Part 37 (2/2)

5. It was hoped that the mora.s.ses, indenting both sh.o.r.es and leaving a narrow isthmus, would enable the small Confederate force to defend that position; but the bravery and enterprise of the enemy enabled him to turn both flanks, and nothing was left Colonel Shaw and his command but to fall back to the northern end of the island and there lay down their arms.

6. The battle had been bravely fought for two days, and the two thousand Confederate prisoners and their gallant leader became captives, but only after inflicting heavy loss upon the a.s.sailants. The place was untenable against superior naval appliances, and quite men enough had been sacrificed in view of the impossibility of preventing its isolation by Federal fleets.

7. Very different were the defensive capacities of the city of New Bern. It was immediately foreseen that this important place would be next a.s.sailed, and with enough troops it would have been an easy feat to have held it indefinitely, but whether its value as a strategic point would have justified such a defence may be doubted. The Confederate authorities entrusted its defence to General L. O'B. Branch, who had no experience in military affairs, and in whose command, like General Wise's, was not a single regiment that had been under fire, though there were skillful officers of lower rank who had seen much service in the old army. On March 14th, General Burnside, with the army and fleet so lately the victors at Roanoke, moved to attack the forts which had been constructed just below the junction of Neuse and Trent Rivers.

8. General Branch had in his command the Seventh, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh, Thirty-third and Thirty-fifth North Carolina Regiments, a portion of the Nineteenth (cavalry), with Brem's and Latham's light batteries and a small force of militia. These were disposed along a line stretching from Fort Thompson, on Neuse River, across the railroad to an impa.s.sable swamp, which afforded abundant protection to his right flank.

9. The battle began at seven o'clock in the morning and raged until noon. The Federal attacks were repeatedly repelled until, by the fatal flight of the militia in the centre, the Confederate lines were broken and a precipitate retreat ensued. General Branch lost two hundred prisoners and seventy men killed and wounded; and, besides these, all his guns and stores. He was beaten in his first battle, when perhaps naught but defeat was expected, but he soon won high reputation as a brave soldier and skillful officer. Victory is not always possible to the best generals.h.i.+p. He met, in a few days at Kinston, reinforcements that would have enabled him to hold his ground at New Bern; but like many other earthly succors, they came too late for real benefit.

10. The fall of New Bern sealed the fate of the Confederate forces at Fort Macon. Colonel M. I. White, with five companies of the Tenth Regiment (artillery), endured the Federal bombardment until the work was in danger of being blown up. He surrendered the fort on April 26th, 1862. These disasters at home were indeed calculated to dishearten, but the only visible effect upon the people at large was to increase the numbers of those who were still volunteering by thousands to defend North Carolina and the Confederate States.

11. In the spring of 1862, General McClellan, the Federal commander, having determined to make his advance on Richmond by way of James River, and having made his preparations to that effect, General Johnston transferred the Confederate troops from Mana.s.sas to the peninsula between the James and York Rivers, thus placing his army between McClellan and Richmond.

12. At Williamsburg occurred the first memorable conflict of the year between the two great armies struggling on the soil of the Old Dominion. In this conflict the charge of the Fifth North Carolina Regiment, under Colonel D. K. MacRae, excited the admiration and its terrible losses the sympathy of both friend and foe.

13. In the b.l.o.o.d.y and glorious campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, General T. J. Jackson grew immortal before the coming of midsummer. The gallantry of the Twenty-first North Carolina Regiment at Winchester, like that of the Fourth at Seven Pines, was as conspicuous as b.l.o.o.d.y. In this latter battle, where so many other men of the State were slain, the Fourth Regiment, under Colonel George B. Anderson, lost four hundred and sixty-two men, out of five hundred and twenty.

14. In the last days of June nearly all of the North Carolina regiments and many Southern troops were concentrated around Richmond, under the command of General Robert E. Lee, in place of General Johnston, who had been wounded at Seven Pines. In the week of battle which ended in the overthrow of the great investing army of General McClellan, they lost thousands of their bravest and best. Ninety-two regiments const.i.tuted the divisions of Jackson, Longstreet, D. H. Hill and A. P. Hill. These were the forces that drove the Federals to their s.h.i.+ps; and forty-six of these regiments belong to North Carolina. It may be safely a.s.serted that more than half the men actively engaged and disabled during that terrible week were citizens of North Carolina.

QUESTIONS.

1. What is said or North Carolina's forces in the wars?

2. What is said of this condition of affairs?

3. What force was sent to defend Albermarle Sound?

4. Can you tell of Burnside's attack?

5. What was the conclusion of the engagement?

6. What is said of this battle?

7. To what point was attention next directed? What officer was in command? When was the Federal attack made?

8. What composed General Branch's command?

9. Describe the battle.

10. What is said of the fall of New Bern? What fort was next surrendered? Where is Fort Mason?

11. What military movements were made in Virginia?

12. What is said of the gallant charge of the Fifth Regiment at Williamsburg?

13. What regiments are specially mentioned as partic.i.p.ants at Winchester and Seven Pines?

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