W. R. Vol. IX.,

p. 85. Report,

ting

ceeded in turning the position on the other side. A CHAP. XIV. simultaneous assault by Foster in front and Reno against the rebel right drove the enemy from their guns in precipitate confusion. It was a victory of persistent and stubborn energy rather than severe fighting. The total loss on the Union side was five officers and thirty-two men killed and ten officers and two hundred and four men wounded. The reported rebel loss was twenty-three killed and fifty-eight wounded.

InvestigaCommittee

of Confederate House

of Repre

sentatives.

W. R.

Vol. IX.,

p. 186.

Foster, Committee on Conduct of the War,

The battle at this point decided the fate of the island. The Union troops followed the retreating enemy to the northern end with such promptness and vigor that they had no time or opportunity for further resistance. The garrisons abandoned the forts and joined the flying column. Having no transports at hand in which to escape, and finding himself surrounded, Colonel Shaw, the rebel commander, sent a flag of truce to make a complete surrender. "The fruits of the day's fight," says Foster's report, "were the whole island of Roanoke Report to with its five forts, thirty-two guns, 3000 stands of arms, and 2700 prisoners." Ex-Governor Henry Nov. 2, 1865. A. Wise, of Virginia, upon whom, as district commander, the responsibility of this Confederate disaster fell most heavily at the time, made the following striking summary of the strategic importance of the capture of Roanoke Island. "It unlocked two sounds (Albemarle and Currituck), eight rivers (the North, West, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Little, Chowan, Roanoke, and Alligator), four canals (the Albemarle and Chesapeake, Dismal Swamp, Northwest, and Suffolk), and two railroads (the Petersburg and Norfolk, and the Seaboard and

CHAP. XIV. Roanoke). It guarded more than four-fifths of all Norfolk's supplies of corn, pork, and forage, and it cut the command of General Huger off from all of its most efficient transportation. It endangers the subsistence of his whole army, threatens the navy yard at Gosport, and to cut off Norfolk from Richmond, and both from railroad communication with the South. It lodges the enemy in a safe harbor Committee from the storms of Hatteras, gives them a rendezVous, and large, rich range of supplies, and the command of the seaboard from Oregon Inlet to Cape Henry."

Report, In

vestigating

of Confed

erate House

of Repre

sentatives. W. R. Vol. IX., p. 188.

However interesting might be the detailed narrative, it would require more pages than can be devoted to it to describe how the natural fruits of the capture of Roanoke Island were in part gathered by successive expeditions within the North Carolina sounds during the remainder of the year 1862. They can only be mentioned here in the briefest possible summary. The rebel fleet which retreated was followed by a detachment of Goldsborough's ships, under Commander Rowan, into Pasquotank River towards Elizabeth City, where, on February 10, he completely annihilated it, capGoldsbor- turing one steamer, burning and destroying five others, and occupying Elizabeth City and other and 20, 1862. points. Carrying out the original instructions, another expedition, naval and military, sailed from Roanoke Island against the town of New Berne on the Neuse River, one of the southern affluents Burnside, of Pamlico Sound, where a combined attack on

ough, Reports Feb. 14

Report,

March 16,

1862, W. R. the 14th of March effected a quick reduction of

Vol. IX.,

pp. 197-199. the very considerable defenses at that place. "The fruits of the victory at New Berne," reports General

Foster,

Committee

Report to on Conduct Nov. 2, 1865. Report, 1862. W. R.

of the War,

Stevenson,

March 23,

Vol. IX.,

p. 269.

Foster, "were the richest town in North Carolina, CHAP. XIV. one steamer, two hundred prisoners, forty-six heavy guns, eighteen field-pieces, several hundred stands of arms, the command of the railroad, the cutting off from supplies of the garrison of Fort Macon, with the prospective capture of that work, and the facilities of the railroad for our advance on Goldsboro"." A small expedition also went (March 20, 21) up the Pamlico River, where the town of Washington was occupied. More important than either of the foregoing was the expedition under command of Brigadier-General Parke against Fort Macon: guarding the harbor of Beaufort, North Carolina, and its successful investment, siege, and capture on the 26th of April-one of those brilliant engineering feats pp. 281-284. which throughout the war attested the high skill and accomplishments of the educated officers of the regular army. In addition to these principal events there occurred a score or more of small expeditions, reconnaissances, and skirmishes, which there is not room even to enumerate.

Of

It will thus be seen that the success of the parent expedition, led by Burnside against Roanoke Island, quickly resulted in a secondary group of local victories which gave the Union forces command of the entire interior coasts of North Carolina. the several designs mentioned in McClellan's original instructions as the objects of the Burnside expedition, all were accomplished save the single one of an advance from New Berne to Goldsboro' to seize one of the important Southern railroads. This had necessarily to await the preliminary work to which the army and navy next devoted them

Parke, Report, May 9, 1862. W. R. Vol. IX.,

CHAP. XIV. selves, and required also an increase of force to hold the captured places and guard communications. Before the needful reënforcements were accumulated the Goldsboro' expedition was unfortunately rendered impossible by an unexpected change in the tide of Union victories. Failure and disaster fell upon McClellan's army in Virginia to such a degree that Burnside, with all the troops he could bring with him, was recalled, early in July, from North Carolina to the James River. Nevertheless, the points already gained in Albemarle and Pamlico sounds were generally held, and through the remainder of the war their occupation contributed essentially, in various ways, to the further advance of the Union arms.

April 11, 1862.

Simultaneously with the successes in North Carolina, other important victories attended the military and naval operations along the Atlantic coast. The hold which had been gained at Port Royal, South Carolina, and the adjacent sea-islands was greatly extended and strengthened, notably in the siege and capture of Fort Pulaski, at the mouth of the Savannah River. Pulaski, like Macon, was one of the old Government forts built for coast protection, which during the secession period were first seized and occupied by State troops, and afterwards turned over to the control and use of the Confederate authorities. Fort Pulaski stood in a strong position on Cockspur Island, Georgia, commanding both channels of the Savannah River. It was a brick work with walls seven and a half feet thick and twenty-five feet high, with one tier of guns in casemate and one en barbette. The island it stood on was wholly a marsh, one mile