fallen aboard and around us, any one of which would have struck a frigate. We had more than a thousand shots discharged at us within range, and have ourselves fired upward of three hundred shots and shells, with seventeen hundred pounds of powder. What damage we have inflicted remains to be seen. That we have received none not easily repaired, is truly remarkable. The Anacosta and Reliance were not permitted to come under damaging fire, their support having been necessary to embolden those engaged, by giving them confidence that if disabled in the machinery, assistance was at hand to drag them out."

The enemy, however, notwithstanding this spirited attack, persisted in holding their position, and by increased fortifications rendered the batteries of Acquia Creek among the most formidable of their defensive works.

The naval force, under Commodore Stringham, which had now gathered in Hampton Roads, and was blockading the Chesapeake, continued to be active, but, however spiritedly managed, seemed to effect but little in its attempts upon the enemy's batteries. The Harriet Lane, commanded by Captain Faunce, June started out on a cruise up the 5. James River, to look out for batteries. Having discovered one at the mouth of the Nansemond, which joins the James at Hampton Roads, the Harriet Lane opened fire. Being within sight of Fortress Monroe, the soldiers thronged the ramparts to watch the scene. The cannonade of the steamer

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was briskly responded to by the enemy, who, with their guns of longer range and heavier metal, succeeded in effecting greater damage than they received. The Harriet Lane, after continuing the action for half an hour, in the course of which she was struck by several shot from a thirty-four-pound rifled cannon, hauled off and returned to her anchorage under the guns of the fort.

Reinforcements still continuing to pour into Fortress Monroe, the active Butler became eager for action. The outposts at Newport News and Hampton having been annoyed by a body of the enemy posted at Little Bethel, about eight miles distant from both encampments, General Butler resolved upon an attempt to surprise and capture it. He accordingly sent out an expedition for the purpose. This June was composed of two divisions- 9. the one made up of the New York regiment of Zouaves, commanded by Colonel Duryea, and the Albany (N. Y.) regiment under Colonel Townsend, supported by a detachment of United States artillery, with three cannon, led by Lieutenant Greble. The other division was composed of the New York Steuben Regiment, commanded by Colonel Bendix, and detachments of the First Vermont and Third Massachusetts, under Lieutenant-Colonel Washburn. The whole expedition was placed under the command of General Pierce, a militia brigadier-general of Massachusetts, whose military service had hitherto been restricted to the holiday parades of Boston Common or the village green. The

"I ordered," he wrote, in his official report, "General Pierce, who is in command of Camp Hamilton, at Hampton, to send Duryea's regiment of Zouaves June to be ferried over Hampton Creek 10. at one o'clock this morning, and to march by the road up to Newmarket Bridge, then crossing the bridge, to go by a by-road, and thus put the regiment in the rear of the enemy and between Big Bethel and Little Bethel, in part for the purpose of cutting him off, and then to make an attack upon Little Bethel. I directed General Pierce to support him (Colonel Duryea) from Hampton with Colonel Townsend's regiment, with two mounted howitzers, and to march about an hour later. At the same time I directed Colonel Phelps, commanding at Newport News, to send out a battalion, composed of such companies of the regiments under his command as he thought best, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Washburn, in time to make a demonstration upon Little Bethel in front, and to have him supported by Colonel Bendix's regiment, with two field-pieces."

From this not very perspicuous statement of General Butler, it may be inferred that Colonel Duryea's regiment from Hampton, and Lieutenant-Colonel Washburn's force from Newport News, were to move in advance, the former to the rear and the latter to the front of Little Bethel, while Colonel Townsend's regiment from Hampton, and Colonel Bendix's regiment from New

as a reserve.

The two latter were to form a junction at a fork of the road leading from Hampton to Newport News, the two points from which they were separately to march, about a mile and a half from Little Bethel. "I directed," continues Butler, in his official report, "the march to be so timed that the attack should be made just at daybreak, and that after the attack was made upon Little Bethel, Duryea's regiment and a regiment from Newport News should follow immediately upon the heels of the fugitives, if they were enabled to cut them off, and attack the battery on the road to Big Bethel, while covered by the fugitives; or if it was thought expedient by General Pierce, failing to surprise the camp at Little Bethel, they should attempt to take the work near Big Bethel."

This Big Bethel is some four miles farther from Fortress Monroe than Little Bethel, on the road from the town of Hampton to Yorktown, of revolutionary renown. Its exact locality, the character of the surrounding country, the force of the enemy, the strength of their fortifications, or even the fact of their existence, was a mystery probably not only to the General-in-chief, but to all his subordinate officers. It was, however, soon to be solved with a fatal result.

Colonel Duryea having formed his regiment of Zouaves, seven hundred and forty strong, and sent skirmishers forward in advance, began his march from

Every one was naturally anxious to free himself from the blame of what the General has termed an "almost criminal blunder." He in his own justification declared, that "to prevent the possibility of mistake in the darkness, I directed that no attack should be made until the watchword-Boston-should be shouted by the attacking regiment, and, in case that by any mistake in the march the regiments that were to make the junction should unexpectedly meet and be unknown to each other, also directed that the members of Colonel Townsend's regiment should be known, if in daylight, by something white worn on their arm.' The General seemed to impute the fault to Colonel Bendix's Germans, who, he declared, were the first to open fire. They, however, strenuously defended themselves, asserting that the mistake was mutual, and the attack on both sides simultaneous. The adjutant of the German regiment came to the rescue of its fame with the following declaration:

"Colonel Bendix had not received any order or intimation that our troops

should wear white badges around the arm for the purpose of mutual recognition, and if he had, he would not have been able to distinguish such badge at the distance and in the dusk of the morning. Colonel Bendix's command did not wear such badges. The uniform of the Albany regiment was very similar to the uniform of the secession troops. It is doubtful which side opened fire. Many of the Albany boys admit that they fired first, mistaking the Steuben regiment for enemies, probably for the reason that the latter wore no white badges.

"When Colonel Townsend's troops approached the junction over a slight ridge, they appeared to be a troop of cavalry, because General Pierce and staff, and Colonel Townsend and staff, in a body, rode in advance of their troops, and without any advance guard thrown out, as customary, to reconnoitre and protect the head of the column. If the latter precaution had been taken, the unfortunate mistake would not have happened. It was known that our side had no cavalry."