FORCE OF THE EXPEDITION. 243 SO each including five regiments. To the 1st, for peculiar service on the shores of commanded by General John G. Foster, whose services in his command at Fort Sumter during the siege will be remembered, were assigned four Massachusetts regiments, the 23d, 24th, 25th, and 27th, and the 10th Connecticut. To the 2d, commanded by General Jesse L. Reno, of Pennsylvania, a graduate of West Point, of 1846, and afterwards employed in active service in the ordnance department, were assigned the 21st Massachusetts, the 51st Pennsylvania, the 51st New York, the 9th New Jersey, and the 6th New Hampshire. To the 3d, commanded by General John G. Parke, of Pennsylvania, a graduate of West Point of 1849, and, previous to the war, engaged in many responsible employments in the Engineer corps, were assigned the 4th, and a battalion of the 5th Rhode Island, the 8th and 11th Connecticut, the 53d and 89th New York, and Belgier's Rhode Island battery of one hundred and six men, one hundred and twenty horses, four 10-pounder Parrott guns, and two 12-pounder field howitzers. For the transportation of this force from the Chesapeake, with its various equipments, horses, arms, and supplies of coal, lumber, water, provisions, etc., there was employed a fleet of side-wheel steamers, armed propellers, and sailing vessels of varying denominations, numbering in all more than a hundred craft. In addition to this military array, an imposing naval squadron, numbering eighteen light-draught steam gunboats, with an armament of about fifty heavy rifle cannon accompanied the expedition. The command of this force and of the naval operations generally, was assigned to Flag-Officer L. M. Goldsborough, the Commander-in-Chief of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and was divided into two columns for active service, to be led by commanders S. F. Hazard, and Stephen C. Rowan, of the United States Navy. The entire expedition was arranged North Carolina, within the waters of upon the broad Atlantic. As it was generally supposed, while the vessels were collecting, that they would be employed inside of the capes of Virginiaevery spot having been mentioned, from the Rappahannock to Elizabeth River but little anxiety had been felt respecting their sea-going qualities. Now, however, the case was different. The unusual inclemency of the season, and the proverbial dangers of Hatteras, whither it was now at once understood that the fleet was sailing, were highly suggestive of alarm for the safety of the frail barks; while the storms which had beset the expeditions to Charleston and Port Royal, were not forgotten. Indeed, when it was understood that the route was seaward, a number of light-draught tug steamers, notwithstanding their charter engagements, much to its detriment, were withdrawn from the expedition. The event proved that there was no little hazard from the elements in the adventure. Sunday, the first day out, there was considerable embarrassment from the fog on the coast, which greatly impeded progress. Monday was clear, with a heavy wind and rough sea, which caused the vessels to labor very heavily and some were obliged to cut loose from the vessels they were towing. Noon, however, of that day, saw most of them inside of the bar at Hatteras Inlet, their first southern destination, in time to escape the severe gale of Monday night and Tuesday, which set in with extraordinary violence, even for this latitude of storms. The anchorage, however, was not of the best; the vessels were crowded together in a space quite too small for their accommodation, and were jostled with one another and suffered much in consequence. There were quiet waters, indeed, within Pamlico Sound, but they could be reached only by a narrow channel over an inner bar or bulkhead, which except at high tide, when it barely furnished seven and a half feet of water, permitted none but vessels of the lightest draft to pass. Un happily all were not alike in safety. The Grapeshot, one of the floating batteries towed by the steamer New Brunswick, was compelled to be abandoned before reaching the inlet, the men on board being with difficulty saved by the crew of the steamer. The larger vessels and a number of schooners which had arrived, were compelled to remain at the anchorage outside, where they were exposed to the full fury of the tempest. The steamer City of New York, a propeller of nearly six hundred tons, commanded by Capt. J. W. Nye, reached Hatteras on the afternoon of Monday, only to perish within sight of the shore. As she was endeavoring to enter the inlet, she grounded on the bar, and was immediately exposed to the force of the breakers. Her officers and crew took to the rigging for safety. All that night and the next day, the vessel lay in this condition, at the mercy of the elements, beyond the reach of succor. It was not till Wednesday, that her crew were enabled to reach the shore. The last to leave the vessel, Mr. Shouerman, the second engineer, mounted the mast, cut down the flag and bore it wrapped round his body to the shore. "I meant," said he, "either to die in its folds, or bring it safely to land." The spirited act is enhanced by comparison with the couduct of the first mate, who, with his companions, left the ship in the best boat as soon as she had struck. The loss of the vessel was very freely charged to the treachery of the pilot. Suspicion, in fact, was everywhere an inevitable attendant of this unhappy struggle. The steamer lay a week, fast breaking up upon the sand. She was laden with ammunition and military equipments. Four hundred barrels of gunpowder, fifteen hundred rifles, eight hundred shells, and other stores and supplies, went down with her. Two days later, on the seventeenth, the steamer Pocahontas, quite unseaworthy and commanded by a drunken captain, laden with horses mostly belonging to the Rhode Island regiment, went ashore DIFFICULTIES AT THE OUTSET. twelve miles north of Hatteras, and the horses, except a few which swam ashore, were lost. The Zouave, also, one of the gunboats, was sunk in the inlet, in consequence of an injury to her bottom, caused it is said, by overrunning her anchors. She had been already weakened by sticking on Barnegat Shoals on her way to Annapolis. Her guns were saved. One or two schooners, also, laden with provisions and coal, were wrecked. 245 its further passage to the destined scene of its operations in the waters within. Many of the vessels on which reliance had been placed for carrying the troops were found to be of too great draft, or too heavily laden, for the transit. A. New York regiment, the D'Epineuil Zouaves, was sent back to Fortress Monroe for lack of appropriate means of entering the Sound. The skill of the various commanders was tried to the uttermost in the preservation of the various vessels, and in attempts to secure their passage through the pestilent, narrow, violent channel, which would serve only a few hours at each tide. The work, annoying enough under the most favorable conditions of the strait, was frequently rendered quite impracticable by the continued ill temper of the weather which seemed spitefully to follow up the tempest-tossed flotilla. It was no more, however, than was to be expected at this wintry season in the latitude of Hatteras. At times the anxiety was increased by the want of water in some of the vessels not provided with salt water condensers, and the danger of passing from one to another to procure the needed supply. On one such occasion a purse was made up in gratitude to an adventurous boat's crew which had vol None of these disasters, it was remarkable, was attended with any loss of human life. The occasion, however, was not to pass without this melancholy consecration. On Wednesday, the 15th, while the ships were outside, a party set out for the shore from one of them, the Anne E. Thompson, which carried the 9th New Jersey regiment. They reached the land in safety, and were on their return to the ship, when their boat was overturned by a wave, and three of the company, the Colonel of the regiment, Joseph W. Allen, the Surgeon, F. S. Weller, and the second mate of the vessel, were drowned. When relief came the rest were saved, and the lifeless bodies of the two officers were recovered. Colonel Allen was a native of Burlington, who had been a civil engineer before entering the army. He had been engaged in political life, and in the mili-unteered for the duty. tia service of his State, and his loss, with that of his fellow officer, was much regretted. Much anxiety was felt for the fate of the schooner carrying the Signal Corps, but she at length arrived, to the great joy of the squadron, bringing her passengers in safety, after having been tossed at sea in storm and tempest for more than a fortnight. With these disasters, which, considering the magnitude of the fleet, and the perils of the place, and season, must be thought no more than the ordinary accidents incident to such a service, the Expedition having overcome its first difficulties on the sea, had now to encounter a series of vexatious embarrassments in The whole month of January was expended in the worrying process of studying the humors, and taking advantage of the kindlier opportunities of what Com'modore Goldsborough, in the dispatch announcing the final passage of his gunboats, calls "this perplexing gut." At length, however, by the unwearied exertions and ability of General Burnside and his faithful officers and men, diligently assisting in the unexpected and laborious work, what with temporarily relieving one and another of the vessels of their living freight, and by dint of prudent management, the fleet was fairly embarked on Pamlico Sound, and reported ready for action. The unavoidable delay in its opera- north-west, and there was much animations had given the enemy, who had tion in the scene, as the entire fleet of every facility through the newspapers seventy vessels slowly traversed the disof becoming acquainted with the gen- tance, some thirty miles, to Roanoke. eral character and extent of the Ex- At sunset they anchored within sight of pedition, an opportunity of providing the island. The next day was foggy and against its attacks; and they had ac- wet, and nothing was undertaken beyond cordingly strengthened the defences, and a reconnoissance of Croatan Sound, as the congregated a large body of North Car- passage is called which separates Roanolina and Virginia troops at Roanoke Is-oke from the mainland. The channel was land, a position commanding the channel which separates the waters of Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds. Their exact force was not known, but it was well understood that it was formidable, that it was securely entrenched, with various fortifications along the shore, and had the protection of a fleet of gunboats, with, of course, the means of reinforcement from the north by the open communication beyond. If, as was intimated, it was the intention of General Burnside to gain possession of the coast line of railway, at its most important station, at Weldon, on the border of the State, or cut off the supplies of Norfolk in its rear, it was evident that he must open the way to the upper waters of Albemarle Sound. The enemy in his neighborhood, at any rate, must be dislodged, and an attack upon Roanoke was consequently inevitable. The military and naval forces having been thoroughly organized and assigned their respective parts in the movement, the Expedition set sail from Hatteras in that direction on the morning of the 5th of February. Fifteen gunboats of Commodore Goldsborough's naval squadron led the way, followed at an interval of a mile by the armed transports, sidewheel steamers, and numerous retinue of the army divisions. The naval vessels, placed by Flag-Officer Goldsborough under the immediate command of Commander Rowan, were formed in three separatecolumns, commanded respectively by Lieutenants Reed Werden, Alexander Murray, and H. K. Davenport. The day was clear, with the wind from the reported clear to the upper end of the island, where the rebel gunboats were found to be stationed. Friday, the following day, like its predecessor, was foggy in the morning, but about ten in the forenoon cleared up sufficiently for the advance. Commodore Goldsborough then gave the necessary orders, and hoisted the signal, consecrated by Lord Nelson, "This day our Country expects every man to do his duty." It was received with enthusiam as the fleet went forward. An active and daring bombardment of Fort Bartow, at Pork Point, on the upper part of the island, ensued, doing considerable damage to the work, and setting on fire the barracks beyond, with but little loss or personal injury to either assailants or defenders, while another portion of the gunboats, unable to come to close quarters with the enemy's vessels, in consequence of their shelter behind a blockade of sunken vessels and double row of stakes which had been planted across the Sound, engaged them, with little or no damage, at long range. The rebel squadron of seven vessels was commanded by Flag-Officer W. F. Lynch, late a lieutenant in the United States service, widely known by his published account of an expedition to the Holy Land, which he had conducted under the auspices of the Government, while on duty in the Mediterranean. At the close of this action of the 7th, he reported the Curlew, his largest steamer, sunk, and the Forest, a propeller, disabled. Several of his officers and men were wounded, and his stock of ammunition was quite exhausted. "In all LANDING OF THE TROOPS. 247 probability," he wrote, "the contest the shore utterly unsheltered amidst the an uncounted enemy before them on un- In the afternoon, the army transports came up, and preparations were made for landing the troops on the island. The place chosen for this purpose was situated on the west shore some distance below the first battery, and bore the promising title, Ashly's Harbor. It, however, afforded but little facility for a debarkation. The water was shallow, and the smaller steamers of the transports could approach the shore only at a distance. A boat, commanded by Lieutenant Andrews of the 9th New York, and manned by ten members of the Rhode Island regiment, who had volunteered for the perilous service, was sent forward to sound out a channel of approach. After this work was performed, and when the boat was nearing the land, it was fired into from a party previously concealed by the tall grass on the bank, and one of the men, Charles Vial, of Providence, was desperately wounded. When the troops were about to land there were some indications of a rebel force at hand to contest the passage to the shore, but it was quickly dispersed by a discharge of shrapnel from one of the gunboats into the sheltering woods. The landing was then effected with great precision, but the men were compelled to wade several hundred feet through the water, sinking at every step in the soft ooze. This cheerless process was going on through the afternoon, evening, and a good portion of the night, the usual inclemency of which, at this season, was aggravated by a cold rain storm, till some eleven thousand men were left on |