CHAPTER XIII.

ROANOKE AND NEWBERN.

FLEET OF COM. GOLDSBOROUGH AND ARMY OF GEN. BURNSIDE.-SAILING FROM HAMPTON ROADS.-STORM AT HATTERAS. PERILS OF THE CREW OF THE NEW YORK.-EFFECTS OF THE STORM.-A STRIKE FOR FREEDOM.-POSITION AND DEFENSES OF ROANOKE.-RECONNOISSANCE.CONTEST COMMENCED BY THE FLEET. DISEMBARKATION OF TROOPS. — MARCH UP THE ISLAND.-CHARGE OF THE ZOUAVES.-VIGOR OF GENERALS RENO AND FOSTER.—ROANOKE SURRENDERS.-INCIDENTS.-O. JENNINGS WISE.-ELIZABETH CITY.-EDENTON.-PLYMOUTH.CHARGES UPON BATTERIES NEAR NEWBERN.-ARRIVAL AT NEWBERN.-ANECDOTE.

On the 11th of January, 1862, a strange and heterogeneous assemblage of vessels filled Hampton Roads. Gen. Burnside had been ordered to fit out an expedition to proceed against a certain point on the Southern coast-but where that point was it was reserved for time and events to announce. Accordingly, by dint of unwearied exertion, Gen. Burnside had collected this mass of one hundred and twenty-five water-craft. Utterly regardless of the appearance of his fleet, and with a single eye to utility, he drew upon all the resources of the steam merchant service from the Kennebec to the Chesapeake.*

There were ferry-boats changed into gun-boats; old lake-boats into transports; and not a few river boats appeared, with extemporized portholes, through which frowned a cannon's mouth. One queer craft, from the Kennebec, was particularly noticeable, and was the subject of many jokes from the seamen. This boat, the "Union," was a stern-wheeled vessel, floating very light upon the water, and apparently suffering from old age and ill usage. This "wheelbarrow" made the trip, from the Ken

* Ambrose Everett Burnside, of Scottish ancestry, was born at Liberty, Indiana, May, 1824. At eighteen years of age he entered West Point, and graduated, with distinction, in the Artillery, in 1847. He immediately entered upon the Mexican campaign, as 2d lieutenant. He was placed in such a position, guarding the trains, that he had no opportunity to signalize himself here. He was afterwards engaged on the frontier in the wild adventures of Indian warfare. Subsequently he commenced a manufactory of fire-arms at Bristol, R. I. At length he became Treasurer of the Illinois Central Railroad, and took up his residence in New York. He was in this situation at the opening of the rebellion, when Gov. Sprague, knowing well his merits, invited him to take command of a regiment. In half an hour after receiving the dispatch he was on his way to Rhode Island, and four days after passed through New York at the head of the Rhode Island Volunteers, for the defense of Washington. He was at the battle of Bull Run, where he displayed extraordinary energy, courage and military ability, acting as Brigadier-General in Hunter's division. He is an intimate acquaintance and very warm friend of Gen. McClellan. It has been said of him, "He is, in personal appearance, one of the finest looking men to be seen in the service. His countenance is an exponent of his character. Frank, brave, guileless and open-hearted, he is distinguished for every manly quality and every soldierly characteristic."

nebec to the Capes, a regular sea voyage, in remarkably quick time, and her after career was worthy of her name.

The land forces, under the command of Gen. Burnside, amounted to sixteen thousand men, with an ample supply of field-pieces and batteries, and all the materiel of war. The troops were divided into three brigades, under the command of Generals Foster, Reno and Parke, all experienced and able officers of the regular army.*

sea,

Com. Louis M. Goldsborough, a veteran of fifty years' service in the United States Navy, was appointed to the command of the fleet, to coöperate with Gen. Burnside. The Commodore had spent eighteen years at in command of different vessels, and his skill as a seaman, and his marked ability, as an officer, rendered him the fittest person to aid in this great naval enterprise. About six o'clock in the evening of a bright, mild winter's day, unusual activity was observed in the fleet, and tug-boats were flying rapidly in all directions, conveying orders to every vessel to get up its steam, and to be ready to obey the signal at midnight to put to sea. There were many last things to be done, and many loiterers to be hunted up, but with untiring energy all hands were employed, some taking in water, some receiving fresh supplies of food, some making their frail transports more secure to meet the storms of ocean. Just at midnight signal lights gleamed in the sky, thrown up from the Flag-ship; and almost instantly every paddle-wheel was revolving, and the whole majestic squadron was in motion.

The wind was fair, the sky cloudless, and a brilliant moon looked down upon the animating scene. That there was hard work to be done, every man knew; but when and where they were to be led to battle, was a question which but three or four of the highest officers on board the fleet could answer-and they were silent. At noon, the next day, the fleet was entirely out of sight of land, steaming rapidly down the Southern coast. The next day a dense fog enveloped them, and the fleet became somewhat scattered, but still they all pressed on, in the same general direction. At three o'clock in the afternoon of January 12, the leading ships caught sight of the Capes of Hatteras, where the national flag was floating, and it soon became evident that the squadron was to enter the inlet, and operate somewhere on the coast of North Carolina, through Pamlico and Albemarle sounds. Before the sun of that beautiful day went down, seventyfive vessels, constituting a magnificent panorama, were collected off Hatteras. Thousands of men were clustered like bees upon the decks and the rigging, gazing upon the gorgeous sunset, the long line of the shore, and the billows rolling in from the wide Atlantic, which, with thunder roar, threw the spray mast-head high, as they dashed upon breakers and beach.

* J. G. Parke was born in Pennsylvania in 1827. He graduated at West Point in 1849, the second in his class, as brevet second lieutenant in the Topographical Engineers. Engaged in professional duties he crossed the Continent three times to the Pacific, surveying routes for the contemplated railroad. He was also employed as Engineer Secretary to the Light-House Board, and Secretary to the Board of River and Harbor Improvements. After subsequently serving in New Mexico and California, he was appointed Chief Astronomer and Surveyor on the North-west Boundary Commission. The rebellion found him thus actively engaged in the service of his country. He espoused the National cause with all his heart, and became one of our efficient officers.

By the next morning, the 13th, most of the fleet had arrived, and they were all signaled to enter the inlet. For some time the indications of one of those terrific storms for which Cape Hatteras has a world-wide renown, had been anxiously watched. Clouds were gathering; the sea growing black, and billows of ever-increasing grandeur were chasing each other with their foaming crests-the war plumes of these battalions of the seas. The water on the bar of the inlet is very shallow, and the sands on the bottom are ever shifting by the action of winds and currents. Thus where twelve feet of water are found to-day but ten may be found to-morrow. To cross this bar safely, with such a fleet, was a very difficult and dangerous operation, even in the most propitious weather. But now three hundred vessels, many of them exceedingly frail, and all crowded with soldiers, were tossing on the swelling seas; and a tempest was manifestly gathering its energies to smite them. The Picket, carrying Gen. Burnside, entered the inlet first, and passed through in safety. The Cossack followed, and immediately after, several others pursuing the same path, were within the sound. The transport ship New York now made the attempt. She struck the bar. A mighty billow came, lifted her up like a cork, plunged her forward a few feet, and burying her keel into the sand, left her as immovable as a rock. The transport was loaded with horses. The waves made a clean sweep over her, and the horses all perished, some drowned as they stood, and large numbers hurled into the sea and tossed while living and dead at the sport of the waves. The first mate and a part of the crew infamously took the long-boat and escaped, leaving their comrades to their fate.

It was a cold, wintry day. The breakers, as they struck the ship, resistlessly swept the deck. The seamen lashed themselves to the rigging, and there they remained, without food, without sleep, drenched to the skin, for forty hours, until the storm abated. No help could reach them. Every endeavor was made to send them aid,-two heroic men, Col. Allen and Dr. Wellar, perishing in the attempt, but all in vain. At length, after the storm had nearly exhausted itself, a steam-tug succeeded in reaching the wreck, and the sufferers, half dead, were rescued. The second engineer was the last to leave the ship. He remained lashed to the mast until every other man had left. Then climbing to the top-mast, he cut down the flag, and winding it around his body, bore it in triumph away. "I was determined," said he, "either to die beneath the folds of the Stars and Stripes, or to bear them safely to the land."

The gale continued with almost unabated fury until Monday morning. About seventy of the vessels succeeded in getting within the inlet. All the rest were outside, seeking safety as they best might, in riding out the storm. The fierceness of the gale was such, that the vessels within the inlet were very much exposed. They were huddled together in a space suitable for not more than twenty. Dashed against each other by the waves, none escaped injury, and some were almost fatally shattered. The Zouave also grounded upon the bar, and was a total loss, with all her valuable cargo. The wrecks of two schooners were also added to the disfigurement of the involved and narrow channel. Thus the first few days