clearing, when the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts was sent into the woods
to the right of the road, and opening a heavy fire on the enemy
commenced the action of the first brigade. The Twenty-seventh was sent
to their left to support them, and, news being received that the enemy
were trying to outflank the Federals on the right, the Twenty-fifth was
sent to resist the movement. The Twenty-third being moved to the front
next in line of battle, opened fire upon the enemy, which was replied to
by very heavy volleys, and a cannonade from a park of field pieces
behind the breastwork. The very first cannon-shot killed
Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Merritt of the Twenty-third. General Foster’s
line of battle was completed by moving the Tenth Connecticut to the
extreme left, a position which they were compelled to maintain under the
most discouraging disadvantages. The ground was very wet, swampy, and
cut up into gulleys and ravines, which opened toward the enemy, offering
no protection from his fire.
General Parke’s brigade, which had followed the first brigade up the
main road, was placed in line between the Tenth Connecticut and
Twenty-first Massachusetts, the Fourth Rhode Island holding the right of
line, the Eighth Connecticut the next place, the Fifth Rhode Island,
next, and the Eleventh Connecticut on the left. The line of battle was
now complete, the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts on the extreme right, and
the Fifty-first Pennsylvania at the extreme left, and extended more than
a mile. The naval battery was in position at the centre, with Captain
Bennett’s and Captain Dayton’s rifles alongside, and were all worked
with the greatest gallantry throughout the day.
The fire of the enemy was now telling so severely upon the Twenty-first
that Colonel Clark ordered the regiment forward on a double-quick, and
at the head of four companies entered the breastworks from the railroad
track in company with General Reno, and the colors were taken into a
frame house which stood near, and waved from the roof. The men at the
nearest guns seeing the movement, abandoned their pieces and fled, and
the four companies being formed again in line of battle, charged down
the line upon the battery. Colonel Clark mounted the first gun, waved
the colors, and had nearly reached the second when two full regiments of
the enemy emerged from a grove of young pines and advanced upon his men,
who, seeing that they were likely to be captured or cut to pieces,
leaped over the parapet and retired to their position in the woods.
On being driven from the battery, Colonel Clark informed Colonel Rodman
of the Fourth Rhode Island of the state of affairs inside, and that
officer decided upon a charge with the bayonet. His regiment had been
firing, like the rest of the line, by companies and otherwise. When the
command was given to charge, they advanced at the double-quick directly
up to the battery, firing as they ran, and entered at the right flank,
between a brick-yard and the end of the parapet. With a steady line of
cold, sharp steel, the Rhode Islanders bore down upon the enemy, and,
routing them, captured the whole battery, with its two flags, and
planted the stars and stripes upon the parapet. The Eighth Connecticut,
Fifth Rhode Island and Eleventh Connecticut, coming up to their support,
the rebels fled with precipitation, and left the Union troops in
undisputed possession.
General Reno’s brigade were still attacking the redans and small battery
on the right of the railroad, and the firing was very heavy. The
Twenty-first was engaging the battery of five small pieces, the
Fifty-first New York the first of the redans, and the Ninth New Jersey
the next two. The Fifty-first Pennsylvania was still in reserve, drawn
up in a hollow or ravine, from which they would move up to the top of
the eminence, discharge their volleys, and retire to such cover as the
inequalities of ground might furnish. General Reno, becoming impatient
at the loss of life which his regiments, particularly that of Colonel
Ferrero, was suffering, urged that regiment to advance as soon as
possible; so Lieutenant-Colonel Potter took a color over the brow of the
hill into another hollow, and from thence charged up an acclivity and
over brushwood and abattis into the redan. The Fifty-first Pennsylvania
was ordered up to participate in the decisive charge of the whole
brigade upon the line of redans, and passing through the Fifty-first New
York, as it was lying on the ground after having exhausted all its
ammunition, came under the heaviest fire, and without flinching or
wavering moved to its place, and rushed, with the other regiments, upon
the defences of the enemy. The movement of Colonel Hartranft’s regiment
was executed splendidly, and proved a complete success.
The movement of the Third brigade was supported by a charge of the
Fourth Rhode Island from the captured main battery upon the works which
were being assailed, and the enemy, already demoralized by the breaking
of their centre, fell back before the grand charge upon the left and
front of their position, and fled in confusion. On the extreme right the
brave Twenty-fourth and its supporting regiments had been advancing inch
by inch, standing up against the enemy’s musketry and cannonade without
faltering, and almost at the time when the Fourth Rhode Island charged
in at the right flank, the colors of the Twenty-fourth were planted on
the parapet at the left, and the whole of the First brigade poured into
the fortification. The whole line of earthworks was now in Union hands,
and the cheers of the Federal men, from one end of it to the other,
broke out with fresh spirit as each new regimental color was unfurled on
the parapet.
The approaches to Newbern were defended by a line of water batteries or
forts communicating with extensive field fortifications. The lower fort
is about six miles from the city; the next communicates with the
unfinished batteries and breastworks; the others were distributed about
equal distances along the shore. The line of fortifications attacked and
stormed was some three miles in extent. At the river bank a hexagonal
fort, or water battery, with a large bomb-proof and thirteen heavy guns,
commanded in addition, the river approach. By means of pivot carriages
the cannon could be turned upon an advancing land force, and even sweep
the line of breastworks itself in case the garrison should be driven
out. From the fort to the centre of the line a well-made breastwork
extended, with a deep moat in front. At the centre was a bastion and
sallyport, after which the breastwork was continued to the railroad
embankment, which was used as a means of defence. Beyond the railroad,
but completely protecting the right flank of the main battery, was a
small battery, of irregular shape, communicating with a system of
thirteen redans, or rifle-pits, each pair of which were constructed on a
knoll rising between ravines, the conformation of the ground furnishing
in itself a most admirable basis for field-works. The locality was
chosen with rare judgment, and all that engineering skill could
accomplish was done to make these fortifications an impassable barrier
to hostile troops. From the railroad westward, a swift, deep brook, with
muddy bottom, and a wide border of swamp on both sides, ran in front of
the redans; and on the side of approach, the timber was so very heavy,
that, when felled, it presented a barricade which would seem enough of
itself to stop any army of French Zouaves. On the brow of each mound,
brushwood had been piled with regularity to the height of four feet in
front of the redans, rendering it extremely difficult to take them by
assault from the front. The redans were constructed of heavy timbers,
covered with at least five feet thickness of earth, while an interior
ditch say three feet in depth gave complete protection to the garrison
from volleys of musketry, or discharges of grape and canister shot.
Inside, the battery presented a most revolting appearance. Beneath the
parapet, in the ditch, on the open ground under the gun-carriages, lay
the dead and mangled bodies of rebels. On every side lay heaped the
bleeding carcasses of artillery horses, killed by musket or rifle balls.
Here and there a broken gun-carriage, or caisson, lay tilted into the
mud. Stores of all kinds were scattered over the ground or trampled in
the black mire. Muskets with broken stocks or bent barrels were thrown
about in every direction. It was a scene of wild confusion on all sides.
It was not known with certainty that there was no other battery erected
formidable as this still further up the road; but thinking it best to
increase the panic which had seized upon the enemy, General Burnside
ordered an advance. General Foster immediately sent forward the
Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-seventh, and the whole brigade by
the straight road. In the charge on the rifle-pit about one hundred
rebels, among them the Colonel of the Thirty-third North Carolina and a
number of commissioned officers, were captured. When these were secured
in an old brick-kiln and placed under guard, Generals Reno and Parke
moved their brigades after General Foster’s, the former going before up
the railroad track and the latter by the country road. The march to
Newbern was unobstructed, the enemy having apparently all he could do to
get away on any terms, and early in the afternoon the Union forces
reached the bank of the river immediately opposite the city. Long before
they came in sight of it, however, dense volumes of smoke were seen
rising in that direction, and the suspicion that the place had been
fired by the enemy was fully realized when its steeples and houses came
in view. Newbern had been fired in seven different places, and if the
wind had not mercifully subsided there would hardly have been a house
left standing by nightfall. The splendid railroad bridge, seven hundred
yards long, had been set on fire by a scow load of turpentine which had
drifted against it, and the great structure was wrapped in one grand
sheet of flame. Preparations were made by General Foster to move his
forces across the river. This was accomplished by the assistance of a
light draft stern-wheel steamer which had been captured with four or
five small side-wheel boats by the naval gunboats, which by this time
were quite up to the city wharves.
To the eastward of the city a very large rebel camp, with barracks and
tents, was found deserted and taken possession of. Stragglers from
different regiments wandered through the city and committed some acts of
depredation; but were speedily checked by a strong Provost-Guard
appointed by the commanding General.
The forts taken were Fort Dixie, 4 guns; 1 100-pound rifle and 3
32-pounders. Fort Thompson, 12 guns; 2 100-pound rifle and 10
32-pounders. Fort Ellis, 8 guns; 1 8-inch columbiad, 1 100-pounder,
under casemate, and 6 32-pounders. Fort Lane, 4 guns; 2 100-pounders and
2 32-pounders. Two forts, at the foot of the city, mounting 2 guns each.
Three guns on a car and two lying on the wharf.
The Federal loss was about 100 killed and 450 wounded. That of the
rebels, who were protected by their fortifications, about 220 in killed
and wounded. About 300 prisoners were taken by Lieutenant Hammond of the
gunboat Hetzel, who was serving one of the guns of McCook’s battery.
NAVAL OPERATIONS.
The naval operations under Commander Rowan, were conducted with great
skill and success. The navigation was impeded in every possible way by
the rebels. Sunken vessels closed the main channels at all accessible
points, while torpedoes, chevaux-de-frise and fire-rafts threatened
destruction on every side. Captain Rowan hoisted his pennant on Thursday
morning on board the steamer Delaware. At half-past eight A. M., the
gunboats commenced shelling the woods in the vicinity of the proposed
place of landing, taking stations at intervals along the shore to
protect the advance of the troops. At half-past nine A. M., the troops
commenced landing, and at the same time six naval boat howitzers with
their crews, under the command of Lieutenant R. S. McCook, of the Stars
and Stripes, were put on shore to assist the attacks. The army commenced
to move up the beach at half-past eleven A. M., the debarkation of
troops still continuing. In the mean time the vessels were slowly moving
up, throwing shell in the woods beyond. At a quarter-past four, P. M.,
the first of the enemy’s batteries opened fire on the foremost of the
gunboats, which was promptly returned at long range. The troops were now
all disembarked, and steadily advancing without resistance. At sundown
the firing was discontinued, and the fleet came to anchor in position to
cover the troops on shore. At half-past six, A. M., Friday, 14th
instant, there was heard a continuous firing of heavy guns and musketry
inland, and immediately the fleet commenced throwing shells in advance
of the position supposed to be held by the Union troops. The fleet
steadily moved up, and gradually closed in towards the batteries. The
lower fortifications were discovered to have been abandoned by the
enemy.
A boat was dispatched to it and the stars and stripes planted on the
ramparts. As they advanced, the upper batteries opened fire. The fire
was returned with effect, the magazine of one exploding. Having
proceeded in an extended line as far as the obstructions in the river
would permit, the signal was made to follow the movements of the
flag-ship, and the whole fleet advanced in order, concentrating their
fire on Fort Thompson, mounting thirteen guns, on which rested the
enemy’s land defences. The army, having driven them out of these
defences, the forts were abandoned. Several of the vessels were slightly
injured in passing the barricades of piles and torpedoes which had been
placed in the river. The upper battery having been evacuated on the
appearance of the combined forces, it was abandoned and subsequently
blew up. They now steamed rapidly up to the city. Upon the approach of
the Federals, several points of the city were fired by the enemy, where
stores had been accumulated. Two small batteries, constructed of cotton
bales, and mounting two guns each, were also fired by them. Two small
steamers were captured, another having been burned. A large raft,
composed of barrels of pitch and bales of cotton, which had been
prepared to send down upon the fleet, was fired, and floating against
the railroad bridge, set it on fire and destroyed it. In addition to the
prizes, a quantity of pitch, tar, and a gunboat, and another vessel on
the stocks, several vessels afloat, and an immense quantity of arms and
munitions of war, fell into their hands.
Washington, Morehead City and Beaufort were in turn occupied by General
Burnside’s forces without resistance, and the inhabitants generally
evinced a friendly spirit. The commandant of Fort Macon having refused
to surrender, preparations were immediately made to invest and capture
that place.
THE CAPTURE OF NEW MADRID, MO.
MARCH 14, 1862.
Shortly before the evacuation of Columbus, General Pope, with a large
force, was dispatched by the commander of the Department to besiege the
town of New Madrid, on the Mississippi river, in the extreme
south-eastern section of Missouri. This place had been strongly
fortified by the rebels, and garrisoned by five regiments of infantry
and several companies of artillery. The town is about seven miles below
Island No. 10, but owing to a bend in the river, lies nearly west. Its
possession was deemed important, in order to advance the Union forces
down the Mississippi.
[Illustration:
SECTION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
SHOWING THE DISTANCES FROM NEW ORLEANS, AND THE ISLANDS BY THEIR
NUMBERS.
]
[Illustration:
SECTION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
SHOWING THE DISTANCES FROM NEW ORLEANS, AND THE ISLANDS BY THEIR
NUMBERS.
]
The enemy had one bastioned earthwork, mounting fourteen heavy guns,
about half a mile below the town, and another irregular work at the
upper end of the town, mounting seven pieces of heavy artillery,
together with lines of intrenchments between them. Six gunboats carrying
from four to eight heavy guns each, were anchored along the shore,
between the upper and lower redoubts.
The country is perfectly level for miles around the place, and the river
was so high just then, that the gunboats looked directly over the banks;
and the approaches to the town for seven miles were commanded by direct
and cross-fire from at least sixty guns of heavy calibre.
The column under General Pope left Commerce, Mo., on the 27th of
February, and, after six days of hard marches through and over the
interminable jungles of the great Mingo or Nigger Wool swamp, sat down
before the town. They had scarcely been in camp a day before the river
batteries opened upon them, forcing the right wing back a few hundred
yards further from the river.
Trials and dangers now beset the Federal army, which would have
discouraged less brave men. It would not have been difficult to carry
the intrenchments, but it must have been attended with heavy loss, and
they could not have been held half an hour exposed to the destructive
fire of the gunboats. It therefore became necessary to bring down a few
heavy guns by land to operate against those of the enemy. They were
accordingly sent for; and meantime, forced reconnoissances were pushed
over the whole ground, and into several parts of the town. Some brisk
skirmishes resulted, in which the enemy invariably retreated
precipitately. It was found impossible to induce them to trust any
considerable force of their infantry outside of their intrenchments.
While awaiting the arrival of the heavy guns, Colonel Plummer, of the
Eleventh Missouri, was dispatched to Point Pleasant, eight miles below,
with three regiments of infantry, three companies of cavalry, and a
field battery of 10-pound Parrott and rifled guns, with orders to make a
lodgment on the river bank; to line the bank with rifle-pits for a
thousand men, and to establish his artillery in sunk batteries of single
pieces between the rifle-pits. This arrangement was made in order to
present the smallest possible marks to the shells of the gunboats, and
to render futile the use of round shot from their heavy guns. Colonel
Plummer, after some cannonading from the gunboats which he found there,
succeeded in making a lodgment, constructing his batteries and
rifle-pits, and occupying them in sufficient force to maintain them
against any open assault.
After repeated and persistent cannonading from the gunboats, the enemy
found it impossible to dislodge him. He maintained his position, and
effectually blockaded the river to transports, during the whole siege.
Meantime, the enemy continued every day to reinforce New Madrid, until,
on the 12th, they had nine thousand infantry, besides a considerable
force of artillery and nine gunboats. The fleet was commanded by
Commodore Hollins, the land forces by Generals McCown, Stewart and
Gantt. On the 11th, the Federal siege guns were delivered to Colonel
Bissell for his engineer regiment, who had been sent to Cairo. They were
at once shipped to Sykestown, reached New Madrid at sunset on the 12th,
and were placed in battery during the same night, within eight hundred
yards of the enemy’s main work, commanding the river above it. They
opened fire at daylight on the 13th, just thirty-four hours after they
were received at Cairo.
A brigade, consisting of the Tenth and Sixteenth Illinois, under Colonel
Morgan, of the Tenth, was detailed to cover the construction of the
battery, and to work in the trenches. It was supported by Stanley’s
division, consisting of the Twenty-seventh and Thirty-ninth Ohio, under
Colonel Groesbeck, and the Forty-third and Sixty-third Ohio, under
Colonel Smith. Captain Mower, First United States infantry, with
companies A and H of his regiment, was placed in charge of the siege
guns.
The enemy’s pickets and grand guards were driven in by Colonel Morgan,
from the ground selected for the battery. The work was prosecuted in
silence, and with the utmost rapidity, until at three o’clock, A. M.,
two small redoubts connected by a curtain, and mounting four heavy guns
were completed, together with rifle-pits in front and on the flanks for
two regiments of infantry. The batteries opened as soon as the day
dawned, and were replied to in front and on the flanks by the whole of
the enemy’s heavy artillery on land and water.
The Union guns were served by Captain Mower with vigor and skill. In a
few hours they disabled several of the gunboats, and dismounted three of
the heavy guns in the enemy’s main work. Shortly after the Union
batteries opened, one of the 24-pound guns was struck in the muzzle by a
round shot from the enemy’s batteries and disabled.
The cannonading was continued furiously all day by the gunboats and land
batteries of the enemy, but without producing any impression. Meantime
the Union trenches were being extended and advanced toward the bank of
the river. General Paine now made a demonstration against the rebel
intrenchments on the left, supported by Palmer’s division. The enemy’s
pickets and grand guards were driven in, and the skirmishers forced
their way close to the main ditch.
A furious thunder storm began about eleven o’clock that night, and
continued almost without interruption until morning. Just before
daylight, General Stanley was relieved in his trenches with his division
by General Hamilton. A few minutes after daylight, a flag of truce
approached the batteries, bearing information that the enemy had
evacuated his works. Small parties were at once advanced by General
Hamilton to ascertain the truth of this report; and Captain Mower, First
United States infantry, with companies A and H of that regiment, were
sent forward to plant the United States flag over the abandoned works.
The enemy had made a hasty and precipitate flight. Their dead were found
unburied, their suppers stood untouched on the tables—candles were
burning in the tents. Private baggage of officers and knapsacks of the
men were left behind. Neither provisions nor ammunition were carried
off—everything gave evidence of a panic. Artillery, field batteries and
siege guns, amounting to thirty-three pieces; magazines full of fixed
ammunition of the best character; several thousand stands of inferior
small arms, with hundreds of boxes of musket cartridges; tents for an
army of ten thousand men; horses, mules, wagons, intrenching tools,
etc., were among the spoils.
Their flight was so sudden that they abandoned their pickets, and gave
no intimation to the forces at Island No. 10.
The Union loss was fifty-one killed and wounded. The enemy’s loss could
not be ascertained. A number of his dead were left unburied, and over a
hundred new graves were found.
ISLAND No. 10.
When the necessity of an early evacuation of Columbus became apparent to
the rebel leaders, they commenced the fortification of Island No. 10, in
the Mississippi river, forty-five miles below Columbus and twenty-six
from Hickman. It is located 250 miles below St. Louis and 997 from New
Orleans; and when chosen by the secessionists it was deemed impregnable.
The earthworks were constructed with great skill, and well calculated to
resist any assault which could be made from the river above, while they
held undisputed control of the navigation below, and had at their
command a formidable fleet of gunboats. New Madrid, on the Missouri
shore of the river, a few miles below, was fortified and garrisoned by
rebel troops, and they had easy communication and abundant facilities
for supplies and reinforcements, if needed.
The energy and perseverance of General Pope, which enabled him, despite
the most serious obstacles, to invest and capture the town of New
Madrid, was the first note of warning received by the rebels at Island
No. 10 that their position was no longer tenable.