and 600 on the second, and had two under Colonel Frankle, proceeded on guns burst and four disabled. Notwith- the 9th of December to Gardner's standing the terrific character of the Bridge, on the Roanoke, beyond Jamesbombardment, during which, according town. The Ninth New Jersey easily to rebel statements, over twenty thou- carried the bridge, and at Spring Green sand shot or shell were fired from the Church the same regiment and the fifty vessels of Admiral Porter, Fort Twenty-seventh Massachusetts again fell Fisher remained substantially uninjured; upon the enemy, inflicting considerable and such was the perfection of its bomb- loss and capturing five officers and thirty proofs, and the alacrity with which the men. On the 19th, Colonel Frankle troops of the garrison availed themselves moved on to Rainbow Bluff, on the of the shelter they afforded, that only Roanoke, where the enemy being found three men were killed and fifty-five in force, and the gun-boats whose aid wounded. had been depended on not being able to ascend the river on account of torpedoes, he returned to Plymouth. A small co-operative expedition sent by General Palmer from Plymouth, CHAPTER LI. Second Expedition against Fort Fisher.-General Terry selected to command the Land Forces.-The Landing.-Precautionary Measures.-Tremendous Bombardment.-The Assault.-Storming Column of Sailors and Marines repulsed. The Works carried by General Ames' Division and Colonel Abbott's Brigade.-Losses.-Captures.-Fort Fisher stronger than the Malakoff Tower.-Other Forts blown up and abandoned by the Rebels.-Arrival of General Schofield.-Advance up the Peninsula.-Movement of General Cox along the West Side of Cape Fear River.Evacuation of Fort Anderson.- General Advance toward Wilmington.-Gun-boats hindered by Torpedoes and Obstructions.-Occupation of Wilmington by the Federal Forces. 1865. THE fleet of Admiral Porter remained | fort could be taken, and General Grant off Fort Fisher for several days immediately engaged to send a force to after the return of the land forces renew the attempt. General Terry was to Fortress Monroe, but finally, as noth- selected to command the land forces of ing more could be done toward the the second expedition, which consisted reduction of the fort without the aid of of the two divisions formerly employed, a land force, returned to Beaufort. In with the addition of a brigade of fifteen the mean time the Secretary of the Navy hundred men under Colonel Abbott, and Admiral Porter wrote to General and a siege train of twenty thirtyGrant, expressing the conviction, which pounder and four hundred-pounder Parwas held also by almost the entire rott guns, and twenty Coehorn mortars, public, that under a proper leader the with a detail of artillerists and a com pany of engineers. The entire force days' supply of hard bread in bulk, three numbered a little over eight thousand hundred thousand rounds of small-arm ammunition, and an adequate number men. On the morning of the 6th of January of intrenching implements, had been Jan. the transports with the troops sailed safely landed. The weather had now 6. from Fortress Monroe for Beaufort, become pleasant, but the surf on the to join Admiral Porter's fleet, but a beach was still very high, in consequence severe storm arising on that day, did of which some of the troops had their not arrive off Beaufort till the 8th, some ammunition and rations wet and spoiled. of the vessels damaged by the gale, Nothing else of an untoward nature others requiring repairs to their engines occurred in the disembarkation. or in need of coal or water. The adverse weather continued till the 11th, but on the morning of the 12th the entire fleet of war vessels and transports sailed for Federal Point, arriving there about dark. It was decided not to attempt the disembarkation of troops till the following morning, when, at four o'clock, the inshore division of war vessels standing in close to the beach to cover the landing, the transports followed, and took positions as nearly as possible in a line parallel to and about two hundred yards outside of them. The iron-clads moved down to within range of Fort Fisher and opened fire upon it, while another division of vessels was stationed to the north of the landing place, to protect the troops from any attack in the direction of Masonboro Inlet. The landing commenced about eight o'clock, about five miles north of Fort Fisher, nearly two hundred boats besides steam-tugs being sent from the vessels of war to the transports to assist in the operations. This went on so rapidly that by three in the afternoon nearly eight thousand men with three days' cooked rations and forty rounds of ammunition, besides six Pickets thrown out as soon as the landing commenced, encountered those of the enemy, and exchanged shots with them, but no serious engagement followed. A few prisoners were taken, and from these it was ascertained that the enemy's force under General Hoke, which it was supposed had been sent southward, was still in the vicinity, and that the outposts met were those of his command. It became therefore the first object of General Terry to establish a strong defensive line across the peninsula from the ocean to Cape Fear River, to protect the troops destined to assault the forts from attack in the rear. General Paine's division was pushed across to the river for this purpose, and a line was taken up; but some disadvantages connected with it determined General Terry to establish another on ground better adapted to his purposes, about two miles from the enemy's works. The troops were therefore withdrawn from the first line, and reached their new position about two o'clock on the Jan. morning of the 14th. Intrenching 14. tools were immediately brought up, and by eight o'clock a good breast-work extending across the peninsula from the ocean to the river was thrown up, partially covered by abattis. This defensive line was subsequently much improved and strengthened. In the course of the day, a number of men being killed or wounded by the fire of the rebel gun-boat Chickamauga in the river, a battery of two thirty-pounder Parrotts was constructed on the bank to keep her off. All the light guns also were got on shore and placed in line near the river, where the enemy in case they should attack would be less exposed to the fire of the Federal gun-boats. The brigade of General Curtis had been moved down toward Fort Fisher in the morning, and at noon his skirmishers, after capturing a small steamer carrying shells and forage to the fort, reached a small unfinished out-work in front of the west end of the main work. General Terry then, in company with Colonel Comstock, the chief engineer of the expedition, and General Curtis, getting within six hundred yards of the fort, under protection of the fire of the fleet, made a careful reconnoissance of the works. It was decided, as extreme difficulty would be experienced in landing heavy ammunition and the siege train through the surf on the open beach, that an attempt should be made on the following day to carry the enemy's defences by assault, provided that the fire from the fleet could be so directed as to destroy the palisades, which stretched across the the peninsula at a distance of fifty feet from the fort. Admiral Porter stationed a division of his vessels in a position from which this might be effected, and in a consultation with him it was arranged that a heavy bombardınent from all the ships should be commenced early on the morning of the 15th, and be continued till three in the afternoon, the time fixed upon for the assault; and that the fire should not then be discontinued, but only diverted from the immediate points of attack, so that the storming parties might not be injured by it. It was arranged, also, that a column of sailors and marines should assault the northeast bastion, while the land force directed their efforts against the western half of the land front. In the mean time the fort had undergone a bombardment of the most tremendous character. On the 13th, the iron-clads alone-the New Ironsides, Saugus, Mahopac, Monadnock, and Canonicus, carrying in all thirty guns, of which the New Ironsides had twentyfired in the course of the day upward of two thousand shells, or about four per minute. They were directed to pour all their fire into Fort Fisher, with the object of dismounting or disabling its guns. This they in a great measure accomplished, and quite silenced them, after the rebels had fired about three hundred shells, while the iron-clads themselves received no important damage. When the landing of the troops had been safely effected, the remainder of the ships got into position to take part in the bombardment, which was continued from four in the afternoon until some time after dark. The wooden vessels were then ordered to haul out and anchor, the New Ironsides and the monitors being directed to keep up their fire through the night, though the enemy had long suspended theirs and retired to their bomb-proofs. On the morning of the 14th, all the small gunboats carrying eleven-inch guns were ordered to direct their fire on the face of the work on which the assault was to be made. This fire was kept up till dark and continued more slowly through the night. Only one or two guns were fired during the day by the rebels, and these from the upper batteries. On the Jan. morning of the 15th, at nine o'clock, 15. the vessels of the fleet were again signalled to move to the attack, and about eleven o'clock each as it got into position opened fire on the works, which was continued furiously all day. The guns of the upper batteries opened in reply with some effect, but no vessel was injured to such an extent as to interfere with her with her efficiency. The Mound Hill battery also kept up a galling fire for some time, but was finally silenced. Under cover of the ships' fire, sixteen hundred sailors, armed with well-sharpened cutlasses and revolvers and four hundred marines to act as sharpshooters, under command of Fleet-Captain Breese, had been landed on the beach, and by digging rifle-pits worked their way up to within two hundred yards of the northeast bastion, where they lay securely awaiting the signal for the assault. The division of General Paine, strengthened by Abbott's brigade, was kept in the line of intrenchments across the peninsula, to withstand any attack on the part of Hoke's troops, five thousand strong, now demonstrating from the direction of Wilmington. That of General Ames was selected for the assault, of which Curtis' brigade was already at the out-work before mentioned, well intrenched, and the brigades of Colonels Pennypacker and Bell were sent about noon to within supporting distance of it. At two o'clock, preparations for the assault were commenced by sending a hundred sharpshooters, mostly armed with Spencer's repeating carbine, to within 175 yards of the works, where, being provided with shovels, they quickly dug pits for shelter, and began firing on the parapet of the fort, which the enemy, who had received considerable reinforcements during the day, immediately manned, opening a fire of both musketry and artillery. When the sharpshooters were in position, the brigade of General Curtis was moved for ward at the double-quick to within five hundred yards of the works, where the men, making shallow trenches for protection against the enemy's fire, lay down. Pennypacker's men were then moved up to the position at the outwork just vacated by Curtis, and Bell's troops were placed in line two hundred yards in their rear. Curtis' men were then moved forward again, a regiment at a time, to the cover of a rising ground sixty yards in the rear of the sharpshooters, where they again dug trenches. Pennypacker then moved to the position. left by Curtis, and Bell up to the out |