General Foster became engaged, the skirmishers of the 21st, proceeding cautiously but rapidly through a belt of woods along the left of the railroad track, descried a locomotive battery coming down the track. A few well directed shots sent it back within the defences, and soon after the head of the column struck the right flank of a battery, that rested at this point upon a deep cut in the railroad and a cleared brick yard, containing several buildings and brick stacks. The air was filled with mist and the smoke of the battle which was raging on the right. But little could be seen, and one company of the 21st was sent forward to reconnoitre, while the remainder of the regiment was formed in line for attack. General Reno, with characteristic gallantry, was with the extreme front of his brigade at one time just saved from death by Colonel Sinclair of the rebel service, who desired to capture rather than kill him*—and immediately ordered the regiment to charge and take the brick yard. The enemy retired at the approach of our troops, and took a position immediately in the rear of the yard, and in a trench upon the opposite side of the railroad, from which they poured in a very destructive fire upon our advancing lines. While this movement was going forward, the 51st New York and 9th New Jersey came up and formed on the left of the 21st Massachusetts-the 51st Pennsylvania being held in reserve on the extreme left. As soon as General Reno could understand the position of affairs and could penetrate the mist, he found that he had not reached the enemy's right, but that the redans on the hills extended far beyond his own lines. His safety consisted in attacking in front, and he moved his brigade as nearly as possible towards the enemy's works, ordering the men to pick off the enemy's gunners-meanwhile vigilantly watching for an opportunity to advance. The 21st Massachusetts found that opportunity and gallantly improved it.

*Colonel Sinclair's command, as the men saw General Reno approach, prepared to fire upon him, but were peremptorily forbidden to do so. For this act of humanity Colonel Sinclair was accused of treachery to the rebel cause, and was obliged to leave the service.

Lieutenant Colonel Maggi had resigned the command of the regiment while at Roanoke Island, and Major W. S. Clark promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, was now its commanding officer.* General Reno ordered him to charge upon the enemy's position, intending to support him immediately with the rest of the brigade and sweep the hostile lines, but found that he could not do so. Lieutenant Colonel Clark started forward with four companies of his men in the midst of a most galling fire, pressed vigorously on, planted the flag within the enemy's intrenchments, rallied his men around it, and made a second charge. He was opposed by a six gun battery, which he immediately attacked with great fury. So vigorous was the assault, that the enemy retired with precipitation, and the guns fell into the hands of the brave men of the 21st. But the supporting regiments could not come up, and Lieutenant Colonel Clark, with his little band of brave men, was in danger of being himself cut off and captured. The enemy, recovering from his first surprise, and perceiving the smallness of the force that had driven him out, returned to the attack in overwhelming numbers. Lieutenant Colonel Clark, with difficulty, but with great skill, extricated his command and retired to the railroad. It was a brave attempt, and had General Reno been able to bring up the remainder of his brigade from under the fire of the redans upon his left, it would have been a magnificent success. But it was reserved for General Parke to strike the decisive blow with the 4th Rhode Island regiment.

General Parke, soon after daylight, formed his brigade and moved in rear of General Foster upon the county road. The 4th Rhode Island was in advance, followed by the 8th Connecticut and the 5th Rhode Island battalion. The 11th Connecticut, of this brigade, had been assigned to General Foster's command to support the howitzer battery, as has already been stated. Upon General Foster's opening of the battle, General Parke was ordered to file to the left and take such position as

*Colonel Augustus Morse of the 21st,had been detached at Annapolis and placed in command of the depot of supplies at that place.

would enable him to support either General Reno or General Foster, as the vicissitudes of the fight might require. General Parke moved to a point about midway between the two wings, a little in the rear, and halted. The ground in front, so far as it could be observed, was discovered to be quite difficult, abounding in swampy places and broken with hollows and ridges of a slight elevation. Among these ridges the men found some shelter from the missiles of the enemy, which were now flying thick and fast among them. Colonel Rodman, of the 4th Rhode Island, finding his position too much exposed, moved forward to the railroad and rested his men near the embankment, which afforded good cover. It was now about eleven o'clock in the forenoon. While here, Colonel Rodman noticed the gallant but ineffectual charge of Lieutenant Colonel Clark and his subsequent retirement. He put his men on the alert, and meeting Lieutenant Colonel Clark, was informed of the situation of affairs and the feasibility of renewing the attack. Colonel Rodman immediately assumed the responsibility of assaulting, ordered his men to the charge, sending intelligence to General Parke of the movement which he designed to make. General Parke at once sent an aide to ascertain the real condition of the troops and the enemy, and upon his report of the practicability of the movement, approved the action of Colonel Rodman and advanced the rest of his brigade in support. Colonel Rodman pressed forward with his regiment, entered the works which Lieutenant Colonel Clark had left, and fought his way along gun by gun, until he had swept the enemy's lines for some distance to the right, and captured nine pieces of artillery. The 8th Connecticut followed closely upon the steps of the 4th Rhode Island, and the 5th Rhode Island brought up the rear, turning the enemy completely out of the works which he had so well defended. General Foster, observing the progress made by General Parke's brigade, ordered an advance along his entire front. His troops charged cheering, and the 11th Connecticut soon stood side by side with its old comrades. But the enemy, now thoroughly shaken and

demoralized, did not wait for the attack. He hurriedly retreated from his intrenchments, and Fort Thompson and the whole line of breastwork from the railroad to the river fell into the hands of our victorious troops. The action on the left was not yet over. General Reno's brigade was still hotly engaged. Sending out the 8th Connecticut and the 5th Rhode Island battalion as skirmishers to ascertain what the enemy was doing, General Parke ascertained that the rifle pits and redoubts on the left of the railroad were still occupied, and that our troops were exposed to a galling fire. Again he called upon the 4th Rhode Island to charge the enemy. Again did Colonel Rodman lead his men through a heavy and severe fire to victory. They charged gallantly through the storm of shot and shell, took the enemy's line in flank, rolled it up and swept it away. General Reno pressed his brigade forward, leading on his troops with impetuous daring. They quickly cleared the rifle pits, they stormed the redoubts, they carried everything away before them. The day was bravely and brilliantly won, and as General Burnside rode into the captured works, he was received with enthusiastic cheers. The victorious army was immediately put upon the track of the retreating rebels. But the flying foe was too quick in his movements. A train of cars was in waiting on the track in rear of the enemy's lines, and the defeated troops at once filled it and were carried across to Newbern. Others fled across the railroad and turnpike bridges, setting the former on fire and destroying the draw of the latter. Not stopping at Newbern longer than to apply the torch to several of its buildings, the enemy's commanding general pushed on into the country in the rear, and scarcely felt himself secure till at Kinston he had placed another river between himself and General Burnside's army. But, devoid of cavalry as we were, our troops could make no pursuit. They marched rapidly to the river Trent-finding other abandoned works on the way-and were there stopped by the burning bridge. Later in the afternoon, General Foster's brigade was carried across to the city, and encamped in and about the place. The next day was oc

cupied in posting the troops in and around the city. On Saturday night, the commanding general—having ordered Divine Service for the morrow-had the satisfaction of knowing that the week had ended well. His second great victory had been won, and the shores of Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds were now in undisputed possession of our arms. It was certainly an occasion of gratitude to the Almighty, who had given the

success.

The battle of Newbern was a peculiar conflict. It may be doubted whether another such was fought during the war. It was a bold attack upon a strongly fortified position, heavily armed and abundantly manned, made by an infantry force without siege guns or any artillery, in fact, except a few howitzers. It was a fight in a fog. Our officers did not really know the extent of the works to be assaulted, till the army was immediately under their guns. It would seem that the existence of the redoubts upon the enemy's extreme right was hardly suspected until General Reno found his brigade suffering from their fire, and was unable, in consequence, to support Lieutenant Colonel Clark's movement as he had at first intended. But, on the other hand, the enemy was laboring under the disadvantage of not knowing the number of the forces that were attacking him. He knew that there were men in his front, but how many, and with what engines of destruction, he did not know. The unexpected appearance of Lieutenant Colonel Clark's battalion of four companies in the midst of his intrenchments disconcerted him for the moment, and he yielded the battery which they attacked without fully understanding by how small a force it had been captured. His right wing fought better than his left, and continued the contest with great gallantry, even after the fortune of the day had been decided. As it happened, Lieutenant Colonel Clark's charge was an act of great temerity. But General Reno, when he ordered it, intended to follow immediately with the remainder of his brigade. As it resulted, it proved a great benefit; for it revealed the weak places of the enemy's line. Colonel Rodman, with a fine soldierly in