476

EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT FISHER.

ready by the 6th of December. On November 30th, General Grant, having become aware that Bragg had taken with him to Georgia the greater part of the forces at Wilmington, deemed it important that the expedition should reach its destination before his return. The land forces, having been placed under the command of General Weitzel, Grant directed General Butler to have all things ready for his departure, so that the fleet should not be detained, and on the 6th of December, instructed him that the first object of the expedition under Weitzel was to close the port of Wilmington to the enemy; and next the capture of the place itself. He approved of all the directions of Butler, respecting the expedition, with the unimportant exception of the place of embarkation, and the amount of intrenching tools to be taken. He says: "The object of the expedition will be gained by effecting a landing on the main land between the Cape Fear river and the Atlantic, north of the north entrance to the river. Should such landing be effected while the enemy still holds Fort Fisher, and the batteries guarding the entrance to the river, then the troops should intrench themselves, and, by co-operating with the navy, effect the reduction and capture of those places. These in our hands, the navy could enter the harbor, and the port of Wilmington would be sealed. Should Fort Fisher and the point of land on which it is built, fall into the hands of our troops, immediately on landing, then it would be worth the attempt to capture Wilmington by a forced march and surprise. If time is consumed in gaining the first object of the expedition, the second will become a matter of after consideration.

"The details for execution are entrusted to you (Butler) and the officer immediately in command of the troops. Should the troops under General Weitzel fail to effect a landing at or near Fort Fisher, they will be returned to the armies operating against Richmond without delay."

General Butler was in command of the army from which the troops were taken for the expedition, and of the territory in which they were to operate. All orders and instructions by military courtesy were sent through him, and General Weitzel informed General Grant that he had never seen the instructions above quoted till after the attack on Fort Fisher. Grant had no idea, until the evening before he started from Bermuda Hundred, that Butler would join the expedition,

GENERAL BUTLER SUPERSEDED.

477

and believed that General Weitzel had received the instructions, and was in command. The loading of a powder boat detained the fleet at Hampton Roads several days. Grant had urged on Butler the importance of getting off the expedition at once, with or without the powder boat, which latter was intended to have been blown up near the rebel fort. However, the expedition arrived off New Inlet, near Fort Fisher, on the evening of the 15th, and Admiral Porter arrived on the evening of the 18th; the sea was rough, and the water and coal of the vessels being nearly exhausted, the transports put back to Beaufort to replenish, and did not return till the 24th, on which day the powder boat was exploded without inflicting any damage on the works. The landing was effected on the 25th, unopposed, and General Curtis reconnoitered the fort; a report of this reconnoissance had not been made before General Butler, "in direct violation of the instructions given, ordered the re-embarkation of the troops and the return of the expedition." The troops re-embarked on the morning of the 27th.

The fleet of Admiral Porter comprised seventy-three vessels, with six hundred and fifty-five guns, some of them of the largest calibre. Porter kept up a terrible bombardment for two days, silencing the fort, which he affirmed any man of energy could easily have taken. General Butler was now relieved of his command, and superseded by Ord. The design of capturing Fort Fisher was still determined on by General Grant, and adding to the army, lately commanded by Butler, some fifteen hundred men, he placed the whole force under General Terry, with instructions similar to those before given, leaving a direct attack on the fort, in both cases, to the discretion of the general in command.

The expedition left Fortress Monroe, January 6th, 1865, arrived off Beaufort on the 8th, was detained there by the state of the weather till the morning of the 12th, and then proceeding, reached its destination on the same evening. The disembarkation of the troops was effected at half past three P. M. on the 13th. Some reconnoissances were made next day, and possession was taken of a small advance work.

The fleet had kept up a dreadful fire on the fort, and Sunday, January 15th, was appointed for the grand naval assault. It was made in three columns, the first of which was led by the Brooklyn, the second by the Minnesota, and

478

CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER.

the third by the gunboats. Four hundred guns played upon the works with great precision, and, at one time, four or five shells fell every second, dismounting guns, blowing open embrasures, and rapidly causing traverses to disappear. When Terry's troops should advance from the land side, two thousand marines and sailors were to make a simultane ous assault on the sea side. Three hours before the assault, the guns of the fleet had driven the garrison to the casemates. The parapets were twenty-five feet thick, twenty feet high, and enclosed by a strong palisade; two hundred yards beyond, in front, was a line strung with torpedoes, which were connected by wires, eighty-five feet apart, and each containing one hundred pounds of powder. The shells had cut the wires connected with the torpedoes, in the way of the assailants, and part of the palisade was broken down. The signal was given at three o'clock, when Curtis, Pennypacker, and Bell followed with their troops in rotation, each of the three brigades being three hundred yards apart. As they started in their final rush for the west end on the land side, Admiral Porter gave the signal for the vessels to change their firing from the fort to the batteries, and concentrate it to the left and above. The scene on that Sabbath afternoon was terrible-grand-as, amid the thunder of many heavy guns, the brave troops of Terry pushed gallantly on, engaging in a hand to hand conflict on the ramparts, and disappearing behind the high parapets, where the work of death went on apace. One traverse after another was nobly won; the garrison fell back step by step, and at half past nine o'clock

the fort was cleared.

Shouts arose from within the bloody works, and General Terry's signal told the admiral that the fort was fairly won. At midnight, its commanders-General Whitney and Colonel Lamb-surrendered, with eighteen hundred men, seventythree guns, and the camp equipage and stores. The Union loss in killed and wounded was six hundred and forty-six; that of the enemy, four hundred. Among the patriots killed were Colonels Bell and Moore, and Lieutenant-colonel Lyman. The fleet lost in the assault two hundred killed, including Lieutenants Preston and Porter. The forts in the vicinity, with eighty-three cannon, fell into the hands of the victors, the garrisons having retired to Wilmington. We have anticipated somewhat, in order to preserve the

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GRANT AND SHERMAN. 479

thread of the narrative. No important military movements, however, took place in the beginning of the year 1865. Guerillas swarmed in Kentucky and the border States, and a party of them burned the steamer Venango, on the Mis sissippi river. Peace rumors were still heard, and acquired significance from the repeated visits to Richmond of Francis P. Blair. Important movements were prepared, though all was apparently quiet. When General Sherman arrived at Savannah, General Grant desired him to embark his troops. on transports and meet him at City Point, in order to aid him in his advance on Richmond. After the defeat of Hood's army, however, General Grant changed his plan, and wrote asking Sherman's advice as to the best course to be adopted. The latter answered that, if he desired, he would come at once to him by sea, but that he expected to march to Columbia, South Carolina, and thence to Raleigh, North Carolina, from which he would report to him. confidence which Sherman exhibited, in this letter, of being able to march up and join Grant, pleased the latter, and without waiting for an answer to his letter of the 18th, he directed him, on the 28th, to make the proposed preparations without delay, to break up the railroads in North and South Carolina, and join the armies against Richmond as soon as he could. We shall therefore proceed to describe the march of this great chieftain through the Carolinas, after first attending to some events, which, though of inferior importance, must not be omitted.

The

General Thomas's army being no longer needed in Ten nessee, was broken up. General A. J. Smith's command, with a cavalry division, was sent to report to General Canby; and General Schofield's corps was brought east, and sent to Fort Fisher and Newbern. North Carolina was constituted a separate military department, under Schofield, who was ordered to report to General Stoneman.

During the rejoicings that followed the capture of Fort Fisher, the war vessels being nearly all about the Cape Fear river, the enemy, on the night of the 24th, sent four ironclads down the James river for the purpose of separating the armies on the two sides of the stream, and, arriving at City Point, to cut off the communications. Meanwhile, a large rebel force was concentrated north of the James to attack the army should the effort of the iron-clads prove

480

PEACE COMMISSIONERS.

successful. A high tower, erected by the patriots to overlook the hostile army, was to be burned, as a signal that the gunboats had succeeded. The iron-clads forced through at Dutch Gap canal, passed Fort Brady, and drove back the only vessel stationed in the river. City Point, it was probable, would be reached, and great apprehensions in consequence prevailed in the Union lines. All was commotion. The vessels, fortunately, grounded; one was blown up, and another destroyed, and the whole scheme was providentially frustrated. The court of inquiry which afterward investigated this matter, was of opinion that the arrival of the rebel iron-clads at City Point, would have raised the siege of Richmond. It was a narrow escape, doubtless, and might have been perilous to the country.

At the close of the month, Peace Commissioners from Jefferson Davis arrived at Fortress Monroe, where, in a few days, they had an informal interview with President Lincoln and Mr. Seward. The rebel Commissioners were Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, and J. A. Campbell, of Alabama. They desired to keep the question of separation in abeyance, and proposed that hostilities should cease, and the former intercourse between North and South be resumed, until passion should cool on both sides. Mr. Lincoln insisted that the supremacy of the Government should be completely restored, everywhere, previous to a cessation of hostilities, and thus the matter ended.

The ill treatment of Union prisoners became very griev ous at this time, and provoked the wrath of the loyal North. During the first year of the war, a cartel was not allowed, but one agreed on in 1862, permitted the exchange of pris oners, man for man, and the parole of the excess on each side, until an exchange could be effected. When colored troops were received into the army, the rebel authorities would not deal with them as with white troops. Commissioner Ould, on the rebel side, insisted that the requirements of the first cartel should be met, and General Meredith, the Federal Commissioner, refused any exchange unless colored troops were to share in its advantages. The balance was in favor of the Federal Government, from the large number of prisoners captured on the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson. No regular system of exchanges