered to go cautiously into the Inlet, followed by the Harriet Lane, and take possession of them; but it was kept up until half-past six, when the whole squadron, excepting the Pawnee and the Harriet Lane, hauled off for the night. The Monticello was much exposed during the fight, and, at one time, her capture or destruction seemed inevitable; but she was finally taken out of range of the heavy guns of the fort, without much damage. Early on the morning of the 29th the contest was renewed. During the preceding evening, Major W. S. G. Andrews, the commander of the two forts (who had been absent on the main), accompanied by Samuel Barron, who was in command of a little Confederate navy in charge of the defenses of Virginia and North Carolina, and then lying in Pamlico Sound, not far from the Inlet, arrived at Fort Hatteras. They found Colonel Martin, who had conducted the defense during the day, completely prostrated by fatigue, and it was agreed that Barron should assume the chief command of the fort, which he did. Guns were speedily brought to bear on Fort Clark, then supposed to be held by the Nationals, and the batteries were placed in charge of fresh troops. But Fort Clark was not held by Butler's troops. They were well and cautiously handled by their commander, Colonel Weber, and had been withdrawn toward the landing-place. Not far from the fort they had placed in battery during the night two howitzers and a rifled 6-pounder cannon, landed from the fleet. These were very serviceable in the hands of Lieutenant Johnson, of the Coast Guard, who, early in the morning, beat off the Confederate steamer Winslow, commanded by Arthur Sinclair (who had abandoned his country's flag), which was filled with re-enforcements Fort Hatteras was the principal work, and mounted ten guns. Fort Clark was a square redoubt, about 750 yards northward of it, and mounting seven guns. The former occupied a point on a sandy beach, and was almost surrounded by water. It could only be approached on the land side by a march of 500 yards circuitously over a long neck of land, within half musket-shot of its embankments, and over a narrow causeway, only a few feet in width, which was commanded by two 32-pounder guns loaded with grape and canister shot. The parapet was nearly octagon in form, and inclosed about three-fourths of an acre of ground, with several suf ficient traverses. Mr. Fiske, acting aid-de-camp of General Butler, performed a gallant feat. When Fort Clark was abandoned, he swam ashore, through quite heavy breakers, with orders from Butler to Colonel Weber. He entered the fort, and found books and papers there containing much valuable information. He formed them into a package, strapped them on his shoulders, and swam back with them to the general. After the capitulation, the Confede rate officers expressed their surprise at the accuracy of Butler's information on the previous day, being ignorant that their own documents had furnished it. 108 CAPTURE OF FORTS HATTERAS AND CLARK. for the garrison. The Harriet Lane, in the mean time, had run in shore to assist the land forces who had moved up to Johnson's battery. The Susquehanna was the first of the squadron to open fire on the fort on the second day. The Wabash and Minnesota followed, and a little later the Cumberland sailed in and took part in the fight. The Harriet Lane also came up and became a participant. The pounding of the fort was too severe to be borne long, and Barron attempted the trick of hauling down his flag, and assuming the attitude of the vanquished; but the Nationals were not deceived a second time. At almost eleven o'clock a white flag appeared over the fort, and the firing ceased. The tug Fanny, with General Butler on board, moved into the Inlet to take possession of the works. The Confederate vessels in the Sound, with troops on board, fled at her approach. The Harriet Lane and the transport Adelaide followed the Fanny in, and both grounded,' but they were finally hauled off. The forts were formally surrendered, under a capitulation signed by the respective commanders.' "No one of the fleet or army was in the least degree injured," said Butler, in his report to General Wool. He added, that the loss of the Confederates was "twelve or fifteen killed and thirty-five wounded.” The capture of the forts at Hatteras Inlet was a severe blow to the Confederates, and opened the way to most important results, beneficial to the National cause, as we shall observe hereafter. General Butler had been ordered to destroy the forts, and not attempt to hold them. He was so impressed with the importance of preserving them, that, after consultation with Stringham and Stellwagen, he returned immediately to Fortress Monroe, and hastened to Washington with the first news of the victory, to explain his views to the Government in person. It was determined to hold them, and the troops, which had only been provisioned for five days, were immediately supplied. Butler was now commissioned by the Secretary of War to go to New England and "raise, arm, uniform, and equip a volunteer force for the war." He did so. What was 1861. done with them will be revealed when we come to consider events at Ship Island, in the Gulf of Mexico, and at New Orleans. Colonel Hawkins was left, with the portion of his Ninth New York (Zouaves) that had joined the expedition, to garrison the post at Hatteras 1 This was an anxious moment for the Unionists, for, by these accidents, a valuable ship of war and a transport filled with troops were under the guns of the fort, and within the power of the Confederates. 2 The capitulation was signed on board the flag ship Minnesota, August 29th, 1861, by "S. H. Stringham, Flag Officer Atlantic Blockading Squadron," and "Benjamin F. Butler, Major-General U. S. Army, commanding," on one part, and S. Barron, Flag Officer C. S. Navy, commanding naval forces, Virginia and North Carolina," "William F. Martin, Colonel Seventh Light Infantry, N. C. Volunteers,” and “W. S. G. Andrews, Major, commanding Forts Hatteras and Clark." It was agreed that commanders, men, forts, and munitions of war should be immediately surrendered to the Government of the United States, in terms of full capitulation, "the officers and men to receive the treatment of prisoners of war." Barron had proposed that the officers and men should "retire" (in other words, not be detained as prisoners), the former to go out with their side-arms.. The proposition was rejected. The prisoners were taken to New York, and afterward exchanged. 3 Reports of General Butler, August 30th, and of Commodore Stringham, August 30th and September 1st, 1861, and other subordinate officers; also of "Commodore" Barron and Major Andrews, of the Confederate service, September 1st, 1861. The number of troops surrendered, including the officers, was 715, and with them 1,000 stand of arms, 5 stand of colors, 31 pieces of cannon, vessels with cotton and stores, and 75 kegs of gunpowder. One of the flags was new, and had been presented, within a week, by the women of New Berne, North Carolina, to the "North Carolina Defenders."-General Wool's General Order, No. 8, August 31st, 1861. .4 General Wool issued a stirring order, announcing the victory, and Secretary Welles congratulated Stringham and his men for the "brilliant achievement accomplished without the loss of a man on the Union side." STRUGGLE FOR HATTERAS ISLAND. 109 and hold the Island and Inlet. Late in September he was re-enforced by Colonel Brown and his Twentieth Indiana regiment. In the mean time an expedition had been secretly prepared for following up the victory at Hatteras, by seizing and holding the whole coast of North Carolina washed by the waters of Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, and threatening Norfolk, still held by the Confederates, in the rear.1 Sept. 17, KE NEED 207 INDIANA ONICOMICOMICO The first object was to close the passages to these Sounds from the sea. Accordingly, a little naval force was sent to break up a Confederate post at Ocracoke Inlet, a few miles down the coast from Hatteras. Commodore Rowan sent Lieutenant J. T. Maxwell to perform this service. He went in the tug Fanny, with a detachment of mariners and soldiers of the Naval Brigade which had been organized in Hampton Roads. The tug towed a launch, and the Sus quehanna accompanied them. An earthwork, little inferior to Fort Hatteras, was found on Beacon Island, com PAML HATTERAS со DECO SHDAL CONFEDERATE, VERBESS NATIONAL FT CLA HARBICE LANE AUG 29 SOUND TRANSPORTS HATTERAS PAWNEE BANK ATLANTI OPERATIONS NEAR CAPE HATTERAS. OCEAN manding the Inlet; but this, called Fort Ocracoke, and older Fort Morgan near, were abandoned. They were disabled by Maxwell. In the meantime the Confederates were evidently preparing to throw a force on to Roanoke Island, to the northward of Hatteras, with the intention of recovering their losses at the Inlet, and keeping open two small inlets to Pamlico, above Cape Hatteras. Hawkins sent Colonel Brown,' with his Twentieth Indiana, up the island to a hamlet called ⚫ Sept. 29. Chicomicocomico, partly to defend the professedly loyal inhabitants there, but more particularly to watch the Confederates, and, if possible, prevent their gaining possession of Roanoke. The regiment was landed in small boats, with very scant supplies. The Fanny was sent with stores, but was captured by the Confederates, who thus obtained property of the value of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The most important loss was the camp equipage, provisions, and intrenching tools of Brown's regiment. It defeated his undertaking; for when, on the 4th of October, a squadron of five or six Confederate steamers, bearing over two thousand men, composed of North Carolinians and Georgians, who had taken possession of Roanoke Island, bore down from Croatan Sound, with the evident intention of attacking him, he was compelled to retreat. Troops were landed from the steamers at Keneekut and Chicomicocomico, above and below Brown's Camp, under cover of shells thrown from the armed vessels. The Indianians succeeded in escaping to Cape Hatteras, where they were met by five hundred of Hawkins's Zouaves, supported by the Susquehanna and Monticello. They had lost about fifty men, most of whom were cap 1 See page 397, volume I. 110 A LOYAL DEMONSTRATION. tured while straggling.' A number of the islanders had followed them; and all had suffered much from hunger, thirst, and fatigue, during that exciting march of twenty-eight miles. The Confederate vessels were a part of the little fleet in that region, under the command of Lieutenant Lynch, who had lately abandoned his flag and joined the insurgents. The assailants fled back to Roanoke, and after that left Hatteras in the undisputed possession of the National forces. General Mansfield was sent from Washington with five hundred troops, to still further strengthen the position. He was soon relieved by Brigadier-General Thomas S. Williams, of the Regular Army. a Oct. 12, 1861. While these events were transpiring, Colonel Hawkins, in pursuance of the humane and conciliatory policy of the Government toward misguided and misinformed inhabitants, issued a proclamation to the people of North Carolina, in which he exposed the misrepresentations of the intentions of the Government put forth by the conspirators and their allies, assuring them that the war was waged only against traitors and rebels (who were called to lay down their arms and have peace), and that the troops had come to give back to the people law, order, and the Constitution, and all their legitimate rights. To this there was a public response by the inhabitants in the immediate vicinity of Hatteras, who professed to be loyal. A convention of the citizens of Hyde County was held," which, by resolutions, offered the loyalty of its members to the National Government. A committee was appointed to draw up a statement of grievances, and a declaration of independence of Confederate rule was put forth, in form and style like that issued in 1776. A more important convention was held at Hatteras a month later, in which appeared representatives from forty-five counties in North Carolina. That body assumed the prerogatives of the State, and by a strong ordinance provided for the government of North Carolina in allegiance to the National Constitution. This promise of good was so hopeful that the President, by proclamation, ordered an election to be held in the First Congressional District of North Carolina. The people complied, and elected a representative (Charles Henry Foster), but he was not admitted to Congress, because of some technical objection. This leaven of loyalty, that promised to affect the whole State, was soon destroyed by the strong arm of the Confederates in power. Nov. 18. • Nov. 27. 1 The Indiana Regiment was peculiarly unfortunate at Hatteras. In the affair near Chicomicocomico, it had lost its stock of winter clothing. This disaster was followed by a fearful storm on the night of the 2d of November, which swept along the coast, and bringing the sea in with such violence that it submerged Hatteras Island between the forts, threatening instant destruction to Fort Clark, the smaller one, occupied by the regiment. Its sick were much distressed by removal for safety; and nearly one-half of its new supply of winter clothing was swept away. 2 This Declaration bore the signatures of Rev. Marble Nash Taylor, of the North Carolina Methodist Conference, Caleb B. Stowe, and William O'Neal. 3 This movement was brought prominently before the citizens of New York by Mr. Taylor, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, at a meeting over which Mr. Bancroft, the historian, presided, in which he said that “some 4,000 of the inhabitants living on the narrow strip of land on the coast had, on the first arrival of the troops, flocked to take the oath of allegiance, and this had cut them off from their scanty resources of traffic with the interior. They were a poor race," he said, “ living principally by fishing and gathering of yoakum, an evergreen of spontaneous growth, which they dried and exchanged for corn." The yoakum is a plant which is extensively used in that region as a substitute for tea. The appeal of Mr. Taylor in behalf of these people was nobly responded to by generous gifts cf money, food, and clothing. EVENTS AT FORT PICKENS. 111 Whilst the stirring events just mentioned were occurring on the coast of North Carolina, the vicinity of Fort Pickens, on the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, had again become the theater of conflict. We have observed how that fortress was saved from seizure by the insurgents at Pensacola in the spring of 1861, and the arrival in June, at Santa Rosa Island (on which the fort stands), of the New York Sixth, known as Wilson's Zouaves.' These troops and a small blockading squadron, with a garrison in the fort, were stationed there for the purpose of securing from capture by the Confederates that fortress, whose possession was so much coveted by them. Although no serious hostilities occurred between these forces and the insurgents on the main, who threatened them, the former were not inert, but dispelled the uneasiness of camp and deck life by an occasional disturbance of the quiet of their foe, sometimes by threatening a descent on the coast, and at others by firing on some supply-vessel of the Confederates, moving in Pensacola Bay. On the night of the 2d of September," a party from Fort Pickens, under Lieutenant Shepley, burned the Dry Dock at the Navy Yard at Warrington; and, on the night of the 13th of the same month, about one hundred men, under Lieutenant John H. Russell, of Commodore Merwin's flagship Colorado, crossed over to the Navy Yard, and before daylight boarded a large schooner (the Judah), which was being fitted out as a privateer, and lying at the wharf there. They spiked a ten-inch columbiad, with which she was armed, and burnt her to the water's edge. By the use of muffled oars they eluded the vigilance of the sentinels until it was too late for useful resistance.' This was a most daring feat, for at the Navy Yard near by there were at least a thousand Confederate soldiers. "They were led by an officer with the courage of forty Numidian lions, and their success was perfect," said an account of the affair written by an officer at the Navy Yard. @ 1861. The Confederates soon became the aggressors. Early in October, they made an attempt to surprise and capture Wilson's troops on Santa Rosa Island. About fourteen hundred picked men, chosen mostly from Georgia troops and from some Irish volunteers, and commanded by General Anderson, assisted by General Ruggles, crossed Pensacola Bay in the evening on several steamers, and at two o'clock in the morning' landed at 6 October 9. Deer Point, on Santa Rosa Island, four or five miles eastward of the encampment of the Zouaves. Anderson divided his force into three columns, and in this order marched upon the camp, wherein there was no suspicion of danger near. The pickets were suddenly driven in, and the Zouaves were completely surprised. The Confederate war-cry was, "Death to Wilson! no quarter!" The Zouaves fought desperately in the intense darkness, while being driven back by superior numbers to the cover of batteries Linco'n and Totten, situated 1 See chapter XV., volume I. 2 Lieutenant Russell lost three men killed and twelve wounded. The planning and fitting out of the expedition was intrusted to Captain Bailey, of the Colorado. Lieutenant Russell was promoted to Commander on the 4th of October. 3 Common report had given to Wilson's men the character of being mostly New York "roughs," and the people of the South were taught to believe that they were selected for the purpose of plunder and rapine. It was on that account that the troops at Pensacola hated them, and resolved to give them no quarter. Wilson, in a characteristic letter to General Arthur, of New York, reporting the affair, says, alluding to wild rumors on |