hundred on the fleet, comprised our loss in the engagement of men and officers. By some mismanagement, the magazine of the fort exploded, killing three hundred of the garrison.

The capture of Fort Fisher was a splendid achievement, and its importance as a strategic point of operations could hardly be over-estimated. During a period of nearly two years, the trade carried on from Wilmington with foreign ports, despite the blockade, amounted in the aggregate to sixty-six millions of dollars,—an item which contributed largely to the resources of the Confederates. In the desperate assault which, after long continued fighting, conquered the works of Fort Fisher, the colored troops distinguished themselves by their unflinching bravery. Thus, another stronghold of Rebellion tottered to its fall, and the port of Wilmington was once more in possession of the Federal Government.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

OLUSTEE.

Expedition to Florida.-Sailing of the Fleet.-John Hay.-Lincoln's Letter.-Objects of the Expedition.-The Camp at Jacksonville.Seymonr's Sudden Move.-Attempt to Checkmate the Enemy at Olustee. Hemmed in by Swamps.-The Fatal Surprise.-Overwhelmed by Superior Numbers.—Decimated Ranks.—The Battle Lost.-Seymour's Bravery.-Patten Anderson.-Who was to blame?

TOW

OWARDS the latter part of the year 1863, an expeWonto dition to the coast of Florida was determined upon by the Federal Government, for which purpose a portion of Gilmore's fleet in Charleston Harbor was assigned, and in January, 1864, the flotilla was under way. Twenty steamers and eight schooners, having on board a force of six thousand men under the immediate command of General Truman Seymour, sailed from Hilton head for Jacksonville, on the St. John's river.

President Lincoln, having good reason to suppose that Florida was ready to return to her allegiance to the Federal Government, sent his private secretary John Hay, commissioned as Major, with the expedition, bearing despatches to Gilmore with instructions to inaugurate measures looking towards a speedy restoration of Florida to the Union. In his letter, he said that "understanding that certain persons were endeavoring to construct a legal government in Florida and that Gilmore might possibly be there in person,

he had dispatched Mr. Hay, one of his private secretaries, to aid in the proposed construction. "It is desirable," he said, "for all to co-operate; but if irreconcilable differences of opinion shall arise, you are master. I wish the thing done in the most speedy way possible, so that when done it will be within the range of the late proclamation on the subject. The detail labor will of course have to be done by others, but I shall be greatly obliged if you will give it such general supervision as you can find consistent with your more strictly military duties." The other avowed objects of the expedition were to procure an outlet for cotton, lumber, timber, &c., second, to cut off the enemy's sources of commissary supplies, &c., and third, to obtain recruits for colored regiments.

The troops embarked on February sixth, and on the seventh reached Jacksonville, where they went into camp.

It was designed to make Jacksonville a base of supplies from whence to advance into the interior. Accordingly, on the night of the eighth, the Union cavalry under Colonel Guy V. Henry, pushed forward towards Baldwin, reaching that place at daybreak on the ninth. During the night they had passed a Confederate camp and captured a battery three miles in

its rear.

At Baldwin, one hundred prisoners, eight pieces of artillery and other valuable property fell into our hands. Gilmore, after going to Baldwin and superintending the preliminaries of this movement, returned to Jacksonville and Hilton Head, leaving Seymour in charge of the expedition. Meantime, Colonel Henry pushed

on to Sanderson, a point forty miles distant, seizing and destroying considerable property at that place. Near Lake City the enemy was discovered to be in too great force to hazard an attack by the command of Colonel Henry, and consequently our cavalry “fell back five miles, bivouacked in a drenching rain-storm and telegraphed to Seymour for orders and food." A report that the enemy, under General Finnegan, had fallen back from Lake City that night, probably induced Seymour to make the sudden move which resulted so disastrously to our arms at Olustee. On the fifteenth, Gilmore was startled on receiving a letter from Seymour saying that he proposed to make an advance to the Suwanee river-Lake City being the objective point. Gilmore at once dispatched General Turner to Jacksonville with orders countermanding this mad attempt: but when Turner reached his destination, the Olustee blunder was already being enacted. Seymour had marched his force of five thousand men out of Jacksonville on the eighteenth, and the next day he reached Barber's Station, on the Florida Central Railroad, about thirty miles from his point of starting. Receiv ing information at this place which led him to believe that he would be able to defeat the enemy's plans and that great strategic advantages could be secured by a rapid advance to Lake City, he resumed his advance on the morning of the twentieth. His troops passed through Sanderson without halting and pushed forward towards Olustee, nine miles beyond, believing the enemy to be at that station. But upon arriving within three miles of Olustee, the head of the Union column unexpectedly stumbled into the trap set for them, just

as the enemy anticipated. It was two o'clock in the afternoon, and our men, after a march of sixteen miles over difficult roads, were faint with hunger and fatigue. At the point of attack a long cypress swamp confronted them, through which the railroad passed, "while the wagon road, making a square turn to the right crossed the railroad in order to avoid and flank the swamp." The troops of the enemy, commanded by General Finnigan, were so disposed under cover of this swamp and the neighboring pine forest, that our men stumbled into the ambuscade before they were aware of its existence. The attack was sudden and furious, and our infantry, hastily forming in line of battle, returned the enemy's fire at great disadvantage. The Seventh Connecticut Infantry under Colonel J. R. Hawley, and the Fortieth Massachusetts under Col. Henry had the advance and received the first fire of the concealed foe. We had sixteen pieces of artillery, but its position was in such close proximity to the woods within which the Confederates were concealed, that their sharpshooters, with unerring aim, made targets of our gunners and horses with terrible results. In twenty minutes after the action began, Hamilton's battery had lost forty out of fifty horses, and forty-five out of eighty-two men. The Seventh New Hampshire was ordered up in support, but was soon demoralized. The Eighth United States colored regiment was then advanced, and for an hour and a half they bravely held their position, though at a loss of three hundred and fifty of its men. At this juncture " Colonel Barton led his brigade consisting of the Forty-eighth, Forty-ninth, and One-hundred-and-fifteenth New York