immediately upon hearing that it was threatened. On the 30th of March, General Hill demanded a surrender, which, however, was refused. The enemy having established powerful batteries on the river, were able to command the approaches by water as well as by land. The attempts made by the Union gun-boats to silence these batteries had failed. Thus completely invested and cut off from all communication, there seemed for a time no great hope for the little* garrison of Washington, which was only prevented from surrendering immediately by the occasional relief brought by some bold volunteer. On the night of the 3d of April, Captain McDermot, of the Ceres, volunteered to run the batteries with his vessel, to carry a load of ammunition. The Ceres started from the fleet just after dark; but as the rebels had removed the buoys and stakes which marked the channel, the captain had to feel his way; and as he proceeded, he took the precaution to re-stake out the channel, so that any boats which might follow would have no trouble. He reached the blockade about daylight, having been under fire from the guns of the battery all night. The next morning, at six o'clock, he passed the obstructions and made his way safely to Washington, passing the enemy's three works on the south shore, though his course lay within 300 yards of the lower, and less than 200 yards of the upper batteries. The Ceres was hit • The garrison at Washington numbered about 1,200 men. several times during the trip, but was not materially damaged." An expedition, under General Spinola, which set out from Newbern on the 8th of April, to relieve Washington, returned without effecting its purpose. The men of the Fifth Rhode Island Regiment were so dissatisfied with this failure, that they determined to make another and more resolute effort. Immediately on the return of Spinola's expedition, "some of the officers," wrote a correspondent,* "of the gallant Fifth Rhode Island Regiment (this regiment was one of the fourteen under Spinola) waited upon General Palmer, and stated that that body of veterans had, en masse, requested permission to either run past the batteries upon the river below Washington, or land and capture them bodily. It is unnecessary to state that the offer was accepted, and the staunch transport Escort, Captain Wall, was brought up to the dock to receive them. They came on board at midnight, so noiselessly that not a dozen people knew of it until late the next day, when they had arrived in the vicinity of operations. So completely exhausted were the men with their four days' hard marching and fighting, that when they found themselves on board the steamer, they sank down to rest and sleep upon the bare decks only as tired warriors can rest under the dew-sprinkling canopy of heaven. run of seventeen hours brought them to the fleet of gun-boats five miles below the battery at Hill's Point. General Palmer was with them, as were also N. Y. Herald. A Lieutenant-Colonel Hoffman, acting planted light field batteries along the south bank of the river, near which the channel runs, from which they kept up a continuous firing of volley after volley of musketry and roar upon roar of artillery, until the craft was lost in the distance. For six miles she ran the fiery gauntlet, a part of the time being within 300 yards of a shore which swarmed with gray-backed riflemen and butternut-colored artillerists, whose every word of command and shout of defiance could be distinctly heard by those on board. When she arrived opposite the battery on Rodman's Farm, the guns which had so nearly demolished the gun-boat Commodore Hull, belched forth their hostile welcome, and for twenty minutes the thunder from the rebel guns was continued like one prolonged peal of Jove's own artillery. The night was as calm and still as ever night was-not a breath of air, except the gushing bursts set in motion by the rebel guns and the steamer's own advance, stirred the smoke, as it fell like a pall upon the water, and rendered the darkness doubly sombre. Guided only by the firing upon the shore, the brave pilot headed her on until the last discharges of cannon and musketry were heard far astern, and he knew he was close upon Washington. Then he espied the low, black hull of one of our gunboats, and heard the watch-bell upon the deck tolling out the hour of the night; then he saw the dim lights in the back windows of the houses in town, and heard the half-suppressed voices of our men on shore, and he doubly "About ten o'clock on Monday night (April 13th), the gun-boats, which had taken position just below the Hill's Point battery, opened a brisk fire upon the rebel works, but were unable to elicit any reply. During the cannonade, the Escort, loaded with supplies and troops, steamed up past the gun-boats, and before the rebels could realize the fact, was abreast of the battery and entering the gap of the blockade, which had been buoyed out by Captain McDermot, of the Ceres, through which she passed in safety. The Hill's Point battery did not molest her in passing, owing to the fact that the gun-boats kept up such an incessant and well-directed fire upon the fort as to make it impossible for the rebels to get their guns into position. But after the steamer had passed the blockade, her trip was a decidedly exciting one. The rebels had posted sharpshooters on rafts in the river and in the bushes on the shore, and they also had realized that the immediate danger was passed directly through the berth which over." had just been vacated by General Foster, and another struck one of the connecting rods above the cylinder cross-head, indenting and bending it so as to render it almost useless." On the 15th of April, the Escort returned from Washington, with General Foster on board, who proceeded to Newbern, in order to bring up a force to the relief of the besieged garrison. The Escort, in coming back, met with even harder treatment than in going. "No less than eighteen solid shot and shells struck and passed through the steamer, completely riddling her upper works, and partially disabling her machinery, while the bullets of the enemy's sharp-shooters perforated her joiner work like a sieve. When opposite the lower battery, on Rodman's Farm, the pilot, Mr. Pederick, was killed at his post by one of the rebel sharp-shooters. Immediately upon the fall of Pederick, Captain Wall sent for a negro who knew the channel, and compelled him to point out the course of the steamer past the blockade, while one of the New York pilots of the boat handled the wheel. The boat went on down the stream at a rapid rate, and, though experiencing probably the hottest fire to which ever a transport boat was subjected, reached and passed the lower fort and blockade without further loss of life. Before General Foster could set the troops at Newbern in motion for the relief of Washington, the enemy had raised the siege and retreated. A reconnoitring force, under General Palmer, followed them as they retired, April and overtaking them within eight 28. miles of Kinston, drove them from the cover of their intrenchments, and took possession of the works. The enemy having, after raising the siege of Washington, fled into the interior of North Carolina, showed but little activity for some time, but on the 15th of May, a guerrilla party which infested that quarter, captured a couple of Union dispatch boats, the Arrow and Emily, on the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. On the 21st of May, an expedition, commanded by Colonel Jones, set out to surprise the enemy in their intrenched camp at Green Swamp. Colonel Jones, after an arduous march through swamp and jungle, came upon them, but they did not wait to give him fight, having fled precipitately on discovering his approach. As Colonel Jones was returning with his captures, he was attacked by the enemy in force, and though great damage was done to his assailants, he lost his own life. General Foster reported the captures to be. "One hundred and sixty-five prisoners, twenty-eight horses, three ambulances, and two baggage wagons (teams), one twelve-pounder howitzer, with limber, eighty muskets and equipments; 11,000 rounds of ammunition.” The loss of the Unionists was estimated at: "Two killed, five wounded, and one missing." General Foster, continuing to send out his expeditions, reported on the 7th of July, that the cavalry dispatched from Newbern, "July 3, under Colonel Lewis, of the Third New York Cavalry, have safely returned, having successfully accomplished their mission, and without loss. "They destroyed (twisting rails, etc., by General Haupt's plan) two miles of the railroad at Warsaw; also destroyed for five miles more all the culverts as well as the telegraph. At Keenansville an armory was destroyed. Large quantities of small-arms and quantities of commissary and quartermaster's stores were burned. About 150 animals and some thirty prisoners were captured by them, and some 100 men and about 300 women and children, negroes, followed them in." General Heckman, who left Newbern at the head of an expedition on the 4th of July, destroyed the Wilcox bridge over the Trent River, in the village of Comfort, and dispersed with artillery a considerable force of the enemy. Again, another and more imposing expedition was sent out, of which General Foster, on the 24th of July, 1863, thus reported: "The cavalry raid, having for its object the destruction of the railroad bridge at Rocky Mount, has returned completely successful. The expedition consisted of the Third Regiment New York Cavalry, and a squadron of the Twelfth and of Mix's men (cavalry), and one company of North Carolina, and was under the command of BrigadierGeneral Edward E. Potter, chief of staff. The bridge over the Tar River at Rocky Mount, a station on the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, between Goldsboro' and Weldon, was completely destroyed. The bridge was 350 feet long, and the trestle-work 400 feet more. A cotton mill, filled; a flouring mill, containing 1,000 barrels of flour and large quantities of hard bread; a machine shop, containing shells, gunpowder, and every munition of war; a large dépôt, offices, etc.; an engine and a train of cars; a wagon train of twenty-five wagons, filled with stores and munitions; an armory and machine shop, with the machinery and materials, and 800 bales of cotton, were all destroyed. "At Tarboro' two steamboats and one large and fine iron-clad in process of construction, a saw-mill, a train of cars, 100 bales of cotton, and large quantities of subsistence and ordnance stores were destroyed. About 100 prisoners were taken, and some 300 animals (horses and mules). Some 300 contrabands followed the expedition into Newbern. "The force had constant fighting with the enemy, who made great endeavors to intercept their return; but in every case the enemy's position was either turned or they were compelled to retire. Our losses in killed, wounded, and missing will not exceed twenty-five men." General Foster's command was now enlarged, so as to include the peninsula between the York and James rivers, and the southeastern part of Virginia, formerly the department of General Dix.* He accordingly established his headquarters at Fortress Monroe. In spite of the secession of North Carolina, there still remained in that State a Union sentiment, which, though for a time dormant, seemed to be again awakened by the permanent establishment of the armed authority of the Federal Government. This revival of loyalty was supposed to be manifested by the election of Colonel Vance to the Governorship of the State, as he was esteemed to be a more moderate secessionist than his unsuccessful antagonist. The resolute opposition, moreover, of many of the citizens of North Carolina, to some of the arbitrary acts of the Confederate Government, seemed to indicate an impatience of its authority and a disposition to return to the Union. The Raleigh Standard became remarkable for its antagonism to the administration of Jefferson Davis, and boldly published an article from a correspondent, in which the leaders of the Southern rebellion were declared not to have been justified in seceding, since they could have more successfully obtained repara • General Dix had been sent to New York during the riots which occurred in consequence of the draft. tion for their wrongs within than without the Union. The Standard persisted in denouncing the war as fatal to Southern interests, and demanding a convention of all the States to procure peace either by reconstruction of the Union. or by peaceable separation. These sentiments were acceptable, probably, to many moderate men in North Carolina, but were obnoxious to those of extreme opinions. The latter were, finally, so enraged by the conduct of the Standard, that they attacked its office. and forced it to suspend its publication. * The "symptoms of disaffection. toward the insurgent league" were zealously encouraged by the Federal authorities, and it was hoped that the people of North Carolina would voluntarily declare for a restoration of their State to the Union. It was asserted that a majority of the Legislature were in favor of reconstruction, and that overtures to the Union General even had been made to promote that object. The leading Unionists of North Carolina were reported to be willing to concede a gradual emancipation of the slaves, and other conditions that might be essential toward a settlement with the Federal Government. They, however, deemed it impolitic to act as long as a Confederate army held Virginia, or at least until a Union force occupied North Carolina sufficiently large to protect its people in the expression of their opinions. The publication of the Raleigh Standard was resumed on the 2d of October, 1863, and its editor renewed his opposition to the administration of Jefferson Davis. |