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Colonel Kurtz, for a support. With musketry and cannon he opened the battle, and was hotly answered by musketry and cannon. The fight was severe, and soon the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, Colonel Lee, came to the aid of their fellow New Englanders, by falling upon the sharpshooters in the woods, on the left of the Confederate line. To relieve the Twentythird Massachusetts, the Tenth Connecticut, Colonel Russell, came up to the support of the Twenty-fifth, from the former State.

The Confederates made a gallant defense; and the fight raged fiercely. Reno brought up his brigade to the help of Foster's. These were the Twenty-first Massachusetts, Colonel Maggi; Fifty-first New York, Colonel Ferrero; Fifty-first Pennsylvania, Colonel Hartrauf, and Ninth New Jersey. He pushed through the tangled swamps and took a position on Foster's right, with the intention of turning the Confederate left flank, where Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Anderson was in command of a battalion of "Wise's Legion." The fight in that direction soon became warm, while it continued to rage fiercely in the front. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey troops were zealous rivals in deeds of daring, fortitude, courage, and generosity. They continually gained advantages, but at the cost of heavy work. Parke came up with his Fourth Rhode Island, Colonel Rodman; the first battalion Fifth Rhode Island; the Eighth Connecticut; and Ninth New York, Colonel Hawkins, and gave timely aid to the Twenty-third and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts.

With all this pressure of overwhelming numbers, the Confederates still

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BATTLE OF ROANOKE ISLAND.

held out. At length the artillery ammunition of the Nationals began to fail, and they were suffering very severely in killed and wounded. Victory could now be won only by a charge. That movement was resolved upon. Major E. A. Kimball, of Hawkins's (Ninth New York) Zouaves (a hero of the Mexican war, who fought gallantly in every battle, from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico), perceiving the necessity, and eager to serve his country (for whose cause he finally gave his life), offered to lead the charge across the causeway against the main battery, with the bayonet. The delighted Foster said, "You are the man, the Ninth the regiment, and this is the moment! Zouaves, storm the battery!" he shouted-"Forward!" In

an instant they were on the run across the causeway, yelling fearfully, and cheered by their admiring comrades on every side, who cried out, "Make way for the red-caps! They are the boys!" Colonel Hawkins, who was leading two companies in a flank movement on the left, seeing his men rushing to the perilous performance, could not resist his impulses, and, joining them, pressed forward the whole battalion, shouting, "Zou! Zou! Zou!" and closely followed by the Tenth Connecticut. The frightened Confederates, after firing once, had fled, and into the battery the Zouaves rushed, with none to oppose them, almost simultaneously with the Fifty-first New York and Twenty-first Massachusetts, who had attacked the Confederates on their right. The colors of the Fifty-first, being at the head of the regiment, were first planted on the captured battery, and at the same time the State flag of the Massachusetts Twenty-first was triumphantly displayed. The fugitives, in their haste, had left every thing behind them. There lay their dead and wounded as they had fallen. Their heavy guns were in perfect order, and the knapsacks and blankets of the routed soldiers were strewn about the works.

JOHN G. FOSTER.

General Foster, who had skillfully directed these successful movements in person, now re-formed his brigade, whilst Reno, with the Twenty-first Massachusetts and Ninth New York, started in pursuit. Foster soon followed and overtook Reno, who was maneuvering to cut off the retreat of about eight or nine hundred Confederates on the left, near Weir's Point. With a part of his force, Reno pushed on in that direction. Hawkins, with his Zouaves, hurried toward Shallow bag Bay, where, it was said, the Confederates had a two-gun battery. Foster pressed forward with an adequate force, and was on the heels of the fugitives, after a chase of five or six miles, when he was met by a flag of truce, borne by Colonel Pool, of the Eighth North Carolina, carrying a message from Colonel Shaw, who, as we have observed, was the senior acting officer in command on the Island, asking what terms of capitulation would be granted. "Unconditional surrender!"

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was Foster's reply. These were accepted, and two thousand Confederates soon laid down their arms as prisoners of war.

In the mean time, General Reno had received the surrender of about eight hundred Confederates, under Colonel Jordan; and Colonel Hawkins, after taking possession of the deserted battery on Shallowbag Bay, captured about two hundred Confederates, who were seeking a chance to escape from the island to Nag's Head. Among these was Captain O. Jennings Wise, son of the General in command, and editor of one of the bitterest of the rebellious journals in Richmond, who had been severely wounded while fighting gallantly.'

To complete the conquest of the Island, General Foster sent a force to capture Fort Bartow, which Goldsborough had been bombarding while the land battle had been going on. Its inmates had retired, and at a little past four o'clock in the afternoon the National flag was unfurled over its walls, when Goldsborough signalled to his fleet, "The fort is ours." This was followed by the most joyous cheers. In the mean time the Confederate steamer Curlew, which, as we have observed, had been beached under the guns of a battery on Redstone Point, on the main, had been fired by the insurgents, together with the barracks at that place, and the remainder of the flotilla had fled up Albemarle Sound. So ended, in triumph for the National cause, the conflict known as THE BATTLE OF ROANOKE. It disappointed the prophets of evil at home and abroad, and spread consternation throughout the Confederacy. There, on Roanoke Island, where the first germ of a privileged aristocracy had been planted in America, the first deadening blow had been. given to the hopes of an oligarchy, fighting for the establishment of such a social system. The "Government" at Richmond (and especially Jefferson Davis and his "Secretary of War," Benjamin) were severely censured for alleged neglect in making Roanoke Island and its approaches impregnable. Davis, in a "message to Congress," cast reflections upon the troops there; but a committee of that body, appointed to investigate the matter, declared that the battle was "one of the most gallant and brilliant actions of the war," and laid the blame, if any existed, on Huger and Benjamin, especially on the latter, who, it was said, had positively refused to put the Island in a state of defense.1

3

1 His father, who, as we have observed, was ill, had remained with a part of the "Legion" at Nag's Head. The wounded son had been placed in a boat to be sent to his camp, when it was fired upon, and compelled to return. He was tenderly cared for by Colonel Hawkins and his officers, but died toward noon on the following day.

2 Report of General Burnside to General McClellan, Feb'y 10th, 1862; of Generals Foster, Reno, and Parke; of Commodore Goldsborough to Secretary Welles, Feb'y 9th, 1862; of Commander Lynch to R. S. Mallory, Feb'y 7th, 1862; and accounts by other officers and eye-witnesses on both sides.

3 There, in the year 1587, Manteo, a native chief, who had been kind to colonists sent to that coast by Sir Walter Raleigh, was, by that baronet's command, and with the approval of Queen Elizabeth, invested with the title of Lord of Roanoke, the first and last peerage created in America. Nearly a hundred years later, an attempt was made to found in North Carolina an aristocratic government, with the nominal appendages of royalty, it being designed to have orders of nobility and other privileged classes in exact imitation of English society of that period.

+ Pollard, the Confederate historian of the war, says, that records showed that Wise, who assumed the command there on the 7th of January, had "pressed upon the Government the importance of Roanoke Island to Norfolk." In a report to Benjamin, on the 13th of that month, he said the canals and railroads connecting with Norfolk "were utterly defenseless." Later he reported that “a force at Hatteras, independent of the Burnside expedition. was amply sufficient to capture or pass Roanoke Island in twenty-four hours." Wise also asked for re-enforcements from Huger's fifteen thousand men, lying idle around Norfolk. He was answered by a peremptory order, when Burnside's expedition was passing into Pamlico Sound, to proceed immediately to Roanoke Island and

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ELIZABETH CITY TAKEN.

The conquest was complete, and Burnside, taking up his quarters at a house near Fort Bartow, prepared at once for other aggressive movements on

the coast. In his report, he generously said, "I owe every thing to Generals Foster, Reno, and Parke," and sadly gave the names of Colonel Charles S. Russell and Lieutenant-Colonel Vigeur de Monteuil' as among the killed. The number of his prisoners amounted to about three thousand. Many of the troops on the Island escaped to Nag's Head, and thence, accompanied by General Wise and the remainder of his Legion, they fled up the coast toward Norfolk. The spoils of victory were forty-two heavy guns, most of them of large caliber, three being 100-pounders.3

a

The Confederate flotilla was immediately followed by Captain Feb. 9, Rowan. It had gone up Albemarle Sound thirty or forty miles, 1862. and into the Pasquotank River, toward Elizabeth City, not far southeast of the Great Dismal Swamp. Rowan's fleet consisted of fourteen vessels, the Delaware being his flag-ship. On the morning of the 10th it was in the river near Elizabeth City, and confronting seven steamers and a schooner armed with two 32-pounders, and a four-gun battery on the shore, and one heavy gun in the town in front. The whole force was in charge of Commander Lynch.

Rowan opened fire upon flotilla and batteries at about nine o'clock. After a short but very severe engagement, Lynch, who was on shore, signalled for the abandonment of the vessels, when they were run aground

defend it. The neglect of Benjamin was so notorious, that the Committee held him responsible. The public indignation was intense, and yet, in the face of all this, Davis, assuming the attitude of a Dictator, as he really was, with his usual haughty disregard of the opinions of others and the wishes of the people, promoted Benjamin to the position of "Secretary of State." The insult was keenly felt, but the despotism of the conspirators was too powerful to allow much complaint from the outraged people.

In his report to General Huger, Wise said Roanoke Island was the key to all the defenses of Norfolk. It unlocked two sounds-Albemarle and Currituck; eight rivers-the North, West, Pasquotank, Perquimmons, Little, Chowan, Roanoke, and Alligator; four canals-the Albemarle and Chesapeake, Dismal Swamp, Northwest, and Suffolk; two railways-the Petersburg and Norfolk, and Seaboard and Roanoke. At the same time it guarded four-fifths of the supplies for Norfolk. Its fall, Wise said, gave lodgment to the Nationals in a safe harbor from storms, and a command of the seaboard from Oregon Inlet to Cape Henry, at the entrance of Chesapeake Bay. "It should have been defended," he said, "at the expense of twenty thousand men, and many millions of dollars."

1 The entire National loss in the capture of Roanoke was about 50 killed and 222 wounded. That of the Confederates, according to Pollard (i, 231), was 28 killed, 58 wounded, and 62 missing. Colonel Monteuil was the commander of a regiment of New York Volunteers, known as the D'Epineuil Zouaves, These had accompanied the expedition as far as Hatteras, when, for the want of transportation, they were sent back to Fortress Monroe. Their Lieutenant-Colonel remained with the army, and in the battle he served as a volunteer. With a Sharp's rifle he fought gallantly in the ranks of Hawkins's Zouaves, was shot through the head while urging these forward in the notable charge, with the words "Charge, mes enfans! Charge, Zouaves!" In honor of this brave and devoted soldier, General Burnside named one of the captured batteries Fort de Monteuil.

2 On the 18th of February, Wise issued a characteristic "Special Order No. 1," from "Canal Bridge, Currituck County, N. C.," informing the public that the flag of Captain O. Jennings Wise would be raised for true men to rally around,

3 New names were given to the forts. Fort Bartow was changed to Fort Foster; Fort Huger to Fort Reno; and Fort Blanchard to Fort Parke.

MEDALS OF HONOR BESTOWED.

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and set on fire. Then the Confederates fled, and Lynch, retiring to the interior of North Carolina, was not heard of again during the war until he reappeared at Smithville, when Fort Fisher was captured, early in 1865.

Shortly after the flight of the Confederates, Acting Master's-Mate J. H. Raymond planted the National flag on the shore battery, and thus proclaimed the first conquest achieved by the Nationals on the main of North Carolina. The battle had lasted only forty minutes, and Rowan's loss was only two killed and five or six wounded.' The number lost by the Confederates was

1 An extraordinary example of heroism was exhibited during this engagement by John Davis, a Finlander, who was a gunner's mate on board the Valley City. A shell entered that vessel, and, exploding in the magazine, set fire to some wood-work. Davis was there, and, seeing the imminent danger to the vessel and all on board, because of an open barrel of gunpowder from which he had been serving, he seated himself upon it. and so remained until the flames were extinguished. For this brave act the Secretary of the Navy rewarded him with the appointment of acting-gunner in the navy (March 11, 1862), by which his salary was raised from $300 to $1,000 a year. Admiring citizens of New York raised and presented to him $1,100. The Secretary of the Navy, by authority of an act of Congress, approved Dec. 21. 1861, presented him with a Medal of Honor, on which are inscribed the following words: "PERSONAL VALOR-JOHN DAVIS, GUNNER'S MATE, U. S. S. VALLEY CITY, Albemarle Sound, February 10th, 1862." Such medals were afterward presented to a considerable number of gallant men in subordinate stations, for acts of special bravery "before the enemy." Davis was the first recipient.

The act of Congress authorized the Secretary to cause two hundred of these Medals of Honor to be prepared, and to be bestowed by him upon "such petty officers, others of inferior rating. and marines, as should most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other commendable qualities during the present war." These were made of bronze, in the form of a star of five rays, with a device emblematic of Union crushing the monster Rebellion, around which is a circle-of thirty-three smaller stars, representing the thirty-three States then (1861) composing the Union. The medal is suspended from the flukes of an anchor, which in turn is attached to a buckle and ribbon. The Secretary directed that the medal should be worn suspended from the left breast, by a ribbon all blue at top for half an inch downward, and thirteen vertical stripes, alternate red and white for eight-tenths of an inch. The name of the recipient to be engraved on the back, with his rating, the name of the vessel in which he was serving, and the place where, and the date when, his meritorious act was performed. The picture here given of the medal-an American "Legion of Honor "-is the exact size of the original. For fuller particulars concerning the MEDAL OF HONOR, see Regulations for the Government of the United States Navy, 1865, page 140.

The following is a list of the names (320 in number) of those to whom medals were awarded: James McCloud, Louis Richards, Thomas Flood, James Buck, Oscar E. Peck, Thomas Gehegan, Edward Farrel, Peter Williams, Benjamin Sevearer, John Davis, Charles Kenyon, Jeremiah Regan, Alexander Hood, John Kelley, Daniel Lakin, John Williams, John Breese, Alfred Patterson, Thomas C. Barton, Edwin Smith, Daniel Harrington, John Williams, J. B. Frisbee, Thomas Bourne, William McKnight, William Martin, John Greene, John McGowan, Amos Bradley, George Hollat, Charles Florence, William Young, William Parker, Edward Wright, Charles Bradley, Timothy Sullivan, James Byrnes, John McDonald, Charles Robinson, Pierre Leno, Peter Colton, Charles W. Morton, William Martin, Robert Williams, George Bell, William Thompson, John Williams, Matthew Arthur, John Mackie, Matthew McClelland, Joseph E. Vantine, John Rush, John Hickman, Robert Anderson, Peter Howard, Andrew Brinn, P. R. Vaughn, Samuel Woods, Henry Thielberg, Robert B. Wood, Robert Jordan, Thomas W. Hamilton, Frank Bois, Thomas Jenkins, Martin McHugh, Thomas E. Corcoran, Henry Dow, John Woon, Christ. Brennen, Edward Ringgold, James K. L. Dun

NAVAL MEDAL OF HONOR