eliciting but feeble and occasional response from the enemy, while the
immense shots from the fleet were striking the fort, for some time, at
the rate of three or four a minute. By noon the sea face of the fort was
so battered that it was thought a successful charge might be made. Under
cover of the fire of the fleet, one thousand six hundred sailors, armed
with cutlasses, revolvers, and carbines, and four hundred marines, the
whole commanded by Fleet Captain K. R. Breese, were landed on the beach,
and by digging rifle-pits worked their way up within two hundred yards
of the fort. The troops selected for the assault were Ames’s division,
comprising the brigades of Curtis, Pennypacker and Bell, while Paine’s
division of colored troops and Abbott’s brigade held the intrenchments
facing Wilmington, against which Hoke’s troops, estimated at five
thousand strong, had begun to demonstrate. At 3.30 P. M. signal was made
from the shore to the fleet to change the direction of the fire, in
order that the troops might assault; and soon afterwards the sailors
rushed with reckless energy toward the parapet of the fort, which at
once swarmed with rebel soldiers, who poured in upon them a murderous
fire of musketry. The marines, who were to have covered the assaulting
party, for some unexplained reason failed to fire upon the rebels on the
parapet, all of whom, in the opinion of Admiral Porter, might have been
killed. “I saw,” he said, “how recklessly the rebels exposed themselves,
and what an advantage they gave our sharpshooters, whose guns were
scarcely fired, or fired with no precision. Notwithstanding the hot
fire, officers and sailors in the lead rushed on, and some even reached
the parapet, a large number having entered the ditch. The advance was
swept from the parapet like chaff, and, notwithstanding all the efforts
made by the commanders of companies to stay them, the men in the rear,
seeing the slaughter in front, and that they were not covered by the
marines, commenced to retreat; and, as there is no stopping a sailor, if
he fails on such an occasion on the first rush, I saw the whole thing
had to be given up.” The attack on this part of the fort, though a
failure, diverted a part of the enemy’s attention, and rendered the work
laid out for the main storming column of troops much easier.
At the word of command, the division of General Ames, which had been
gradually drawn forward under the shelter of hastily formed breastworks,
rushed toward the fort, the brigade of Curtis taking the lead. The
palisades had been so much injured by the fire of the fleet that a few
vigorous strokes from the axemen sufficed to clear gaps for the passage
of the troops, and, in the face of a severe enfilading fire, a lodgment
was soon effected on the west end of the land front. Pennypacker’s and
Bell’s brigades followed in rapid succession, the latter moving between
the work and the river. “On this side,” says General Terry, “there was
no regular parapet, but there was an abundance of cover afforded to the
enemy by cavities, from which sand had been taken for the parapet, the
ruins of barracks and storehouses, the large magazine, and by traverses
behind which they stubbornly resisted our advance. Hand-to-hand fighting
of the most desperate character ensued. The first brigade dashed forward
with a run, and reaching the parapet near the western extremity of the
north face, gained a foothold within the enclosed space of the fort, by
entering within through the gaps of the palisades. They had now not only
to maintain the position they had obtained, but to advance, in the face
of a determined foe, to the succeeding traverses, over thirty feet in
height, and were compelled to capture nine or ten in succession before
the rebel forces yielded to the repeated assaults.
Each traverse was in reality an independent fort, enclosing within its
dense walls, a room entered by a passage so narrow that two men could
easily defend it against a large force. During the assault, General
Ames’ men were exposed to a galling fire of artillery and musketry,
while Fort Buchanan on the southwest also opened fire on the Federal
columns. Abbott’s brigade and a regiment of colored troops, dispatched
by General Terry, reinforced General Ames before dark, followed soon
after by the general-in-chief and his staff. Generals Curtis and
Pennybacker were badly wounded in the assault, and Colonel Bell received
mortal injuries.
It was not until after ten o’clock at night that all resistance ceased,
and the star-spangled banner floated out in the bright moonlight
unchallenged over the crumbled ramparts. When General Terry telegraphed
to Admiral Porter the final result, “we stopped fire,” says the Admiral,
“and gave them three of the heartiest cheers I ever heard. It was the
most terrific struggle I ever saw. The troops have covered themselves
with glory; and General Terry is my beau-ideal of a general.” The
garrison consisted of two thousand three hundred men, of whom one
thousand nine hundred and seventy-one, with one hundred and twelve
officers, were captured. The rest were killed and wounded. Their
commanders, General Whiting and Colonel Lamb, were both captured, badly
wounded.
The loss of the Federal army was one hundred and ten killed, and five
hundred and thirty-six wounded. That of the navy was between two and
three hundred in killed and wounded, principally in the assaulting,
column of sailors, and by the explosion of two fifteen-inch guns on
board the monitors. The ships sustained but trifling damage.
The greater part of the guns of the fort were dismounted, or otherwise
injured by the fire of the fleet, but the work itself received no damage
which was not susceptible of immediate repair, its strength being about
the same as before the bombardment. According to Admiral Porter, who had
visited the Malakoff during the siege of Sebastopol, Fort Fisher was a
much more formidable work than that celebrated stronghold. Its capture
caused an almost unprecedented rejoicing throughout the United States.
The capture of the fort sealed the fate of the rebel supremacy in Cape
Fear river.
On the 16th and 17th the enemy abandoned and blew up Fort Caswell and
the works on Smith’s island, which were immediately occupied by the
Federal forces.
The advance up the river was a continuous battle. On the night of the
21st, the rebels commenced destroying their materials and stores in
Wilmington. Fifteen thousand barrels of resin, and one thousand bales of
cotton were destroyed, and extensive cotton sheds, steam-mills and
turpentine works were consumed. At daylight on the morning of the 22d,
General Terry’s troops entered the city, and the reign of the rebellion
in that important city was at an end.
KILPATRICK’S CAVALRY RAID TOWARD RICHMOND.
FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 5, 1864.
A very daring and successful expedition was undertaken by this intrepid
leader on the 28th of February, in which much damage was inflicted on
the two principal railroads on which General Lee received supplies for
his army, and a great deal of public property was destroyed. The command
left Stevensburgh, Virginia, on Sunday night, March 28, and crossing
Fly’s Ford, on the Rapidan, proceeded thence by rapid marches to
Spottsylvania, Beaver Dam Station, on the Virginia Central railroad, to
the fortifications of Richmond, crossing the Virginia Central railroad
and the Chickahominy river near the Meadows, and the White House
railroad, a little east of Tunstall’s Station, thence to New Kent
Court-House and Williamsburgh Court-House.
General Kilpatrick was not without hopes of entering Richmond by a
surprise movement, and also of liberating many Federal prisoners, who
were confined in that city and its environs.
In order to divert the attention of the rebel commanders from the
proposed raid, and also to attract the bulk of their cavalry in other
directions, fifteen hundred cavalry, led by General Custer, under cover
of an advance by the Sixth and Third corps to Madison Court-House, left
Culpepper Court-House simultaneously with the departure of Kilpatrick
from Stevensburgh. General Custer, after advancing to within a few miles
of Charlottesville, found the Confederates in very heavy force, and
hopeful of cutting off his command, which had now advanced twenty miles
beyond infantry support. In order to avoid the enemy, he led his men
through Luray Valley, by one of the gaps of the Blue Ridge, thus
avoiding a very formidable force that was waiting to intercept him at
the road by which he went out. Several small bodies of the enemy were
encountered, and sixty prisoners taken. Ten or twelve of the Federals
were wounded in these encounters, but no lives were lost, and General
Custer reached the infantry lines at Madison, in safety.
General Kilpatrick’s force consisted of his own division, a portion of
Merritt’s and Gregg’s divisions, and a light battery of six guns, in all
nearly eight thousand men. The troops reached Spottsylvania late at
night, and a detachment headed by Captain Estes, of Kilpatrick’s staff,
one of the bravest men in the army, moved rapidly forward to Beaver Dam
on the Virginia Central railroad, reaching that place at five p. m on
Monday, when the work of destruction commenced. Small parties were sent
up and down the railroad to tear up the track, burn the bridges, and
destroy the rails by heating and bending them; this was comparatively an
easy task, for there were thousands of cords of pine wood piled along
the track. A large new brick freight-house, the telegraph office,
passenger-depot, engine-house, water-tank, several cars, and a number of
outbuildings, were all set on fire. While engaged in this work, a train
loaded with troops appeared, and a portion of them disembarked. A charge
was made by the cavalry, in which thirty-two of the rebels were
captured.
At Frederickshall, a “court martial” was captured, consisting of a
colonel, five captains and two lieutenants.
Detachments were now sent out in various directions, in order to destroy
the railroad at other points, while the main body moved forward, and on
Monday night crossed the South Anna river. The detached parties
encountered small bodies of the enemy in all directions, and skirmished
with varied success.
Tuesday morning, at half-past ten, found the command passing the outer
earthworks on the Brook turnpike, within three and a half miles of
Richmond. Several citizen soldiers were here captured, and many of the
inhabitants encountered, who were unsuspicious of the character of the
Federal cavalry. When within the second line of defences, the
skirmishers encountered the first shots from Battery No. 9, near the
third line. Skirmishing was here kept up until between four and five
o’clock, General Kilpatrick anxiously awaiting some tidings from Colonel
Dahlgren’s command; when relinquishing hopes of the success of that
officer in his attempt to reach Richmond by way of the James river
canal, General Kilpatrick withdrew in the direction of Mechanicsville,
burning the trestle-work of the railroad across the Chickahominy on his
route.
Colonel Dahlgren, with five hundred men, was detached at Frederickshall,
with instructions to move to the right of Richmond, and destroy as much
of the James river canal as possible, and attempt the deliverance of the
prisoners at Belle Isle.
Colonel Dahlgren had taken a negro to pilot him to Richmond. His
detachment had rapidly moved across the country, destroying barns,
forage and everything which could possibly be of service to the enemy.
He soon discovered that his negro guide had betrayed him, and led him
toward Goochland instead of to Richmond, and on Tuesday night he found
himself miles in the opposite direction from that which he wished to
take. Exasperated by this treachery, the men burned the barns and
outbuildings of John A. Seddons, the rebel Secretary-of-War. Retracing
his steps, Colonel Dahlgren marched down the river road, destroying the
Dover flour mills, and several flouring establishments and saw mills.
His force also did considerable injury to the James river canal, burning
canal boats and seriously damaging one or two locks. They did not reach
the immediate vicinity of Richmond till afternoon, when everybody was on
the alert, Kilpatrick having already made his attack.
Colonel Dahlgren’s detachment was divided into several parties for the
accomplishment of different objects, keeping together, however. One
party attempted to cross the river, but were repulsed. A very sharp
fight ensued, and, finding the enemy in superior numbers and confronting
them on every road, the force was compelled to fall back.
In attempting to cut their way out, Colonel Dahlgren and Major Cook of
the Second New York, with about one hundred and fifty men were separated
from the rest, and Colonel Cook was taken prisoner. The other
detachments succeeded in rejoining General Kilpatrick.
A Confederate correspondent thus describes the tragic close of Colonel
Dahlgren’s expedition:
“Lieutenant Pollard had been watching the movements of the enemy all day
on Wednesday, in King William, and ascertained that night that Dahlgren,
with about two hundred of his followers, had crossed the Mattapony at
Aylett’s. With his own men he crossed over and followed the retreating
raiders. On reaching the forks of the road, a few miles above
Walkertown, Lieutenant Pollard learned that the enemy had taken the
river road, leading to that place. Leaving a few men to follow on after
them, he quitted the main road with the larger portion of the force at
his disposal, and by a circuitous route and forced march, he succeeded
in throwing himself in front of the enemy and awaited his approach. In
the mean time he had been joined by the home guards of King and Queen
County, and a few men of Robbins’s battalion. A little before eleven
o’clock at night the enemy approached on the road in which they were
posted. A fire was at once opened upon them; but their leader, Colonel
Dahlgren, relying, perhaps, upon their numbers, or stung by chagrin at
his failure to capture Richmond, determined to force his way through,
and at once forming his men, ordered a charge, which he led himself. It
proved, however, a fatal charge to him; for, in the onset, he was
pierced with a ball and fell dead. After his fall, the command could not
be rallied, but were soon thrown into confusion inextricable. Our boys,
noticing this, availed themselves of the opportunity it afforded, and
used it to the best advantage. Dashing in among the discomfited foe,
they succeeded in capturing ninety prisoners, thirty-five negroes, and
one hundred and fifty horses. The body of Dahlgren also fell into their
hands.”
A cavalry force from General Butler’s command had been sent out from
Williamsburg, to render assistance, if needed, to General Kilpatrick. A
junction was effected at Tunstall’s Station, and the whole body,
accompanied by the balance of Colonel Dahlgren’s cavalry, proceeded to
Williamsburg. The entire loss of the expedition was about one hundred
and fifty in killed and wounded, and one hundred and sixty in prisoners
and missing.
OPERATIONS IN ARKANSAS IN 1864.
In January, 1864, a Convention of Delegates, representing the people of
Arkansas, met at Little Rock, and remodelled the State Constitution, so
as forever to abolish slavery. The Convention also elected a Provisional
Government, under which efforts were made to restore quiet throughout
the State. But the Confederates were still powerful in Arkansas, and the
current of affairs was frequently vexed by rebel demonstrations,
throughout the year. Engagements between the Unionists and roving squads
of rebels were numerous, and sometimes disastrous. The organized forces
of the Confederacy, stationed at various points in the State, numbered
upwards of twenty-one thousand, and they were rarely idle.
Among the many minor battles which were fought at this time may be
mentioned that of Cotton Plant, which happened on the twenty-second of
April, and which may stand as a type of all the rest. It was incidental
to the progress of an expedition, which had been sent out from Little
Rock, to relieve the town of Batesville, on White river, from a
threatened attack by the rebels under General McRae. The National force
consisted of the Eighth Missouri cavalry, and was commanded by Colonel,
afterwards General Andrews. The battle lasted four hours, and was hotly
contested. The Unionists lost twenty-seven men, killed and wounded,
while the rebel loss was upwards of one hundred. Colonel Andrews’s horse
was shot beneath him. The expedition resulted successfully.
The most important military movement, however, which took place in
Arkansas, this year, was an expedition from Little Rock, that set forth
on the twenty-third of March, moving in a southwesterly direction, and
designed to cooperate with General Banks, in his advance on Shreveport,
Louisiana. The National force consisted of the Seventh Army Corps. The
expedition was not successful in its ultimate design, but it led to one
important battle, and it enabled the Unionists, in several encounters
with the enemy, to display great courage and endurance and to win
distinction. On the fifteenth of April, after frequent fights with
detachments of the rebels, under Marmaduke, Shelby, Cabell, and Dockery,
General Steele took possession of Camden, an important point on the
Washita river. Here he remained eleven days, when he received
intelligence of disaster to Banks, such as would preclude the proposed
attack on Shreveport, and learned, also, that Kirby Smith was advancing,
with eight thousand troops, to reinforce Price. Under those
circumstances General Steele resolved to abandon Camden and retire
towards Little Rock. This movement was begun on the night of April
twenty-eighth. On the thirtieth the enemy was encountered, near
Jenkins’s Ferry, on the river Sabine, where occurred the important fight
which we have mentioned above. The enemy’s force was found to be large,
and consisted of all his troops in southwestern Arkansas, and also some
from Louisiana, and was commanded by General Smith, General Price,
General Walker, and General Churchill. The forces under General Steele
consisted of the commands of Generals Salomon, Rice, Thayer, Ingleman,
and Colonel Benton. It was found impossible to cross the Sabine on the
night when the troops reached it, in consequence of a heavy rainstorm
and intense darkness, but the pontoon bridge was laid, and a small force
of the Unionists crossed over. On the morning of the battle the rain
poured in torrents, and in the midst of the storm the artillery trains
and men were obliged to cross the river. Skirmishing had commenced in
the rear with the first dawn of day, and a general and fierce engagement
speedily succeeded, which continued for seven hours. The enemy fought
with the wild desperation which characterized all their pitched battles,
but were finally repulsed with very heavy loss. General Steele lost
seven hundred men in killed and wounded, but secured a safe retreat to
Little Rock, which he reached on the second day of May; and also
redeemed, for the time, that portion of Arkansas and the State of
Missouri from the hands of the rebels. The conduct of the troops under
General Steele was of the most noble description throughout the whole
campaign, as will be seen by the following address to his men:
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF ARKANSAS, }
LITTLE ROCK, May 9. }
“To you, troops of the Seventh Army Corps, who participated in the
recent campaign designed to cooperate with General Banks’s movement
against Shreveport, the Major-General commanding tenders his earnest
and grateful thanks. Although you were compelled to fall back without
seeing the main object of the expedition accomplished, you will have
the satisfaction of knowing that you have beaten the enemy wherever he
has met you in force, and extricated yourselves from the perilous
position in which you were placed by the reverses of the cooperating
column. This let loose upon you a superior force of the enemy, under
one of their best generals, causing the loss of your trains and the
total interruption of your communications, rendering it impossible for
you to obtain supplies. You have fallen back over rivers and swamps,
while pressed by a superior force of the enemy. This you have done
successfully, punishing the enemy severely at the same time.
“The patience with which you have endured hardships and privations,
and your heroic conduct on the battle-field, have been brought to the
notice of the Government, and will furnish a page in the history of
this war of which you may well be proud.
“F. STEELE, Major-General Commanding.”
The rebel force subsequently became still more formidable in the State
of Arkansas, owing to the failure of Banks’s Red river expedition. Large
forces of Confederates, relieved from the necessity of opposing Banks,
were enabled to concentrate in Arkansas, and keep General Steele at bay,
in Little Rock. So completely, indeed, did the rebels overrun the State,
that, by the close of the year 1864, Little Rock, Fort Smith, Pine
Bluff, Duval’s Bluff, and a few other points, were all that the National
arms preserved. The State was, likewise, furnished with a rebel State
government; and, altogether its affairs seemed anything but promising to
the hopes of the Unionists within its borders.
Having ample troops in Arkansas, and desiring to work as much mischief
as possible, the rebel General Price projected an
INVASION OF MISSOURI.
SEPTEMBER, 1864.
This movement, as may well be imagined, created no small excitement. It
led, moreover, to several lively encounters between the Unionists and
the Confederates, but it ended in utter discomfiture to the rebel arms.
General Price’s forces consisted of between fifteen and twenty thousand
men, while, at the time his invasion commenced—September 21st, 1864—the
Union troops in Missouri, commanded by General Rosecrans, numbered less
than seven thousand. At the first note of danger, however,
reinforcements were hurried forward to the aid of that gallant
commander. It appeared, at first, as if the rebels proposed moving on
Springfield; but, eventually, they turned in the direction of St. Louis.
They were first encountered at Pilot Knob, which was bravely and
successfully defended by the Union forces under General Ewing,
consisting of the Fourteenth Iowa and the Forty-seventh Missouri, with
detachments of the State militia. A severe fight took place at Pilot
Knob, on September 27th, in which the rebels were discomfited.
Meanwhile, St. Louis was rapidly put into condition to meet and repel
any possible rebel attack, and a large force of State troops, under
Generals Brown and Fisk, was concentrated at Jefferson City, the capital
of Missouri. Toward this point the rebel chieftain finally led his army.
His advance was successfully withstood, however, by the Union Generals,
who succeeded in saving the State capital, and destroying the hopes of
the rebels.
Upon the 8th of October, General Pleasanton assumed command at Jefferson
City, and his first step was to send General Sanborn, with a mounted
force of four thousand men in pursuit of the enemy, with the view of
harassing and hindering them, until the remaining Union cavalry and
infantry supports should arrive at the State capital. The enemy’s
rear-guard was by this movement forced back upon their main body at
Bruenville, and so kept between the Missouri river and the National
force, until the 19th of the month, when the Unionists were joined by
Wilson’s command, fifteen thousand strong, making the National force in
all forty-five thousand men, exclusive of escort-guards.