Schofield assigned to its command, with orders to occupy Goldsboro' and open up communication with the coast, and unite with Sherman. In pursuance of this plan, he landed at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, February 9th, with the Third Division, Cox, near Fort Fisher. At that time, General Terry, with eight thousand men, held a line across the peninsula, formed by the ocean and the Cape Fear River, occupying Smithville and Fort Caswell, with his flanks covered by the fleet, under Admiral Porter. The enemy occupied Fort Anderson, on the west bank of the river, with a collateral line running to a large swamp about three-fourths of a mile distant, and a line opposite Fort Anderson, running across the peninsula from Cape Fear River to Masonboro' Sound. His position was impregnable against direct attack, and could be turned only by crossing Masonboro' Sound above his left, or passing around the swamp which covered his right. On the 11th of February, Schofield pushed forward Terry's line, supported by Cox's Division, drove in the enemy's pickets, and intrenched in a new position, close enough to the enemy's line to compel him to hold the latter in force.

The weather presented many obstacles to a combined movement with boats on the enemy's left. Hence General Schofield directed his attention to the enemy's right, where he would not have to contend with the difficulties of both land and sea. Cox's and Ames's Divisions were crossed over to Smithville, where they were joined by Moore's Brigade of Couch's Division, which had just debarked, and advanced along the main Wilmington road until they encountered the enemy's position at Fort Anderson and adjacent works. Here two brigades were intrenched to occupy the enemy, while Cox, with his other two brigades and Ames's Division, started around the swamp, covering the enemy's right, to strike the Wilmington road in rear of Fort Ander son. The distance to be travelled was about fifteen miles. The enemy, warned by his cavalry of Cox's movement, hastily abandoned his works on both sides of the river, during the night of February 19th, and fell back behind Town Creek on the west, and to a corresponding position, covered by swamps, on the east. Possession was thus gained of the main defences of Cape Fear River and of Wilmington, with ten pieces of heavy ordnance and a large amount of ammunition. Our loss was but trifling.

On the following day, Cox pursued the enemy to Town Creek, behind which he was found intrenched, having destroyed the only bridge. Terry also encountered the enemy in superior force in his new position, and, in consequence, Ames's Division was brought over to the east bank during the night of the 19th. On the 20th, Cox crossed Town Creek below the enemy's position, and, reaching the enemy's flank and rear, attacked and routed him, capturing two pieces of artillery and three hundred and seventy-five prisoners. The next morning he pushed on towards Wilmington without opposition. Terry was unable to make any further advance, but occupied the attention of all of Hoke's force, so that he could not send any to replace that which Cox had destroyed. On the 21st, Cox secured a portion of the enemy's pontoon bridge across Brunswick River, which he had attempted to destroy, put a portion of

RHODES

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his troops on to Eagle Island, and threatened to cross the Cape Fear above Wilmington. The enemy at once set fire to his steamers, cotton, and military and naval stores, and abandoned the town. Our troops entered without opposition early in the morning of February 22d, and Terry pursued the enemy across Northeast River. Our total loss in the operations from February 11th to the capture of Wilmington was about two hundred officers and men killed and wounded. That of the enemy was not less than one thousand killed, wounded, and prisoners; fifty one pieces of heavy ordnance, fifteen light pieces, and a large amount of ammunition fell into our hands.

Meantime a force of five thousand troops had been ordered forward from Newbern, under General Palmer, to occupy Kinston, with the view of moving thence upon Goldsboro' and tapping the main railway line between Richmond and Savannah. As soon as Wilmington was secured, Schofield sent Ruger's Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, which was then arriving at Cape Fear Inlet, by sea to Morehead City, to re-enforce the column moving from Newbern. On the 25th, finding that Palmer had not moved, as was expected, he sent Cox to take command at Newbern and push forward at once. The divisions of Couch and Cox were also sent thither, but owing to great difficulty of transportation, it was March 6th before the movement upon Kinston was commenced. On that day, Couch marched from Newbern with the Second and Third Divisions of the Twenty-third Corp, and on the 8th, General Cox advanced to Wise's Forks, where he was joined by Schofield in person. The force in front of the Union troops, consisting of Hoke's Division and a small body of reserves, had fallen back behind Southwest Creek, and General Cox had sent two regiments, under Colonel Upham, Fifteenth Connecticut Infantry, to secure the crossing of the creek on the Dover road. The enemy, having been re-enforced by a portion of the old Army of Tennessee, recrossed the creek some distance above the Dover road, came down in rear of Colonel Upham's position, and surprised and captured nearly his entire command, about seven hundred men. The enemy then advanced and endeavored to penetrate between Carter's and Palmer's Divisions, occupying the Dover road and the railroad respectively, but was checked by Ruger's Division, which was just arriving upon the field.

On the 9th the enemy pressed our lines strongly, and felt for its flanks. Heavy skirmishing was kept up during the day, but no assault was made. On the 10th, the enemy, having been largely re-enforced, and, doubtless, learning of the approach of Couch's column, made a heavy attack upon Cox's left and centre, but was decisively repulsed, and with heavy loss. Both attacks were met mainly by Ruger's Division, a portion of that division having been rapidly transferred from the centre to the left, to meet the attack there, and then returned to the centre in time to repel the attack on that portion of the line. The enemy retreated, leaving his killed and wounded, and, during the night, fell back across the Neuse, and burned the bridge. Our loss in this engagement was about three hundred killed and wounded; that of the enemy probably about fifteen hundred in killed, wounded, and missing. Couch effected his junction with Cox on the following day.

Having no pontoon train, Schofield could not cross the Neuse until the 14th, when the enemy, having abandoned Kinston, moved rapidly towards Smithfield to join the force under Johnston, which was concentrating to oppose the advance of Sherman from Fayetteville. Immediately upon the occupation of Kinston, Schofield put a large force of troops to work upon the railroad, in aid of the Construction Corps under Colonel Wright, rebuilt the wagon bridge over the Neuse, and brought forward supplies preparatory to a further advance. He moved from Kinston on the morning of the 20th, and entered Goldsboro', with but slight opposition, on the evening of the 21st. The portion of the command which had remained at Wilmington, under Terry, moved from that point March 15th, reached Faison's Dépôt on the 20th, and, in compliance with Sherman's orders, moved from that point to Cox's Bridge, and secured a crossing of the Neuse on the 22d.

On the 8th of February, General Gillmore succeeded to the command of the Department of the South, with head-quarters at Hilton Head. The city of Charleston was then held by General Hardee with a force of twelve thousand to fifteen thousand men, comprising the regular garrison and the troops which had retreated from Savannah. The city had withstood during nearly three years all attempts to reduce it. This, on account of its enormously strong natural position, had been comparatively easy. But now it became exposed to a series of operations of an entirely different nature from those which had formerly been undertaken against it. Sherman, from Savannah, was penetrating into North Carolina, and was, on February 11th, at Branchville, on the South Carolina Railroad, thus cutting Charleston off from communica tion with the interior. The defences of Cape Fear River below Fort Anderson had fallen into the hands of the Federals, and although General Bragg professed himself able to hold Wilmington, grave doubts of his ability to do so were entertained, and with the fall of Wilmington, communication with the North would be threatened. Under these circumstances, General Gillmore was no sooner in command than he landed a considerable force upon James Island, and after some sharp fighting established himself within two miles of the city. With Savannah and its communications in the hands of the Union troops, with Sherman and his large force holding the North Carolina Railroad at Branchville, with Wilmington virtually in the hands of Schofield, and Gillmore established within two miles of the city on James Island, it became very evident that Hardee had no alternative but to leave. If he could carry of his garrison it would be, under the circumstances, as much as he could hope for. This he succeeded in doing. The evacuation commenced on the 16th, and by the next night the last of the troops had left. About midnight the enemy fired the upper part of the city, burning up the railroad buildings and several thousand bales of cotton. The buildings contained, besides the cotton, a large quantity of rice and two hundred kegs of powder. About half-past three o'clock the powder blew up, with a terrific explosion, killing or mutilating about one hundred of the poor people, who were getting the rice. At daylight, the rebel rams in the harbor, near the city, were blown up.

On the morning of the 18th, the mayor of the city sent a note to General Gillmore stating that the Confederate military authorities had departed, and at nine A. M. the city of Charleston, with Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, Castle Pinckney, and all its defensive works, and all its contents, were surrendered to us. Nearly all the rebel troops had gone, and only a few men remained. Our forces were promptly moved up to the city, and, amid deafening cheers, the national flag once more streamed from the parapet of Fort Sumter. In the fort were nine guns-four columbiads, and five howitzers. The cruel firing of the city by the enemy, and the explosion of its magazines, spread devastation far and wide. Our troops were at once set to work to quell the flames, but probably two-thirds of the place were destroyed. The lower part of the city within reach of our guns was in effect a ruin, and was almost uninhabited. Comparatively few persons dared to remain there. Some of the houses were knocked down. Bricks and timbers were lying everywhere, and the streets in particular were strewn with the fragments, in many places entirely obstructing travel. Shells were lying among the ruins. The appearance of the city, the lower part uninhabited and the upper part in flames, is described as dreary and desolate in the extreme. Among our captures were over two hundred pieces of good artillery and a supply of fine ammunition. The enemy burned his cotton warehouses, arsenals, quartermaster stores, railroad bridges, two iron-clads, and some vessels in the ship-yards. Some of the enemy's troops remained to plunder, and succeeded in their object. Several hundred deserters were concealed in the houses in Charleston, and when our troops entered they surrendered. The main army moved off northward, in numbers conjectured to be about fourteen thousand strong. There remained in the city only about ten thousand persons of the poorer classes, who had had no means of making their escape, and who were now suffering from want of food.

The surrender of Charleston took place on the fourth anniversary of the inauguration of Jefferson Davis as president of the "Southern Confederacy." The actual siege of the city was commenced July 10th, 1863, when Gillmore landed on Morris Island, and had thus lasted five hundred and eighty-five days. The city had actually been under fire five hundred and forty-two days. The capture of the city was thus officially reported:

"HEAD DEPARTMENT

“CHARLESTON, S. C., February 26, 1865. "Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, and Major-General HALLECK, Chief of Staff, Washington:

"An inspection of the rebel defences of Charleston shows that we have taken over four hundred and fifty (450) pieces of ordnance, being more than double what I first reported. The lot includes eight and ten inch columbiads, a great many thirty-two and forty-two pounder rifles, some seven-inch Brooks rifles, and many pieces of foreign make.

"We also captured eight locomotives, and a great number of passenger and platform cars, all in good condition.

"Deserters report that the last of Hardee's army was to have crossed the Santee River yesterday, bound for Charlotte, N. C., and it was feared that Sherman had already intercepted their march.

"It is reported, on similar authority, that the last of Hood's army, twelve thousand trong, passed through Augusta last Sunday, the 19th, on the way to Beauregard.

"Georgetown has been evacuated by the enemy, and is now in our possession. "Deserters are coming in constantly. We have over four hundred already. "Q. A. GILLMORE, "Major-General Commanding."

(Signed)

As the surrender of Sumter had produced an impression on the public mind too deep to be readily forgotten, the President, with a view of commemorating its restoration to the national authority, directed Major-General Robert Anderson to raise the stars and stripes on the battlements of Fort Sumter on the 13th of April, 1865, the anniversary of the day he consented to evacuate it, after a protracted and gallant resistance, when his ammunition and provisions were exhausted.

The next seaport destined to fall was Mobile, which was, early in March, occupied by the Confederate General Dick Taylor, with Maury commanding the defences of the city, and F. H. Gardner in the field. His forces numbered about fifteen thousand men. The defences of Mo

bile were strong. Beauregard and Taylor had been at work upon them for months, employing thousands of negroes in intrenching. The garrison, however, was inadequate to man the elaborate works intended to protect the place. Not only had the operations of Lee and Johnston heavily drained the old army of Hood, but a cavalry demonstration of Wilson through Alabama and Mississippi, then in progress, distracted the attention of the force which remained. Few but raw Alabama troops were around Mobile. Among the harbor defences was Spanish Fort, an irregular bastioned work, with fortifications five miles in length, commencing at D'Olive's Creek and running to Minetta Bay. It was built by De Soto in 1540. The guns were in embrasures. The main defence of Mobile was at this point. From the land side, on the right of Spanish Fort, were two bastions, encircled with rifle-pits, chevaux-de-frise, trenches, and torpedoes. The fortifications on the extreme right were covered by the works on the left of Blakeley. Pinto Island, to the right, covers Spanish River, and commands Christian Pass. Mobile Bay, beyond Blakeley River, was filled with torpedoes. A large number of torpedoes were also buried in the earth in front of Spanish Fort, near the rebel rifle-pits. Forts Huger, Bradley, Tracy, Battery Gladden, Spanish River Battery, Blakeley, and other rebel strongholds, were in front and to the left.

Preparations for attack had been in progress some time. Granger's Thirteenth Corps had long been concentrated on Mobile Point. A. J. Smith's Sixteenth Corps was sent by transport from New Orleans to Dauphin Island, opposite Mobile Point, the greater part arriving at Fort Gaines on the 12th of March. All the cavalry were under Grierson, and recently largely re-enforced from the Army of the Cumberland -had left for Mobile Point, crossing Pontchartrain. General Steele's negro division was near Pensacola. On the 18th of March, Moore's First Brigade of Carr's Third Division of the Sixteenth Corps, about two thousand strong, left Dauphin Island to effect a landing on Cedar Point, above Fort Powell, and to clear the way for the rest of the corps. On the day previous, Bertram's Brigade of the Second Division of the Thirteenth Corps, which had been transported across from