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VOLUl\'fE IV NOVEMBER 1998 JSSUE 2

The Roanoke Island Campaign of 1862 By John R. Peacock 111

A favorite topic of discussion among students of Civil War history is the question of which battle or campaign was most decisive in dc1crn1ining the war's outcome. Many experts point to the major battles in the eastern Theater, such as Gettysburg and Antietam, while others argue that the war was decided in the West. Often overlooked in these discus­sions is a campaign conducted early in the war in nortJ1castcm Nonh Carolina.

Roanoke Island is best known as the site of Sir Walter Raleigh's "Lost Colony" in the late I 6th century. In the first year of the Civil War, however, Union military planners had their eyes on the small, boggy island as a cru­cial pan of their grand strategy for 1862. Situated behind the Outer Banks, north of all four ban·icr inlets, Roanoke has beeu described as resembling "a loosc­fitting cork plugging the neck ofa bottle called Albemarle Sound."

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another Union expedition would move against Charleston, South Carolina. Completing the noose that Northern strategists planned to tic around the Confederacy's neck was the mighty Anny of

BATTLEFIELD

ROANOKE ISLAND ,-ll~•'f t IHI:

the Potomac. under the command of Major General George Brinton McClellan, which was to move against Richmond with over­whelming force.

The man selected to com­mand the Union expedition against Roanoke Island was 37-year-old lndiana native Ambrose Everett Burnside. Brigadier General Burnside was a tall, ener­getic man who made up for the lack of hair on his head with a lux­uriant growth of side-whiskers and mustache caUed "bumsidcs" or "sideburns" in his l1onor. General Burnside had at his dis­posal 15 regiments, which he organized into three brigades. At the head of these brigades, he placed three of his old West Point classmates and "most trusted friends," John Gray Foster, Jesse Lee Reno, and John Grubb Parke. "In all future operations in the expedition, our close friendly rela­tions were maintained," Burnside later recalled of this three lieu­tenants, "and l was never disap­

The capture of this I I -mile long, three-mile wide island by Union forces would open the entire NortJi Carolina coast and mainland areas to auack; it would open a second front for operations in Virginia; it would provide con­trol of the Dismal Swamp Canal, the "back-door" to Norfolk and the Gosport Navy Yard; and it

RoAnoke l1land. From J ohn Gikhrist Rarr,11, Tl1t! Cli•il IYur ht North Carolina (Chapel Ffill, 1963), 79.

pointed in any reliance which I placed on their gallantry, skill, and integrity."

would give the Union's Atlantic blockading squadron a strategic base for operaLions against the south's European lifelines. While Union forces struck the coast of North Carolina, another Federal force would advance against Cumberland Gap and Knoxville in eastern Tennessee, while another seized New Orleans. Yet

Burnside's 15,000 men were part of what has been called the "first major amphibious force" in American history. The commander of the naval escort was Flag-Officer Louis Malcshcrbes Goldsborough. In many respects, the 56-ycar-old native of Washington, D.C., was the most extraordinary figure

on the expedition. Enormous (6 feet 4 inches in height and weighing over 300 pounds), red-bearded and eccentric, Golds­borough had first joined the navy at the remarkable age of seven and had later served as Superintendent of tbe U.S. Naval Academy.

Burnside had to summon all of his considerable energy in acquiring suitable transports for his Coastal Division. By his own admission, the transport fleet he assembled at Annapolis, Maryland, was a motJey one. His vessels "had few of the virtues and most of the deficiencies of improvision."

By Wednesday morning, January 8, 1862, all of Burnside's troops were aboard ships of some description. The next day bjs fleet set sail for Fort Monroe, Virginia, where on Friday, January JO, it rendezvoused with Goldsborough's escorts. The entire armada now consisted of 80 vessels with a total of 108 guns. The force was divided into a naval division of light-draft gunboats, led by Commander Stephen Clegg Rowan, and a division of armed vessels (including Burnside's 46 transports), commanded by Captain Samuel F. Hazard.

At 10 p.m., Saturday, January I 1, the signal to sail came from Burnside's flagship, the Picket. Around noon the next day,

would hardly take a Napoleon to capture Roanoke Island. The state of the Confederate defense on the island would have been almost comical bad the point not been so crucial to the South.

Some Confederate authorities were aware of the importance of Roanoke Island. Brigadier General Daniel Harvey Hill, who had been placed in charge of the defenses of Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds in late September, 1861 , was appalled al the weakness of his lines and the scarcity of troops to man them. In October, following his first inspection tour, Hill reported to Richmond on the deficiencies he confronted and stated: "Roanoke Tsland is the key of one-third of North Carolina, and whose occupancy by the enemy would enable him co reach the greal railroad from Richmond to New Orleans .... I would most earnestly call the attention of the honorable Secretary of War to the importance of Roanoke Island. Tts fall would be fully as fatal as that of Manassas."

The fortifications on Roanoke Island consisted of three turfed sand forts facing Croatan Sound on the western side, a two-gun battery at Ballast Point, facing Roanoke Sound on the eastern side, and an eigbt-foot redoubt with three guns in tl1e middle of the island. Fort Huger, the northemmost of the three

an adverse wind began to make the water very choppy. As the vessels pitched and rolled on the waves, many men and at least one dog ("Curley,'' the mascot of Company F, 23rd Mas­sachusetts) became seasick Later in the day, a dense fog enveloped the ships. As if the weather did not present problems enough for Burnside and Goldsborough, the captain of one ves­sel became "beastly dnmk," thus endangering further his seasick passen­gers. The storm continued into Monday, January 13, but that afternoon

John R. Peacock ITT is n na1ive of High Point, NC. After graduation !Tom Sanderson High School in Raleigh, he entered Virginia Polytechnic Institute, where he received his B.A. and M.A. degree.~. Jn 1990, he received a Ph.D. in His­tory from Louisiana State University, where he laugh! American History for three semesters. Jn 1991-1992, he was Visiting Lecrurer in History at Texas A & M University. Since the fall of 1992, he has been Instruct.or of History al Nash Community College in Rocky Mount, NC. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor soci­e1ies, the Southern Historical Association and the Com­munily College Humanities Association. He is also nctive in the William Dorsey Pender Civil War Round Table in Rocky Mount ln addition 10 history, he enjoys sportS, food, and travel. he and his wife, Teresa, live in Wilson, NC, with their one-year-old son, Jack.

forts on the western side of the island, mounted 12 guns. Farther south, Fort Blanchard mounted four guns. The southernmost fort, Bartow, mounted nine. These forts were incomplete and poorly situated. They were clustered at the nonbem end of the is.land as if in expectation of an attack from that direction after Norfolk fell. The south­ern end, facing PamJfoo Sound, was left open Lo an amphibious assault. The redoubt in the center of the island com­manded the only road running notth

most of the fleet anived safely inside the outer bar at Hatteras Inlet. The next morning presented what one soldier called "a scene of terror and wildest grandeur" as the fury of the stonn increased. Not until Friday, January 17, did the great storm at last subside.

Yet nature continued to pose great difficulties. Most of the vessels had been able to cross the outer bar but drew too much water to make it across the shallow "swash" and into Pamlico sound. Thus it proved necessary to deepen the channel. This endeavor consumed several more days, during which the men suffered considerably from cold, hunger, and thirst in their cramped quarters. On Thursday, January 23, yet another great stom1 blew in and saw, in one soldier's words, "more vessels ashore and the fleet going to the devil." Even the indomitable Burnside later admitted that at one point he "gave up all hope."

On Sunday, January 26, to the great relief of Burnside, Goldsborough, and other officers and men of the expeditfon, the weather finally cleared. Ships began crossing the swash. By February 4, the entire fleet was anchored safely in Pamlico Sound, whereupon orders were issued for lhe advance up the sound on Roanoke Island.

After weeks of confinement aboard the transports, the troops were so anxious for action that one solder noted in his diary: "One would have supposed, to have heard the boys talk .. . that we were all Napoleons." Little did this soldier realize that it

PAGBTWO

and south. The redoubt was flanked by breastworks and deep cypress swamps, called "impassable" by Confederate authorities. Across Croatan Sound on the mainland, the Confederates built Fort Forrest on two old barges rammed into the shore. The sound was obstrncted by a double line of 16 sunken vessels and a system of pilings. General Ftill ordered the relocation of the lower fort on Roanoke and the construcrfon of a line of earthworks across the island. However, before these measures could be carried out, Hill was transferred back to Viiginia.

Hill's fonncr command was divided between Generals Henry Alexander Wise of Virginia and Lawrence O' Bryan Branch of North Caroli11a. Wise's district, including the counties around AJbema.rle Sound and Roanoke Island, was detached from North Carolina and placed under the Dcpartmenl of Norfolk. This department was under the command of a South Carolinian, Major General Benjamin Huger. Wise, a fomicr gov­ernor of the Old Dominion, was a general by virture of political influence, but even he quickly perceived the woeful inadequacy of Roanoke Island's defenses and joined the governor of North Carolina, Henry Toole Clark, in pleading ~ith fuchmond author­ities to strengthen Roanoke's defenses. Yet General Hugar, who had never inspected the Roanoke defenses, responded to Wise's requests by recommending "hard work and coolness among the troops you have, instead of more men."

The troops Wise l1ad numbered 1,473 men, "exclusive of

RECALL

BOOK REVIEWS Continued from previous page of whom could recall personally the dangers that lurked along the Outer Banks during World War n .

This revised edition of ln Some Foreign Field contai11s mucb new material, including a chapter on the discovery of the Bedfordshire's remains off Cape Lookout in the late 1970s. The 99-pagc paperback is ilJustratcd with 36 black-and-white pic­tures and maps. Included are photographs of the Bedfordshire, members of her crew, the German submarine U-558, and the British cemetery on Ocracoke. Many of the illustrations, includ-

ing photographs of the British sailors, are published here for the first time.

The author of In Some Foreign Field, L. VanLoan Naisa­wald, is a retired army officer and former civil servant now liv­ing in Lynchburg, Va. A native of Garden City, N.Y., he is a graduate of Virginia Military Institute in Lexington and holds a master's degree in history from UNC-Chapel Hill. His other writings include Grape and Canister: The Sto1y of the F ield Artille1y of the Army of the Potomac, I 861-1865.

North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster Volume XIV (57th, 58th, 60th, & 6lst Regiments. Edited

by Weymouth T. Jordan, Jr. ISBN 0-86526-280-2; xxiv, 813 pp.; illustrated, index. clothbound.

Praised as a "magnificent achievement" and "the finest state roster ever published," Nol"lh Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster is an invaluable resource for Civil War buffs, local his­torians, genealogists, and scholars. The new Volume 14 of this acclaimed series contains carefully researched histories of the 57th, 58tb, 60th, and 6Ist Regiments, North Carolina lnfantry, and the names and service records of the approximately 7 ,000 Confederate soldiers who served in those units.

Edited by Weymouth T. Jordan, Jr., Volume 14 is a bal­anced, comprehensive presentation of regimental histories and individual service records. The four histories are detailed and lengthy (295 pages out of 813), are based on extensive research, and are supported by over 800 footnotes and 28 maps.

The four regiments featured are of considerable interest. The 57th fought with distinction at Fredericksburg, took part in Col. Isaac Avery's iU-fated night attack on Cemetery Hill at Gellysburg, and was decimated at Rappahannock Station. The 58th and 60th served in the Army of Termessee under Genis. Braxton Bragg, Joseph E. Johnston, and John' Bell Hood at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Bentonville, and in the bloody battles against Sherman dw'ing the Atlanta Campaign. The 6lst saw combat at Kinston and Goldsboro in December 1862, at Charleston Harbor in 1863, and at Drewry's Bluff and Fort Harrison in 1864.

Among the other battles in which one or more of the regi­ments took pan are Stones River, Chancellorsville, Resaca, Kolb's Farm, Third Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, and Murfreesboro. Maps by Civil War cartographer Blake Magner are included for all of those engagements and for the Western Theater; Northwest Georgia, The Caro-1 inas, and East Tennessee; Northern Virginia and Contiguous Areas; Central

captured; prisoner of war record; place, date, and reason dis­charged; and place, date, and cause of death. Some service records relate episodes of heroism. non-heroism, and personal tragedy or highlight the individuality or simple humanity of the No11h Carolina soldier.

HOW TO ORDER The historical publication section. an agency of tbc N.C. Dcparuncnl of Cultural Resources. offers papccback. books about Revolutionary Nortn Carolina. Among them are:

A Chronicle of North Carolina during the Ame1ican Re1•0/11tio11, 1763-1789 ($6 plus $3 shipping).

liuliw1 Wars in Nonh Carolina, 1663-1763 ($6 plus $3 shipping).

In Some Foreign Field: Pour British Grm1es and Suhman'ne Wa1fa1·e on the North Cal'o!ina Oilier Banks ($10 plus S3 ship­ping).

Volwne 14, North Camli11a Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster ($40 plus $4 shipping).

North Caroli11<t in the American Revolution ($6 plus $3 shipping) Tfle Black Experience in Revo/11/ionary North Coro/i11t1 ($5 plus $2 shipping). Not a Conquered People: Two Carolinians Yiew Parliamentary Taxation, 111e Emergence of North Carolina's Revolutionary Swre Government. ($3 plus S2 shipping).

North Caro{i11a's Revo/11tio11a1y War Navy. clothbound ($3 plus $2 shipping). N.C. residents add 6% sales tax. O~der from: Historical Publications Section (N), Division of Archives and History. 109 E. Jones St., Raleigh, NC 27601-2816.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES: Single: $10 Life $100

Virginia; Southern Virginia, the Shenan- Applicant's name: doah Valley; and Richmond-Petersburg. ------------------------

Service records for individual sol- Mailing address: --------------------------diers average about 90 words in length and City: ____ ____ _ Stale: Zip Code: --------- - -contain information about each man's pre-war background as well as hjs mil itary career. The foformation provided includes county of origin; age and occupation al time of enlistment; place and date of en1ist­ment; promotion record; place, date, and nature of wounds received; place and date

NOVl!MDER 1998

Telephone:(______) ________ _ Membets will receive all publ/catlons, lnvilatlons to a/I /unctions and activities of the Society, and voting prlVl/eges at all

meetings or the Society.

Apply contribution to: o General Operations o Endowment Fund o I have some mlntary artifacts that I would like to donate to the N.C. Milllary Historical Society.

o I would like to assist the Society in preserving our military heritage. Please tell me how I can help.

Mall Application and Chee!< to

NCMHS, 7410 Chapel Hill Road, Raleigh, NC 27606-5096

PAGE NfN£TEEN

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BOOK REVIEWS

Reprinted Title Surveys Revolutionary North Carolina A paperback book about l\onl1 Carolina in the American

Revolution. which had been out of print for more U1an 10 years, is now available from the hjstorical publications section of the N.C. Division of Archives and History. A Chronicle of North Carolina during the American Revolutio11, 1763-1789 first ap­peared in 1975 as part o f a Revolutionary bicentennial series published by the state.

Written by JcfTrcy J. Crow, the 6 1-page volume presents a brief overview of rorth Carolina during the Revolution. Designed as a reference work, the Chro11icle examines signifi­cant events and developments from the implementation of Great 13ritain's " new colonial policy" in 1763 to North Carolina's rati­fication of the federal Constitution in 1789.

A Chronicle of North Carolina during the American Revolution is convenienlly arranged, with events listed in chron­ological order and briefly explained in paragraphs headed by the dates on which they occurred. Among the topics covered are committees of safety, provincial congresses, the establishment of a new state government, and baulcs foug ht in North Carolina.

The Chronicle examines Norl11 Carolina's role in ratifying

the United States Constitution and discusses American and British leaders who participated in the momentous events from 1763 to 1789.

The paperbound book is illustrated with 27 black-and-white pictures and contains a list of sources. Among l11e illustrations are pictures of prominent civilian and military leaders, events such as the Edenton Tea Party and the Battle of the Guilford Courthouse, several documents of the period, and a map.

Jeffrey J. Crow is director of tJlC N.C. Division of Arch.ives and History. A native of Akron, Ohio, he holds a Ph.D. degree from Duke University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Crow has served as heritage consu ltam for the N.C. Bicentennial C.ommittee, administmtor of the historical publica­tions section, and editor in chief of the North Carolina ffistorica/ Review.

He is the author of articles and books on 'orth Carolina, including a textbook used in ilie state's public schools. llis Black Experience in Revolutionary North Carolina (1977), also pub­lished by the Division of Archives and History, has remained in print since U1e bicentennial and is now in its fourth printing.

Popular 'Indian Wars in North Carolina, 1663-17 63 ' Back in Print A popular paperback about American lndian wars during

the first century of pcrmaJJent white scttlcme11t in North Caro­lina, which had been out of print for more l11an J 0 years, is now available !Tom the historical publ ications section of the N.C. Division of Archives and History. First published in 1963, l11dia11 Wars in North Carolina, 1663-1763. by E. Lawrence Lee, went through two printings and sold 25,000 copies before going out of print in 1986.

The 94-pagc volume discusses various Native American tribes Uiat inhabited colo11ial Notth Carolina during the seven­teenlh and eighteenth centu ries. Included is information about lhe Cherokee of the western mountains, the Catawba of llle Piedmont, and lhe Tuscarora of the Coastal Plain.

Separate chapters are devoted to early Indian wars ( 1663-17 1 I), the Tuscarora War ( 17 J 1-17 I 5), the Yamassee and Cheraw Wars ( 17 15-17 18), the French and Indian War of the

1750s. and the Cherokee War, which formally ended in 1763. The third printing of f11dia11 Wars in North CC1ro/i11a fea­

tures a newly designed cover that pictures tbe Cherokee cluef Cunne Shotc in 1762. The reprint also includes a new foreword by Jerry C. Cashion, research supervisor of the Division of Archives and History.

E. Lawrence Lee (1912-1996) was born in Wilmington, N.C., and earned underg raduate and graduate degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill. rrom 1956-1977, Lee taught at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., where be served a tenn as chairman of the his­tory depanmenl. He was instrumental in the establishment in 1955 of Brunswick Town State Historic Site. among the most visited of the sites operated by the Division of Archives and His tory. Among Lee's other publications was a paperback histo­ry of New Hanover County, published in 1971 by the division's historical publications section and now in its third printing.

Ocracoke 's British Cemetery and Submarine Warfare Are Subjects of New Coastal Title

Coastal North Carolina, with its natural beauty, nautical lore, and channing traditions, 1l3s enduring appeal for both Tar Heels and visitors. Books about North Caro lina's coasta l history are among the most popuJar titles published by the state histori­cal publications section. A new coastal title now ofiers a fasci­nating account of how four British seamen can1e to be buried on Ocracoke Is land.

In Some Foreign Field: Four British Graves and S11b-111ari11e Warfare 011 tlte North Carolina Outer Banks. by L.

PAOE EJGHTEEN

VanLoan Naisawald, is a graphic and sad story of the Oritish antisubmarine trawler Bedfords/1ire and the Gem ian submarine U-558. Off Cape Lookout on a fateful night in 1942, the subma­rine torpedoed tJ1e Bedfordshire, killing her crew. r our of the courageous British crewmen arc buried today in an Ocracokc Island cemetery visited each tourist season by hundreds of Americans and otJ1er travelers.

Over the years, Ocracokc's British cemetery became a spe­c ial place of remembrance for coastal North Carolinians, many

RECAL.l

the gan-isons in the forts," and were "undrilled, unpaid, not suf­ficiently clothed and quartered, and ... miserably armed with old flint muskets in bad order." Wise's naval complement consisted of a ''mosquito fleet," a squadron of small gunboats commanded by Captain William F. Lynch. The Sea-Bird, Lynch's flagship, mounted two guns. The rest of tbe vessels carried one gun each. Two were actually tugs with guns on board. Wise dismissed 1hem as "perfectly imbecile."

General Wise was not " inspired" by the weak physical con­dition and poor equipment of the North Carolina troops, but the general himself failed to inspire some of his men. Lieutenant Colonel Wharton Jackson Green, Urn able young commander of lhe 2nd North Carolina Battalion, described Lhe former Virginia fire-eater as "a very indifferent soldier . .. totally unfitted for command at a most important point and at a most critical junc­ture."

Wise's second-in-command 011 Roanoke Tsland, Colonel Henry Marchmore Shaw of the 8th North Caro lina Infantry Regiment, received even more crilicism than hjs superior. Like Wise, he had been a politician before Ute war. One of his own captains, Henry Mac Rae, thought Shaw was "not worth the pow­der and ball it would take to kill him" and claimed that there was not a "meaner officer in the se1vice." MacRae also charged that while S haw was supposed to looking after L1is men, he sat in his tent and played chess.

To their credit, boU1 General Wise and Colonel Shaw rec­ognized the strategic importance of their position and continued to appeal for reinforcements, but to no avail. Confederate lead­ers, including President Jefferson Davis and Secretary of War Judal1 P. Benjamin, concluded that the tribulations of Burnside's armada at Hatteras doomed the Federal effort to failure.

Not all Soulherners were under the same illusions as their leaders . A resident of Norfolk confided in his diary that General Huger was not aware of the importance of Roanoke Jsland "or the value of the country bordering on the Sound." William Alexander Graham, a prominent North Carolinian, wrote to l1is wife that Roanoke Island "has been strangely neglected by

Confederate authorities." The soldiers on Roanoke Island also were under no illu­

sions about their situation. On February 5, 1862, Lieutenant Julius W. Wright of the 8th North Carolina Infantry wrote to his mother: "At Roanoke, we are making every possible opposition, but I fear it was almost too late in the day when we went into the field to work, that too much time and valuable opportunities were wasted through inactivity." Wright may well have penned Ute most concise expla nation for the d.isaster lhat was about to befall the defenders of Roanoke Island.

The Battle of Roanoke lsland commenced late in the morn­ing ofFebrua1y 7, 1862, when one oflbe Union gunboats opened fire and drew return fire from the Confoderates. Goldsborough signalled his fleet to begin action. By noon a ll of his vessels were in position, and the fi ring became rapid. The Federals concen­trated their salvos on Fort Ba1iow aod on Lynch's "mosquito fleet," drawn up in battle formation behind the sunk.en vessels and pilings in the channel.

As the fighting progressed, the poor positioning of the Confederate batteries became obvious. Only Fort Bartow was within effective rai1ge of the Uition fleet, and Goldsborough nul­lified all but three of its njne guns by hugging c lose to the shore­line below the fort. Lynch' s "mosquito fleet" twice advanced from behind the line of obstructions. then tumed and headed north again in an effort to Jure the enemy gunboats through the unmarked channel and into the direct tire of Fons Huger and Forrest. However, Goldsborough, aided by information from some runaway slaves, suspected a trap and refi.tsed to follow the Confederate boats. fnstead, his vessels circled in front of Fort Bartow and poured shot aller shot into the beleaguered garrison from both po1t and starboard guns.

Around l p.m., the barracks and other buildings in Fort Bartow caught fire. /\.s smoke billowed from the fort, the fire of the Confederate batteries slackened noticeably while the Union gunboats increased their barrage. The guns in Fort Bartow fired only an occasional shot the rest of the afternoon, but the battle between Goldsborough's gunboats and Lynch's "mosquito fl eet"

Landing of troops on Roanoke Island

NOVEMBER 1998 PAGE THREE

continued until dark. That night the Confederate vessels departed for Elizabeth

City on the Pasquotank River, where Lynch hoped to get ammu­nition from Norfolk via Lhe Dismal Swamp Canal. One of Lynch's omcers recalled that the departure of Lynch's force "looked too much like leaving the army in the lurch, and yet to have remained without ammunition would have been mere folly."

At 3 p.m., Burnside bad given the order for the troops to land. Based on information from a mnaway slave boy named Thomas R . Robinson and a rccoonajssancc conducted by Lieutenant W. S. Anders of the 9th New York Infantry, Burnside had decided to make his landll1g at Ashby's Harbor, nearly mid­way up the western shore of Roanoke Island. The gunboats Delaware and Morse shelled the ground in the rear of Ashby's Harbor to clear the landing area of Conrederate troops. Surtboats and barges drawn up next to the transports rapidly filled with men in light marching order. When each brigade was ready, a light-draft vessel took it in tow and made for shore with all speed. Each of the stuiboats, when near the beach, was then cur loose. As one srudent of the campaign bas written: " lt was an operation fmely planned and beautifully executed, wort.by of comparison with landing operations of later wars." TI1e success of the lancling also was aided by U1e decision of the Con federate commander at the scene, Colonel John V. Jordan of the 3 1st North Carolina, not to oppose it. Burnside was able to get his entire force (with the exception of the 24lh Massachusetts, whose transport bad rwi aground in the channel) ashore by mid­night.

Terrain more of obstacle than Confederates The terrain actually presented more of an obstacle to

Burnside's men than U1e Confederates did. The Federal troops landed in marshy ground where mud and water rose to their knees. The Federals f01ally found some firm ground 011 which to bivouac, but lhat night a cold rain began to fall and quickly turned the field into a sticky mud. Blankets and tents were in short supply, so the night was miserable and largely sleepless.

February 8, 1862, dawned cold and dreruy. Just before 7, the dmms beat the " long roll ," bugles blared their call to am1s, and the order to "fall in" was given. General Foster's brigade led off with Colonel Edwin Upton's 25U1 Massachusetts in front. The brigade marched into a pine woods a long a muddy cart path tmtil it reached the corduroy road runfilng north-south through the center of the island. Here bluecoars of the 25th Massachusetts fonned a skirmish line in advance of the column. Meanwhile, General Reno's brigade moved up on U1e left of Foster's brigade. General Parke's brigade advanced 011 Foster's right.

The Confederates had constmctcd their defense line at the narrowest point on the island and across the lone north-south road. On both sides of the road was a supposedly "impenetrable" swamp. A three-gun battery controlled bot11 Ille road and sever­al hundred yards of c leared area on either side. The Confederates had felled trees and sharpened their branches both above and below tl1e water. As long as the rebel defenders could hold this line, the fort, whose guns faced the waterfront, would be pro­tected. If the Federals breached U1e line, all of the Confederate defenses would be open to assault from the rear.

General Wise had been anxious to lead his troops in battle.

PAGE FOUR

However, he was denied Ibis opportunity by an attack of pleurisy which prostrated him at Nag's Head, across Roanoke Sound from the island. In Wise's absence, Colonel Shaw assumed com­mand of all Confederate o·oops on Roanoke Island. Shaw confi­dently deployed 400 men in U1e breastworks and held 1,050 in reserve.

Around 8 a.m., the battle for this crucial position com­menced. Foster placed ms six Dahlgren howitzers in position and ordered the 25th Massachusetts to advance. The right of the regiment, resting across the road, soon engaged the enemy. while the compa11ies on the left plunged into the mud and briar-filled swamp. The 23rd and 27th Massachusetls regiments formed on the right of the 25th, where "the ground was hard and free from brush." Foster held the I 0th Connecticut in reserve.

When ilie left wing of lhe 25th was finally in line, it began firi ng. " We could see nothing to shoot at," one of lhe new Englanders recalled, "but taking our range by the smoke of the enemy's guns we blazed away." The Federals were up to their knees in mud and water, so the enemy's shots passed over them witl1out doing much harm. As the officers cut away lhe briars with swords, the troops inched their way forward to within 200-300 yards of the Confederate redoubt. The Bay Slaters lay down to load their rillcs, then stood up to fire, advancing a few steps at a time.

With no place to hide from either the artillery or musket fire of the Confederates, the going was slow and tortuous for Colonel Upton's men. The captain of Company D was hit near lhc eye as he stood on a log cutting away the briars with his sword. "He whirled round on the bog," recalled on trooper. "and would have fallen bad not U1ree of his men caught him and led him to the rear."

A private in the 25th saw the regiment's major shooting a large revolver into the air "at an e levation of about 80 degrees." When asked what he was doing, the major replied, "Why, you see, if my shots attain their summit directly over the enemy, and if one of those shot in falling should hit a man on top of his head, his goose would be cooked just as effectively as though he b.ad been hit with a cannon ball."

After three hours in the swamp, the 25th Massachusetts, having exhausted its ammunition and suffered "considerable loss," was relieved by the 10th Connecticut. Foster also ordered the 23rd Massachusetts, followed by the 27th, to wade into the swamp on ilie right "and endeavor to tum the enemy's left." These two regiments had been lying in mud wiili bullets and can­nonballs whistling overhead while watching the dead and wounded to the 25th Massachuseus being borne to the rear. Now tl1ey plunged into a morass that was waist deep at some points and fi lled with bushes and briars so Ulick iliat "only one man could pass at a time."

As the Bay Staters moved farU1er into the swamp, they stopped several times and exclaimed: "Jt is impossible l.o go on." F inally, two officers of the 23rd Massachusells "took their swords and went to slashing, saying, 'Come on, boys!"' Through vines so thick and tough that the officers' swords could hardly sever them, d1e two Massach.uset1s regiments ar least emerged from the woods oo the left nank of the confederate line. It was now near noon.

Meanwhile, General Reno's brigade had arrived on ilie other side of the fie ld and began trying to cut its way tl1rough the swamp to the left of the road. The Confederates noticed Reno's

R.ECAl.L

Fiddler's Green Its origin probably was in the U.S. Cavalry

No one knows the exact origin of Fiddler's Green in the United States Anny. Its concept seems to have been popular among 17th and 18th ccntu1y sailors, soldiers, and masterless men of Europe, who knew that they would not qualify for Heaven but trusted that a merciful God would agree to their credo that, "To live hard, to die hard, and to go to Hell afterwards would be hard indeed."

An ru1icle i11 t11e L925 Cavalry Journal may give some credence to its origin in the U.S. Cavalry and the fact that it may have occurred during the Indian Wars.

Fiddler's Green was inspired by a sto1y told quite sometime back by Captain "Sammy" Pearson at a camp fire in the Medicine Bow Mountains of Wyoming. Having mentioned Fiddler's Green and found that no one appeared 1.o have heard of it, Pearson indignantly asserted that every good cavalryman ought to know of Fiddler's Green, and

he forthwith told this story. "About halfway down the road to Hell there is a broad

meadow dotted with trees and crossed by many streams. Jn this meadow, known as Fiddler's Green, is located an old army canteen (where liquor was sold), and near it are camped all the dead cavahymen, with their tents, horses, picket Line, and campfires, around whi.ch the souls of ilie dead troopers gather to tell stories and exchange reminis­cences. No otl1er branch of the service may stop at Fiddler's Green, but must continue to march straight through to Hell. It is tmc that occasionally some trooper who has a longing, as most troopers have, for a change of station, packs his saddle, mounts his horse, and continues his journey. But none of them has ever reached the gates of hell, for, having emptied bis canteen of liquor, he needs be returned to Fiddler's Green for a refi ll."

In t!tis ghost song f or the vanished cavalty, at least the other services get 111entio11ed. Author""" composer are 11ameless, and tile so11g, to j1ulge from the co11te11t, must be "'least as old (IS the Indian wflrs.

Soldier J was that which others did not want to be. I went where others feared to go,

and did what other failed to do. I asked nothing from those who gave nothing,

and reluctantly accepted the thought of eterna l loneliness ... should I fail.

1 have seen the face of terror; felt the stinging cold of fear; and enjoyed the sweet taste of a moment's love.

I have cried, pained, and hoped . . . but most of all, l have lived times others would say were best forgotten. At least someday I will be able to say that

I was proud of what I was .. . a soldier.

- George L. Skypeck

NOVEMBER 1998 PAGE SEVENTEEN

A Brief History of the

Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry Fayetteville, North Carolina

The Fayet1eville Independent Light lnfantry was organized August 22, 1793. Captain Robert Adam. its first commanding officer, offered lhe services of the company to President Washington and later to President Jefferson when a second war witb Eng laud was eminent.

Tt served in the War of 1812 and at the same time maintained a company of "substitutes" ac its own expense.

Because of its distinguished service, by a special act of the legislature in 1819, its commanders were endowed with the rank of Major and its four nex.t officers witl1 that of Captain, a dis­tinction conferred upon no other compa11y in North Carolina.

Io 1861, before orth Carolina seceded from Ille Union, the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry volunteered among the very first, and, as Company H, First North Carolina Regiment, fought in lbe Confederate Army. Major Wright lluskc was in command when the company was mustered into service as a unit in the North Carolina Volunteers on April 22, 1861 , and with the company's motto emblazoned on irs flag : "He That Hath No Stomach To This Fight, Let Him Depart," prepared the company for action.

The company was dispatched to Yorktown to take part in the Battle of Bethel, one of the first major battles of the war, from wltich it emerged victorious. It served throughout the fo ur years of the War Between the States in the Bethel Reg iment.

At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in the spring of 1898, the Fayetteville l ndependent Light Infantry again offered its services to the State, and as Company R Second North Carolina Regiment, it entered the service with Major Benj. R Huskc commanding. After that, the compauy was represented

in the State Guard of North Caroliua as Company F, and as suc h took part in the Mexican border troubles in 1916. They were in continuous service until mustered in the army for World War T as Company F, I 19th infantry, 30th Division.

The company participated in tlie Mecklenburg Declaration of fndependence Centennial in May, 1875. It represented North Carolina at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876, at the Yorktown Centennial i11 1881, and ar the Constitutional Centennial at P hiladelphia in 1887. It was one of the two organizations from North Carolina in the Dewey celebration in New York September 30, 1899. In June 1926, the company participated in tlie opening exercises of the Sesqui-Centennia l Exposition in Philade lphia. Major Terry A. Lyon was in command. fn 1929 the company participated in the Sesqui-Centennial celebration of the 13attlc of Kings Mountain. President Herbert Hoover reviewed the troops in the parade.

T he Fayetteville lndependent Light infantry is one of the original thirteen members of the "Centennial Legion," hav ing represented North Carolina at the Philadelph ia Centennial in 1876.

At this time the company is the on ly active independent mil­itaiy company in the State of North Carolina. The Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry has had a long record of service to its State and Nation. With the exception of a few years immediate­ly following the War Between the States, when it was denied the right to bear ant1s by the federal government, tbe records of the company show that it has been continuously a part of the organ­ized militia ofNotth Carolina.

The Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry Museum - A Downtown Treasurer

Ao important part of Fayetteville's history can be experi­enced by visi ting tl1e Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry Museum on Burgess Street. The museum pays tribute to the Fayetteville Independent L ight Infantry's outstanding, continu­ous record of distinguished service since its formation in 1793. The devoted people of Fayettevi lle reacted swiftly to the threat of war and the hostile (attitude) of Spain toward the State of the American U nio11. All armed militia, prepared to fight agajnst all odds, was drns estab ]jshed.

With the company's mo tto emblazoned on its flag, the FTLI waiting in readiness to assist President Washington.

[n 1807. President Jefferson urged the Militia to prepare for a second war witl1 England. T he FlLl proudly served in the War of 1812.

Today, FILI members serve as honor g11ards at various state functions. The company continues to meet regularly at the

PAGE SIXTEEN

museum. Elections arc still conducted to select officers. One dedicated member. lsaac Hammond, a famous fifer for

the Independent Company, requested burial on the banks of Cross Creek opposite "Cool Spring" so that he "might hear the tramp of lhe o.ld compan y as they marched by to the cemetery on their anniversary day." Hammond felt that the "sound would gladden him in the long sleep of tomb."

The compaJJy has maintained a Jong distinguished service record on both the State and National levels. If you are a native of the C ity of fayetteville, you are certain to recognize many of the names listed on the museum's rosters. The FILI Museum is an outstanding tribute Lo some of Fayetteville's finest milita1y men.

The museum is within walking distance of the library and the Olde Fayetteville Commons. A tour can be arranged by calling Bruce Daws at 910-433-1018. It will be truly time well spent.

RECAJ L

men and "kepl up a pretty sharp fire." but they inflicted few casualties on the Union troops because they could not see their targets through the dense vegetation. After fi nally getting within sight of the Confederate works, Reno's men "commenced to send the lead in there, in right good earnest."

While the Confederates were exchanging shots wit11 Reno's troops on their right flank, a company of the 23rd Massachusetts suddenly appeared on U1e rebel left. The rest of the 23rd and the 27th Massachusetts soon began pouring out of the swamp and charging towaJd the redoubt. "Retreat, boys, retreat!" shouted a Confederate officer. "The devils have flanked us!"

At U1is point, the 9th New York, of Parke's brigade, charged down U1e road toward the Confederate redoubt. This regiment was commanded by the flamboyant Colonel Rush C. Hawkins and was known as '1-Iawkins' Zouaves.'· Colonel Hawkins always maintained that the heroic charge of bis Zouaves broke the Confederate line. Yet several sources disputed this claim. A soldier in the 21st Massachusetts recalled: "Then, with our two flags in plain s ight upon the parapet, tl1e fort full of our men, and the last nmning rebel well out of sight. the 9th New York came running up the narrow cordmoy road by the nank, and with a great s hout of 'Zou Zou' swaimed into the battery for alJ the world as if they were capturing it." Soldiers from several Union regiments even claimed that the Zouaves had fired inlo their own men in their haste to claim the glo1y of being first to break the Confederate line.

For l1is part, Colonel Shaw considered the island lost the moment the redoubt was flanked. The troops in the redoubt "ran like sheep throwing away every blanket, gun, and even shirt coats and pants." Some of the Confederate defenders attempted to escape in small boats across Roanoke Sound to Nag's Head. The 9th New York appeared just in time to prevent most of the rebels from escap.ing.

Foster's brigade, with the 24th Massachusetts in the lead, pursued U1e main body of Confederates toward the northern end of the island. As Foster' s men prepared to assault the enemy a short distance to the rear of Fort Huger, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel G. Fowle of the 3 I st Nonh Carolina appeared with a flag of truce and was directed to General Foster, who told him diat he would accept nothing but " immediate and unconditional surren­der."

He turned and sighed: "I must sunende1·." Foster detailed Major R. H. Stevenson to accompany the

flag of truce back to Colonel Shaw for an answer. Stevenson and Fowle found Shaw seated in front of a fire smoking a pipe. After he heard Foster's terms, Shaw stood and gazed into the fire for several moments. He then turned around and sighed: "I must sur­render." Shaw asked Major Stevenson if he would receive his sword. "No, Sir," Stevenson replied. "General Foster will be here in a very short time lo receive it in person." Foster soon appeared, and Shaw surrendered Roanoke Island.

[ncluding the mmsed forts, Colonel Shaw surrendered over 2,500 men, 32 cannon, and approximately 3,000 stand of srnall arms. Yet Shaw had surrendered more than just a bedraggled group of soldiers with an odd assortment of am1s. In effect, he had surrendered much of eastern No11h Carolina and soutJ1east­eru Virginia. He also had sun-endered a large measme of Southern morale.

NOVEMBER 1998

On February 10, 1862, Union sailors entered Elizabeth City and found the town deserted wiU1 two city blocks aflame. On February 12, Federals captured the lightly defended city of Edenton. The next day tJ1ey blocked the Chesapeake and Albemarle Canal by sinking an abandoned dredging machine in it. Thus, in a week's time, Union forces in North CaroLina had seized Roanoke Island and two coastal towns, destroyed the Confederate navy in the sounds, and blocked a crucial waterway. In succeeding weeks, Bwnside's forces burned the village of Winton on the Chowan River. captured the inland port of New Bern and the nearby villages of Havelock Station, Carolina City, Morehead City, and Beaufort, took Fort Macon, and occupied the tow11s of Washington and Plymouth. Thus, by July 5, 1862, when Burnside and 7,000 of his men were transferred to Virginia, Unjon troops controlled two-thirds of the North Carolina coastal region.

By facilitating the seizure of a large portion of eastern 1 orth Carolina, the capture of Roanoke Island also caused prob­lems for the main Confederate am1y in Virginia. The occupation of this territory io the rear of the confederate army by a mobile force that could safely be reinforced by water in a short time was a continual threat to operations in Virginia. Urgently needed men and supplies has to be diverted from the Army of Northern ViJginia to contain the Union anny in North Carolina. The loss of supplies ·from one of the Confederacy's richest agricultural regions was irreparable. Moreover, these were suppLies which, prior to the Union occupation of eastern North Carolina, could be shipped via protected inland waterways instead of adding to the considerable burden of Southern railways. In addition, the success of the Bumside expedition had a hannful effect of block­ade-running. After the fall of Beaufort and the inlets on the Outer Banks. blockade runners had only one port, Wilmington, from which to operate on the North Carolina coast.

Even before these long-range effects began to be felt, Southerners lamented the fall of Roanoke Island. On February lO, 1862, Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston of Halifax County. N. C., wrote in her diary: ·Tonight's mail brought the news of the attack and fall of Roanoke island! 1t has fallen to our horror and dismay, for we were led to expect some fighting at least tJ1ere. L fairly burst into tears as I read it. ... 0 why did not our men have a leader worthy of them! When will our rulers begin to think that we have a deadly and determined force to conquer. Roanoke island is now called the back door key to Norfolk. Why did they not find d1at out before putting it in the hands of our enemies! Albemarle Sound and its tributaries are now open to inroads and incursions of all kinds. Wherever their gun boats can go they 'Nill be masters." Three days later Mrs. Edmondston wrote: "Ka te & l watch the mail with a most fever­ish interest, but we do not see much to console us for the Roanoke Island disaster. The management there was worse than bad. How can troops fight under such leaders?"

Many other Southerners shared nol only Mrs. Edmond­ston's sorrow over the loss of Roanoke Is land, but also her dis­gust with Confederate leadership. On February 16, 1862, Reverend Overton Bernard of Norfolk penned in his diary: "GenJ Wise was sick at Nags Head some miles off from the Is.land and was no t in the action. Great censure is cast on Colo Shaw the commandi.ug colo from orth Carolina, originally from a New England State but years a resident ofNorth Carolina and once a member of Congress, a sort of party Hack, unfit to

PAGE J7lVE

command our Army dtere has certainly been much gross negli­gence somewhere." In Richmond, John Beauchamp Jones observed: "Roanoke has fal len before superior numbers, alU1ough we had 15,000 idle troops at Norfolk withi11 bearing of the battle. The government would not interfere, and Gen. Huger refused to allow U1c use of a few thousand of his troops." In South Carolina, Miss Emma Ho lmes confided in her dfary: "The sunender of Roanoke lsland seems a most unaccountable thing. The first news being of such slaughter on both sides until our troops were surrounded by such a superior force, & now it seems we only lost I 0 kiJled in all .. . and 30 wounded."

Although dtc actual Confederate casualties were 23 killed, 58 wounded, and 62 missing, the relative ease with which Burnside took Roanoke Is land raised a storm of controversy in official as welJ as private circles. The Confederate Congress established a committee to investigate and report on the circum­stances connected with the surrender of the island. General Wisc, recovered from his pleurisy but grief-stricken over the death of his son, Jennings, who was one of the 23 Confederates killed in the battle, supplied the committee with 143 venomous pages on the loss of Roanoke Jsland. Wise placed the responsi­bility for the debacle squarely on the shoulders of General Huger and Secretary Benjamin. Wise was particularly bitter toward Huger. He wrote the chairman of lhe investigating committee: "l intend lo accuse General Huger of nod1ing! nothing! nothing!! Tbjs was ll1e disease which brought disaster at Roanoke lsland."

Wise' s public display of grief over his son's death evoked an outpouring of sympathy for the general and made it easier for ma11y to accept his explanation for tbe fall of Roanoke Island. Tbe congressional investigating committee eventually concwTed with Wise and saddled Huger and Benjamin with the full burden o f responsibility for the defeat at Roanoke. Iluger remained in command until b.is lackluster performance during McClellan's Peninsula Campaign caused him to be relieved. Benjamin's dif­ficulties were compounded by the loss of Forts Henry and Donelson in the West a t about the same time as tl1e Roanoke Island affair. Jronically. the loss of Roanoke Island and the two western forts complicated Benjamin's job as Secretary of State. The Southern commissioners in London attributed Lhe failure of the British government to break the blockade or recognize I.be confederacy in March to Confederate defeats at Roanoke Island and in Tennessee.

Although Huger and Benjamin deserved a share of respon­sibility for the loss of Roanoke Island, it was unjust to saddle them with the full blame. As Professor Emory M. Thomas has stated: "The battle of Roanoke Island was a classic Confederate disaster." From the beginning, the South was unprepared to defend the isolated but important island. General Huger, by spending considerable time and energy trying to avoid responsi­bility for Roanoke's defense, demonstrated the weaJ01ess of the departmental command system. Even with ample warning of the Federal threat, Benjamin's War Department was unable to make an adequate response. Wise was, in the words of another histori­an, "one of the worst of 1he political generals, brave but rash, noted for fiery oratory and tobacco chewing." He spent most of his time in Norfolk and Richmond complaining rather than doing anything effective about his problems on Roanoke Island. The navy was smalJ and weak, U1e army's deficiencies in men and materiel painfully obvious. "Even before the debacle occurred," Professor Thomas has written, "the Southerners-Lynch, Wise,

PAGE SIX

Huger, and .Benjamin-bent their energies exchanging blame. And eventually the unseemly sniping involved a congressional committee that took few pains co spare the feelings of the admin­istration."

Yet any analysis of the reasons for the Confederate defeat at Roanoke Island must begin and end with the courage and deter­mination of the men in blue. Although Ambrose Burnside would later receive heavy criticism, most of it justified.. for his bungling performance with the army of the Potomac, he was at his best during the campaign in eastern North Carolina. As one recent hist01ian has said of the Battle of Roanoke lsland: "Burnside had indeed done well. Ald1ough there was Lillie chance of losing the battle with his preponderance of forces, he had won a brilliant and decisive battle with minimum losses. He had shown himself to his soldiers and intervened personally wben necessary during Utose rough weeks at sea. He had planned well witl1 I.be navy and with his brigadiers for the landing and Ute battle. Once the battle began and he was assured that Foster, his senior brigade com­mander, was handling the fight skillfully, he left the tactical command to him while he coordinated the whole battleground." In evaluating Burnside's performance during Ute entire coastal campaign, another recent histotian has written: " AU things con­sidered, Burnside's operations in North Carolina were tl1e finest feat of anns yet accomplished by a Unfon commru1der. That bis victories were won against demoralized, scallcred, poorly armed, and often wretchedly led troops should not detract from the efficiency and intelligence of his leadership."

As for Burnside's men. they had endured untold hardships at sea before finally reaching their destination. Then, on the dreary morning of February 8, 1862, they struggled through Roanoke's seemingly impenetrable swamps to achieve a victory that gave the Union a crucial foothold on the Southern coast. The beginning of U1e end for the Southern Confederacy may well have been Utis early setback on U1e Outer Banks of Nortb Carolina.

SOURCES This article was based on the nulho r·s M .A. thesis, complcred at Virginia

Tech under the direction of Dr. James r. Robertson, Jr. Many primary sources, including the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and numer­ous unit histories and personal papers, diaries. and reminiscences, were consult­ed. The most useful secondary sources arc listed below.

Barrett, John Gilchrist . Tire Civil War in North Carolina (Chapel ffill: Universiry of North Carolina Press. 1963).

Canon, Blllce. Terrible Swift S word (New York: Doubleday & Company, fnc., 1963).

Do wdy, Clifford. F..xperin11mt in R<'hellinn (Ganlcn City: Doubleday & Company, 1946).

Eaton, C lement. A History of tire Southern Confederacy (New York, Free Press. 1954).

Foote, Shelby. Tire Civil War: A Narrative. [ (New York: Random House. 1958). Henry, Robcn Selph. 711e Story of 1he Confederacy (New York: Grosset &

Dunlap. 1936). Krick. Robert K. Lee's Colonels ( Dayton: Morningside Bookshop. 1979). Ma llison, Frod M. The Civil War 011 the Outer Danks (Jefferson. NC: McFarland

& Company, Inc., Publishers. 1998) . Patrick, Rembert W. Jefferson Davis and His Cabinet (Ba1on Rouge : Louisiana

State University Press. 1944). Stick, David. The Outer Banks of North Caro/ilia (Chapel Hill: University or

Nonh Carolina Press. 1958). Thomas. Emory M. The Confederate Na1io11. 1861-1865 (New York: Harper &

Row. 1979) . Trotter, William R. Ironclads a11d Cofumblads (Greensboro: Signal Research,

Inc. 1989). Warner, E:an J. Generals in Blue: Uves of the Union Commw1ders (Baton

Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. l 964). ---~ Generals in Gray, Uves of the Confederate Commanders (Baton

Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. 1959).

RECALL

fslands. Thal same day it arrived a l Havaonah Harbor, Efate, New Hebrides, where a minefield was swept from December 29, 1943, to February 8, J944. During this lime the YMS 195 swept 167 mines. In late March and early April the ship operated out of Nandi Anchorage, Island of ViJi Levuu, in the Fiji Islands.

On April 5, J 944, Lt. Maupin took command of the YMS 195. The shjp continued operating in lhe Nanru waters until April 19 when it arrived at Suva, Fiji, and went into dry dock for six days.

On Apr il 27 the ship set sail for Espirito Santo en rome to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and arrived at Tuylagi Harbour, Florida ls land, on May 8. From May 8 to May 3 J it operated in the Guadalcanal, Florida Island, Savo, Russell Islands area. On May 31 , lhe YMS 195 departed Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, crossed the equator on June 3, and arrived at Kawjalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands on June 6.

The YMS 195 depat1ed Kwajalein Atoll on Juue 9 as part of Task Group 53 .16, moving west for the invasion of Guam. its duties were

rounds of 50-caliber ammunition, and 250 rounds of 30-caliber ammunition.

From June 15 to June 25, the YMS J 95 operated in the Saipan-Tinian waters (Marianas Islands) in support of landing operations being conducted there. Then it returned to Eniwetok Atoll by June 30 to participate in the invasion of Guam Island. On July 21, 1944, the ship participated in the initial assault oper­ations on the fsland of Guam, conducting an assault sweep off Asan Beach and serving as a control ship at tl1c line of departure for the assault landing craft. On July 29, it made a sweep for enemy mines in Apra Harbor at Guam.

On August 18, the YMS 195 returned to Eniwetok only to retum again to Saipan on August 29. By this lime, B-29 Super Fortress aircraft were being operated out of Srupan agaillst tar­gets on the Japanese mainland, and the YMS 195 joined other ships in the area operating as "dumbos" to pick up downed fly­ers when B-29s had to djtch at sea. On patrol one night, a look-

out on the YMS l 95 reported noises in

to serve as a unit of the anti-submarine and anti-aircraft screen for a task group consisting of 16 LSTs, 9 LCis, and a number of other supporting vessels. The screen, includin.g the YMS 195, fonned a circle around the main body

... there were sudden explosions. the darkness. The ship was called lo general quarters and a powerful search­light on the bridge of the ship revealed a rail made of oil drums with four Japanese on it. The ship approached the raft and, when it was about I 00 yards

They had blown themselves

up with hand grenades.

at a distance of approx.imately 4,000 yards from the center. On June I 1, Eniwetok Atoll was passed in the Marshall Islands. This was four days prior lo the assault by the Second and Fourth Marine Divisions on Saipan and eight days prior to tl1e Battle of the Philippine Sea which began on June 19.

On June 15 the task group was attacked from the starboard side by three Japanese aircraft. Task Group Command broadcast an air attack warning over the SCR-10 radio. Almost immeru­ately, the crew of the YMS 195 could observe 40-millimeter and 5-inch gun fire comin g from the main body of the Task Force and at thjs time lookouts spotted three enemy aircraft, identified as a Zero, Mark 2, a two-engine bomber (probably a Sally), and a third unidentified aircraft which was destroyed almost imme­diately in the action. Explosions occurred in or about the main body and one LCl was hit and severely damaged, losing 50 feet off its bow. The twin engine bomber, losing a llitude and with its port engine burning fu1iously, was observed on a heading which would lead across d1e bow of the YMS 195. II was observed lo swerve in her direction and to gain some altitude. The YMS 195 opened up on the bomber with 20-millimeter cannon, 50-caliber machine guns, and 30-caliber machine guns. One tracer was observed to enter the cockpit before the bomber plunged sharply into the water, exploded, and sank approximately 800 yards from the YMS 195. Mr. Maupin recalls seeing the pilot standing in the burning cockpit and waving at them before the crash. The Zero was observed to be hil by anti-aircraft fire somewhere in her for­ward section as she passed over the center of the convoy. When it came into range, the YMS 195 opened fire on it with a star­board 20-millimeter cannon and SO-ca1iber machjne gun. As the Zero passed over the stem of the ship, tl1e port 20-millimeter cannon and 50-caliber machine gun opened fire. The port gunner reported observing a tracer round from his gun enter the aircraft before she passed out of range and was lost in the clouds. lt was last observed to be smoking badly. During ihc attack, the YMS l95 expended 200 rounds of 20-millimcter ammunition, 625

NOVEMBER 1998

distant, there were sudden explosions and the Japanese djsappeared. They had blown themselves up with hand grenades.

The ship was brought to general quai1ers on Kovember 3, 7, 24, 26, and 27 because o f Japanese air a ttacks. With its oper­ations completed in the Srupan area, the YMS 195 returned to Eniwetok on December 3. Two days later, it departed for Majuro Atoll in the Marshall fslands where it arrived on December 9. By this time the ship's ruesel engines, whi.ch had been in constant use, were in poor condition. Nevertheless, on December 13 the ship departed Majuro and set sail homeward bound for Johnston Island. After sailing in excess of five days in rainy weather and using quite a bit of "dead reckoning," the ship arrived at Johnston island on December 19, refueled, and immediately set sail for Pearl Harbor, arriving on December 24.

Mr. Maupin recalls that there were so many Kamikazc­damaged shjps at Pearl that there was no berthing place available for the YMS 195. The ship was thus given leave to sail for Los Angeles, California, but the crew found that their two cold diesel engines would not start. At this point, Mr. Maupin recalls, tl1e machinist mate asked him ashore. While others stood by with fire fighting equipment, the machinist mate poured kerosene on both engine blocks and set them on fire, eventually heating the engines to the point where they would start.

They remained at Pearl almost four days with engines run­ning and departed December 28, arriving at Los Angeles Harbor on January 9, 1945. Thus ended the cruise of the YMS 195.

- Thomas W. H. Alexander is a native of Raleigh and has practiced law in Raleigh with the !inn of Maupin, Taylor and Ellis for the past 28 years. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and received his JO dei,'TCe fi:om Wake Forest University. After college, he served as an NCO in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Tom, who is a srudent of military history, curremly serves as Vice Chairman of the Wake County Historical t'reser.'Rtion Commission. He is President oft he North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys and past pres­ident of the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati (a society first formed by officers of the Continental Army and Navy and whose purpose is to promote the ideals of the American Revolution). Ile is a member of the Carolina Charter Corporation. Tom and bis wife, Mickie, live in Raleigh.

PAGE FIFTEEN

Tiie crew of YMS 195, which swept both the Atla11tic a11d Pacific for 111i11es. Mr. Ma11pi11 is front row, second from right.

southerly direction over seven nautical miles where it curved to lhe west and proceed in a southwesterly direction, paralleling the Outer Banks about eight nautical miles offshore until it curved back toward Okracokc Island and ended near the beach, approx­imately one nautical mile northeast of the community of Okracokc.

From June 7 to July 29, 1943, the VMS 195 swept 192 mines in this area. These contact mines were anchored to the ocean noor by chains and the sweeps were conducted by three ships operating together in tandem. Each ship would drag a par­avan<>-a kite-like device-on a cable to cut mines loose from their moorings. The mines floated to the surface whereupon they were sunk or exploded by ri flc fire. The mooring chains on these mines turned out to be so substantial that a special knife and anvil-like device towed behind tl1e minesweeper had to be employed. When the mooring chain for a mine was captured in the device's jaws, a power charge was ignited which drove the blade against the anvil, cutting the chain. Needless to say, it was slow going and not without its dangers.

The ship returned to Norfolk and remained there from July 30 to August 22. Now attached to the United Scates Pacific Fleet, the YMS 195 began a southerly journey towards the Panama Canal on August 22, 1943. Trouble with one of its two diesel engines required it to put ashore at Miami, Florida, where repairs were effected. On September 14, the ship departed Miami and

PAOP. fOlfRTEE.'1

continued its southerly journey transiting lhe Panama Canal on October l. On October 8, it began its southwesterly joumcy across the Pacific escorting a landing ship tank (LST). The Galapagos Islands were sighted on October 12, and on October 14 the two ships crossed the equator. The next land sighting was the Society Islands where the sl1ips arrived at Bora Bora on October 28.

By November 5 they were docked at Pago Pago on the Island of Tutuila in the Samoa Islands. Herc Mr. Maupin was awakened one morning at daybreak to a greac deal of noise near the stem of the ship. To his amazement, be found the crew load­ing a khaki-colored jeep onto the stem of the ship (not author­ized equipment) and quickly noted that it had U.S.M.C. stenciled on the hood. An hour later the jeep was navy blue. lt was clear that his crew became ever more seasoned and resourceful as the cruise proceeded. TI1e jeep remained on board for a short time until traded to a submarine crew.

On November 12, 1943, the YMS 195 negotiated the Lakemba Passage in the Fiji Islands crossing the International Date Line, and by November 12 was at Suva on che Island of Viti Lcvu in the Fiji islands. Continuing southwest, lhe ship arrived at oumea, New Caledonia, on November 17, where it was nt1ached to the South Pacific Force under Adminil Hi1lsey. Operations cominued in the Noumea area until December 26, when the ship departed for Espirito Santo in the New Hebrides

RECAU.

An Overview of Confederate Cavalry Operations During the Third Stage of the Carolinas

Campaign, March 14-24, 1865 By William H. Brown

The Third Stage of the Carolinas Campaign of March 14-24, 1865, remains the only point in which the Union annies of Major General William T. Sherman faced the prospet:t of com­bat wilh a substantial Confederate army. A portion of lhis Confederate army situated in the Upper Cape Fear and ~euse River basin was the presence of roughly 6,000 Confederate cav­alry from the two principal field armies, the Am1y ofNorthem Virginia and the Army of Tennessee. This cavalry force was cre­ated in February 1865 to screen and retard General Shem1an's two raiding am1ies as they advanced through the Carolinas. Upon lhe arrival of the weary Federal infantry in faycueville on March I I, 1865, this mowtted force received a new role of gath­ering intelligence to determine a location to strike and stop these raiding Union armies. Upon General Sherman's abandonment of Fayetteville on March 14, these iU­clad and partially mounted Con­federate units would be lhe first units to face General Shem1an's infantry, and they would have the responsibili­ty to pinpoint the goal of the Federal advance.

By mid-March I 865, the Confederate Cavalry command would consist of roughly 4,000 effectives from the Cavalry Corps of the Anny of Tennessee and 1.500 effectives from the Cavalry Corps of the Anny of Northern Virginia. Throughout the campaign in South Carolina, there remained an uneasy relationship between 1J1ese Western veterans and those who had served wider Major General J. E. B. Stuart. Much of the ill feeling came from the relationship of their two commanders, LL Generals Wade I fampton and Joseph Wheeler. General Wheeler was the leader of the principal Confederate cavalry corps of the west (especially wilh Major General Bedford Forrest's men operating behind the Union lines). He was a favorite of General Braxton Bragg and rccei ved the com­mand of lhc cavalry of tbc Army of Tennessee from him. General Wheeler would lead this corp tlll'ough U1e battles of the "heartland·' from Stones River, Tennessee ( 1863), to Atlanta. Georgia (1864). With Am1y ofTennessee advancing north in late 1864, Gencr-.U Wheeler and his command was left behind lo deal with the advance of General Sherman's men during the Savannah campaign of 1864 (March to the Sea).

Upon the arrival of General Shemian's foragers into South Carolina in February 1865, the call for help from Governor Andrew Magrath of South Carolina was met with the return of

NOVE\1DER 1998

l3utler's cavalry division and Kershaw's infantry brigade from the Anny of Northern Virginia. Accompanying these units, General Hampton returned to his native state to assist in its defense. General Hampton had been commander of lhe Cavalry Corps with the Army of North Virginia., and he expected to assume a similar role in the defense of his state. If General Wheeler assumed overall cavalry command, General Hampton would request a transfer to the infantry. Knowing the importance of Ge11cral Hampton's presence, il was not surprising that General Hampton would receive the nod for overall cavalty command.

General Hampton's presence and command did come with a price, and that came in the lack of cooperation between General Wheeler's men and the ve1erans from the Army of

Northern Virginia. Wheeler's men resented the force ful nature of General Hampton's leadership and his efforts to rein in their independent operations. They had faced General Sherman's men since the fa ll of Atlanta in September 1864, and resented the overconfidence of tJie eastern veterans. On the other hand, the South Carolina cavalry regiments of Butler's division saw t11e wide-spread foraging of General Wheeler's command to be as bad as the stealing of foodstuffs by General Sbcnnan's bum­mers. General Wheeler's men had orders to forage on the coun­tryside and destroy any supplies that could fall into Lbe hands of General Shem1an's troops. The skill of General Wheeler's regi­ments to this task did not endear them to the civilian population or General Hanipton's men. While Columbia bumed, General Hampton nearly had an unfortunate run-in with Terry's Texas

PAGI! Sl!Vfi.'I

Rangers, and rumors ran rampant that Wheeler's cavalry was responsible for the looting and burning of General HampLon's boroe. Despite their success against General Sherman's cavalry at the Battle ofMonroe's Crossroads, N.C., on March 9, 1865, ill feeli ng continued to grow between these two commands.

In the midst of a severe lbundcrstom1 on March 14, General Shennan's two armies crossed pontoon bridges over the Cape Fear River and struggled through the mud toward Goldsboro. This town, on the intersection of the Neuse River and the North Carolina Railroad, was the immediate goal of General Sherman's ill-supplied columns. At thjs point, he expected to unite with Major General John Schofield and the Twenty-third Army Corps advancing a supply line inland from New Bern and Major General Alfred Terry's provisional c01ps moving north­ward from Wilmington. General Johnston, under orders from General Robert E. Lee as Commander

Lower) Goldsboro Road, and the right Wing separating into two columns heading toward Goldsboro and Clinton. This maneuver forced Butler's division to station Butler's brigade against the Goldsboro column and position Young's brigade against tl1e Clinton column. Along t:hc Cape Fear River, General Hampton ptLl led two brigades (Dibrell's and Breckinridge's) from General Wheeler to picket the cw Goldsboro Road. Later that day, Lhe Federal advance came to a halt on the River Road, and General Wheeler was pulled from that front to assist General Hampton wiLh the New Goldsboro Road. Willi the presence of a strong Federal column at the Black River Bridge on the New Goldsboro Road. General Hampton saw this force as the main left column to Goldsboro. The Confederate command believed Goldsboro was General Shennan's immediate goal, but General Johnston needed confirmation and time before he could put his army into

in Chief, was ordered to either stop or slow General Sherman's two armies enough to buy the Confederacy time to find a solution to the collapsing mili­tary situation in North Carolina and Virginia.

As the Union veterans deployed from Fayetteville, Confederate cavalry quickly became the eyes of General Johnston to confirm the immediate

WILLIAM II. DROWN (Bill) has been an nrcbivist witl1 tl1c Orth Carolina Smtc Archives for seven years. He is currently the Governor's Records Archivist with Lhe Arrnngcmcnt & Description Unit of the Suue Archives. His B.A. degree is from High P·oini University with a cooccn-1ration in American History. His Masror's Degree is from University of Nor1h Carolina al Greensboro in PubfiQ History with a concentration in American History 1760· 1880. His graduate seminar dealt with the Third Stage of Major General William T. Shennan's Carolinas Campaign. He is currently working on an anicle dealing wirh com· mand conflict in General Sherman's Union armies.

the fie ld. WiLh General Wheeler ordered to this new threat, Lieutenant General William J. Hardee and his two divisions were left on the River Road wider orders by General Johnston to detem1ine tl1e direction of the Federal force on the River Road.

March I 6 represented the first major day of combat during the Carolinas campaign. General Hardee discovered that the Federal force

goal of General Shcnn.an. General Johnston turned Lo General Hampton to be his cavalry leader in the field with General Wheeler in a secondary role. Why did General Johnston tum to General Hampton, instead of the young commander of the cav­alry of the Anny of Tennessee? Several reasons come to mind for his actions. First, General Hampton continued to operate and conduct himself as a cavahy theater commander, while General Wheeler continued to duel wi1h General Sherman's cavalry com­mander, Brevet Major General Judson Kilpatrick of the Third Cavalry Division. Secondly, General Wheeler was known as a favorite of General Bragg and played a role in General Johnston 's removal in Northern Georgia in July 1864. General Hampton was clearly the favorite of General Johnston, and it was up to this veteran of the battles in Virginia to find out General Shennan's intentious.

Confederate cavalry dispositions reflect discord The cavalry dispositions facing General Shem1an's

columns reflected the discord of the Confedernte cavalry leader­ship. General Wheeler and his corps would face tlle left colurnn moving up the River Road along the Cape Fear River toward Raleigh. Butler's cavahy division drew the assignment of cover­ing the right column moving southeast toward Clinton. Both cavalry forces employed delaying tactics such as barricades to force the strnggling columns to deploy bnes of battle to clear the roadbed for the iJ1fanrry and their trains. Any Union attemp1 to push cavalry or mounted infant1y forward was met by timed cow1terattacks behind bends in the road and at creek crossings. The severe weather also played a role as heavy rain fell in the basin of the Cape Fear and Black Rivers. The rain turned the roadbeds into rivers of mud and quickly increased the depth of creeks and rivers.

By March l 5, the two F cderal columns split further with the Left. Wing dividing between the River Road and Lhe New (or

PAGEEIGIH

advancing on the River Road was Major General Henry Slocum's Am1y of Georgia witl1 four infantry divisions, a caval­ry division, and supporting arti llery. By utilizing U1ree lines of defense, General Hardee was able to slow General Slocum's advance to a halt before tile intersection of the River Road and tlle Old (or Upper) Goldsboro Road. General Wheeler was able to get both of his divisions back over to General Hardee to cover his right flank to the Cape Fear River. Butler's brigade made a stand at Little Rockfish Creek and forced Major General Otis 0. Howard's Am1y of the Tennessee to deploy a division of 15th Army Corps and artillery to clear the crossing. Despite securing tl1is crossing, General Howard was forced to tum 15tll Army Corps northward in a possible attempt to reinforce General Slocum's stn1ggli11g forces. General Hampton quickly deter­mined that the force at the Black River bridge was merely the wagon trains for General Slocum's army escorted by two infantry divisions.

The positioning of General Slocum's a1my at the intersec­tion of the roads leading Lo both Raleigh and Goldsboro created uucertainty in the Confederate command. With tlle majority of General Shennan's men heading toward Goldsboro, General Slocw11's men seemed out of place so close to Averasboro, N.C. March 17 woulcl be the key in determining whether this force was a diversion or the main threat. General Wheeler would deploy his divisions to cover the rear of General Hardee's provi­sional corps, while it attempted to retreat toward Smjthficld. General Wheeler would give e lements of Colonel Henry Ashby's division (notably the 8th Texas Cavalry) the role of cov­ering the River Road to detemune General Slocum's next move. Willt his demi-division of two brigades, General Hampton would picket the Old Goldsboro Road as Butler's division shifted northward to cover the New Goldsboro Road. Hopefully by tlle end of the day, General Johnston would have his answer con­cerning General Shennan's goaL

RECALL

verified the tale and even claimed that it was one of the milder forms of human abuse.

Whether Hardy's rather melodramatic description of Bolshevik torture was exaggerated canno! be determined. Nevertheless, the fact that such stories were circulating sheds light on what was undeniably a most trying a11d terrible time for the Russian people.

Hardy never made it ashore " to shoot anybody" while his ship was anchored ofI of war-lorn Odessa. Five days later, on February 16, the USS Fred J. Talbot anchored off the city of Batoum, Russia. While here, Hardy's socio-political observa­tions were overshadowed by musings on the prospects of being shipped back to the United States and discharged from the Navy. " I know l am not going to ship over in the Navy even if they were to double U1e pay." Apparently, Electrician 's Mate 2ad

Class Hardy had had aJI the adventure at low wages he cared to experience.

Tue last Letter of the collection was written from Venice, Italy, on April 11, 1920, after the Talbot's return lo its original area of operations in the Adriatic Sea. Besides the resumption of

his monotonous pre-Russian routine of sailing from one small port to another, Hardy relates that he and his fellow crewman were assigned tbc onerous task of recovering intc1Tcd bodies of U.S. sailors who had died while stationed in ftaly during the war and preparing them for shipment Lo the states aboard the Navy collier (i.e. coal ship) USS Nereus. " [ almost think it is a foolish idea," he wrote regarding his perception that the government intended to take the bodies of au servicemen home for re-inter­ment. lt must have seemed perplexing to hin1 that the dead appeared to have a higher priority on returning home than did the living.

Little is known of Leo Hardy's life ailer his stint in the , avy. But, from the nine letters now prese1ved in the Military Collection of the North Carolina State Archives, it is clear rhar his years in service netted him a very marketable trade and pro· vided him travel and adventure sufficient for a lifetime of stories.

--Si Harri11gta11 Ill is Coordi11ator. Militaiy Collectio11s, Archives and History, North Carolina Departme111 of Cu/111ro/ Resources. He /1as served in Army Airborne a11d Special Operotio11s units tmd recently served in Bos11ia.

The Cruise of the YMS 195 By Thomas W. H. Alexander

This story recoZ111ts some of the highlights of tile U11ited States Minesweeper YMS 195 during World War IL Her Executive Officer and, later, her Captain, was Armistead Jones Maupbz of Raleigh. M r. Maupill, now 83 years young, resides with his wife, Cheryl, at 2005 Banbury Road, Raleigh, N.C.

The USS YMS 195 was not a big vessel by Naval stand­ards. Yet there was not much unused space within her 149-foot wooden hull. She carried a crew of 50 enlisted men and four offi­cers. Her armament consisted initially of a 3-inch 50-caliber cannon mounted forward and two 20-millimcter cannons mount­ed on each wing of the bridge near the pilot house. During the course of her cruise in the Pacific, t\"10 30-caJiber machine guns were '·borrowed" and mounted, one on each side of the bridge. The gunner's mate appropriated two SO-caliber machine guns which the crew mounted on the main deck. fn addition to minesweeping gear, anti-submarine capability was added witl1 sonar and two stern !racks for depth charges and K guns, one on each side.

The average age of lhe crew was 19 to 20 years and, with the excep­tion of the chief bos'n male, Lieutenant Maupin was the oldest member of the crew at age 27.

radio. Mr. Maupin first met the YMS 195 i.n Kingston, ]ew York,

where it was built. It was placed in commission in Brooklyn )favy Yard on March 22, 1943. She was to be attached to Commru1der, Service Force, Atlantic Fleet. Afier a shakedown cruise in Apri l, she departed for Portland, Maine, where training in anti-submarine warfare and speed trials were conducted. On May 5, she arrived in Norfolk, Virginia. and for 10 days con­ducted minesweeping and gunnery exercises in the Chesapeake Bay. Late in May, the YMS 195 was fitted out for special duty at Little Creek, Virginia, and attached to the Commander, Eastern

Sea Frontier. On JLLne 5, 1943, the ship was under­way for Cape Hatteras, North CaroliJ1a.

Navigation was ac­complished with a sextant, chronometer, and com­pass. When operating within a task group, com­munications were can·ied on by means of an SCR-10 U.S. Minesweeper YMS 195

Earlier in the war, because of the U-boat threat, a safe anchorage had beeu established for vessels plying the eastern coastal waters near the mouth of Hatteras lnlet. This anchorage was pro­tected by a mine field which began inshore on the western edge o f Diamond Shoal and extended seaward in a

NOVEMBER 1998 PAGE THIRTIIBN

The Forgotten Campaign By Sioo H. Harrington ID

Coordinator, ~UUtary Collection Project, Xorth Carolina State Archives

One of the lesser known events in American military histo­ry concerns Lhe involvement of U.S. troops in the Russian Revolution which took place during aod after the First World War. One of those who saw duty in north Russia was a young Beaufort County sailor named Leo Hardy. During his short stay. Hardy wrote very detailecl letters home pertaining to events he witnessed and rumors he heard.

In March 1917, C:lal'Nicholas was forced to abdicate and the goveming body of Russia, the Duma, rested all power in a new government. AU efforts at democracy were opposed by the "Soviet" or Counci l of Workmen 's and Soldiers' delegates at Petrograd. The Gcm1an victory at Riga, widespread strikes, food riots, mounting casualties in the field, plummeting morale among soldiers and sailors, and Bolshevik agitation eventually led to social, economic, political, and military turmoil. ln November 1917, the Russians and Gennans signed a separate peace agreement. The Bolsheviks under Lenin and Trotsky seized the reigns of government in Russia, selling off a particularly nasty, civi l war between the Bolshevik "Reds" and the anti-Bolshevik "Whites."

north Russian coasl was a destroyer named the USS J. Fred Talbot. Aboard the Talbot was 24-ycar-old Electrician's Mate 2nd Class Leo Hartland Hardy of Aurora. Nort11 Carolina. ln a serie of letters wrincn between July 1919 and April 1920. I-lardy made interesting and sometimes shocking observations regarding lhe people, places. and politics of the area.

Of particular interest is a letter written on February L I, 1920, recounting conditions in Odessa, Russia, and rumors sur­rou11ding the practices of the Bolsheviks. Hardy wrote that his shop had been on station off Odessa since February 7, bul that he

bad not yet been allowed to go ashore because conditions on the beach were not exactly "healthy," alluding to the unstable situation aod potential for violence at that time in 1.he city.

One of the Talbot's first missions upon arrival on station was to land a shore party to rescue some American Red Cross workers. Despite sporadic Ii.ring in the town, the mfasion was carried off without incident since the recuces were waiting on the dock when the shore party arrived.

fn an effort to aid the White Russians againsl the Bolsheviks, allied powers, primarily the United States and Great Britain, provided limited personnel and material support. The United Stares dispatched nearly 4.500 men lo aid the White Russian effort. One of the units seal was the 339th Infantry Regiment. More than half the men of this National Army regi­ment were conscripts from the cold weather states of Michigan and Wisconsin. Whether the geography and climate of the home states of its members was a consideration in their posting to the cold ban·en expanses of north Russia is not known. What is know is that the unit arrived al

Archangel on September 4, 19 J 8. Despite Leo Hartland llardy

Hardy recorded that lhe firing in town was much heavier the next day. Despite this, the ship's captain decided to go ashore Lo have a personal look at lhe situation. When he was late returning, the executive officer of the ship began forming a party to land and find their skipper. Hardy's lellcrs are fu ll of wit and humor and bis description of bow he reserved a place on the landing party is priceless. "By explaining to the executive officer d101 r was the man who invented gunfighting and that Jesse James never had anything on me as a pistol shot," Hardy convinced the officer-in-charge to replace one of the two other wireless radio men with him. Unfortunately. or perhaps fortunately, for those on shore, the captain returned before the shore party could gather its weapons and equipment To his great chagrin, a disappointed

President Wilson's strict orders, the Americans soon found themselves directly engaged in combat against the Bolsheviks. A series of sharp skinnishes ensued which were precipitated by the interventionist goals of the overall Allied Commander in the region, British Major General Frederick C. Poole. Between Seplember 1918 and July 1919, over 500 Americans lost their lives.

Though they constituted the largcsl contingent of American servicemen. the Army was not the only service involved. In addition to land forces, tJ1c United States supplied naval forces to assist tJ1e Russian Republican govemmcnt 's snuggle to sur­vive. As early as Augu t 2, 1918, 54 sailors from the recently arrived warship USS Olympia aided a multi-national force of some 1,500 in seizing the city of Archangel, tJ1e only port city of substance in the entire region. One of the ships operating o!Jthe

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-'dead-eye"' Hardy wrote that because of his commander's untimely return, "we did not get a chance to shoot anybody."

On a more serious note, r ,eo Hardy's letters provided insight into a less humorous aspect of the Revolution in Odessa. In passing on a rumor of cruelty, he wrote. "The favorite method of torture the Bolsheviks [sic] use according to one naval officer and several Red Cross men that has been over here for some time, is lo take a man or woman and nail them to the side of a house some place and then take a couple of rats, the biggest they can catch, and rie lhcm under a tin pan or bowl to their stomach, then cut air bole in the pan so the rats wiJJ live. The only way they have of getting out is to eat through the person's flesh." Fearing that his readers might nol believe him, I lardy punctuat­ed his tale by stating, "you may think I am drunk or something," further staling that "people who have been here for some time"

RECALL

By nightfall on March 17, the answer remained unclear for General Johnston in determining General Shennau's course of action. Positive reports were being received denoting the east­ward bound movement of the major columns of General Sherman's infantry. Despile these reports. the information came in bits and pieces to General Johnston's headquarters stafTwith­out any kind of analysis by General Hampton. General Wheeler had repeatedly attempted to pull out of Averasboro, and General Hardee had to order his command back onto the R iver Road Lo confirm a possible Federal feint Finally, General Hampton sent a detailed dispatch noting the sum rotaJ of the information gath­ered Lhat day with the recommendation lhat General Johnston move his army from Smithfield south to a farming commW'1ity near Bentonville to strike General Slocum's column.

By the morning of Lite 18th, General Sherman's columns had finally shifted their direction toward Goldsboro. After employing an infantry division to feint toward Raleigh, General Sherman was satisfied that his two armies would not face any major Confederate force before reaching Goldsboro. Also thal morning, General Johnslon agreed with General Hampton's con­clusions and ordered elements of his Army of the South toward a j unction with General Hampton's force of two brigades. To buy time for General Johnston, General Hampton proposed unit­ing aU of 1he available cavalry lo slow down General Slocum's advance down the Old Goldsboro Road. March 18 represented the first clear day in nearly a week, and the good weather would dry up Lhe road bed and increase the Federal infanLry's rate of march. General Hampton's plan quickly fell apart in the spring-like weather in southern central North Carol111a. Outler's division was unable to disengage from the rapid advance of General Howard"s Army of the Tennessee, which was able co cover roughly 20 miles on that day. General Slocum's lea'd division (2nd Division/I 4th Anny Corps) also bad pushed forward and forced General Hampton 10 throw up a defen­sive line behind Bushy Swamp to s low down the advance. The aggressive advance by General Slocum's vanguard forced General Hampton to pull his demi-division and supporting artillery beyond Lhe intersection of the Smithfield & Clinton and the Old Goldsboro Road. Fortunately for General 1 lamplon, General Sherman ordered this advance stopped to allow che Army of Georgia to close up on the Goldsboro Road. This time­ly order enabled General Hampton to re-establish screens across the roads to the north and the east.

As General Hampton worked to reconsritute a blocking force, General Wheeler worked to shift his divisions to 11le east to cover the rear of General I lardee ·s provisional corps and the railroad running from Raleigh to Goldsboro. General Wheeler was forced to maintain cavalry pickets between General

!llOVE."ffiER 1998

Hardcc's infantry and the Old Goldsboro Road due to the advance of Union cavalry up the New SmiU1field Road. Thal force was General Kilpatrick's Third Cavalry Division consist­ing of tl1ree mounted brigades, one dismounted brigade, and a battery of artillery. As with lhe Confederate commands, the Federal horsemen were armed wi1h difTcreot types of anns and were "indifferently mounted" with a number of men who were dismounted. As with the Atlanta Campaign, General Sherman initially saw the opportunity to use General Kilpatriek's cavalry to feint toward Smithfield to threaten Confederate communica­tion and supply lines from Raleigh to Smithfield and to draw the Confederate Cavalry away from the expected Union line of march. During his advance, the mission of General Kilpatrick changed from a potcntfal raid near Smilhfteld to merely a probe to harass the Confederate retreat northward. After the Con­federate's withdrawal from Avcrasbor-0, Captain William Duncan. chief of scouts for General Howard's Army of Tennessee, escaped from his Confederate captors and reported to General Shem1an. Captain Duncan reported that the Confederate force (Hardee's provisional corps) was in full retreat to the north to link up with General Johnston's army near Raleigh. Captain Duncan saw General Hardee's retreat as an indication of a full Confederate retreat. which agreed with General Sherman's assessment of General Johnston's possible actio11s. General Shcnnan now wanted General Kilpatrick to press the

Confederates so that they would be encouraged 10 retreat further to the north and not to interfere with his advance 10 Goldsboro.

By mid-day on the 18th, General K.ilpatrick's men pushed several miles northward and immediately clashed with e lements of Brigadier General William Allen's division covering the rear of General l-lardee's corps gachering near Elevation, N.C. This resistance did not stop General Kilpatriek's troopers but rein­forced Captain Duncan ·s repon that General Wheeler's men were covering General Hardee's retreat. Close to 1be intersection near Johnson's Crossroads, General Kilpatrick was prepared to abandon his probe of the "Confederate retreat" confident that he had achieved General Shem1an's purpose. While General

PAGE l\"!NE

Kilpatrick's scouts pressed the Confederate picket line with sup­port from his dismounted brigade, the Union cavalry column turned back to rejoin the rest of the Army of Georgia. TI1is force was nearly out-Om1ked by counter-attacking clements of the 5th Georgia Cavalry & lOth Confederate Cavalry, and only a charge by the 5th Kentucky Cavalry, Federal Army, was able to save the 10th Wisconsin Battery from capture. This skirmish served only to reinforce General Kilpatrick's desire to return to the Goldsboro-bound columns. As General Kilpatrick's troopers moved south, General W11eeler was now free to slide to the east to join up with tl1e Confederate tactical concentration near Bentonville.

The Willis Cole farm on the Goldsboro Road was to be the site of the Confederate strike against the exposed column of the Army of Georgia. The assault would fol low the pattern ofa hold­ing action against the lead Federal division, whi.le several Confederate infanby divisions would fal l upon the exposed Federal left flank in an assault by columns on the right. This plan would be similar to General Johnston's planned attack at Seven Pines, Virginia, in 1862, and at Cassville, Georgia, in 1864. It was now General Hampton's responsibility to hold up the Federal advance until General Johnston's Am1y of the South was in position to ambush General Slocum's men. For that role, General Hampton had D ibrell's and Breckinridgc's brigades reinforced by two batteries, Hart's and Earle's. Hampton was confident that these two experienced b1igades with artillery sup­port could hold up General Slocum long enough to use General Wheeler's men for another purpose. General W11eclcr would be assigned the job of driving down the Smithfield & Clinton Road and striking the Federal column as General Johnston's infantry attacked its head. After General Kilpatrick's withdrawal, General Wheeler's two divisions were in position to make that advance aller initially crossing the Stone and Mill Creeks. This plan would split General Slocum's column and prevent rein­forcements from reacb.ing the area of General Johnston's assault.

Confederates give up land slowly The next morning, the forager detachments of the 14th

Army Corps ran headlong into Lbe deployed regiments of both Diffrell's Tennessee and Breckinridge's Kentucky regiments. Soon the commander of lbe lead division ( 1st Division, 14th Army Corps) had 10 push his first brigade forward in a column of regiments to press the advance against General Hampton's men. The Confederate horsemen gave up land slowly, and by 10 a.m. the entire lead division had to be deployed to near the road bed. As U1e Federals moved closer to the Cole farm, General Hampton pulled his brigades through the Confederate infantry deploying in U1e thick w1derbrush. Now the fighting was up to General Johnston's infantry, and Hampton's demi-division moved lo picket roads to the south and secure General Johnston's flanks. Despite being unable to attack when the Anny of Georgia was in column, the Confederate assault moved for­ward around 3 p.m. and quickly routed the Isl Division of 14th Atmy Corps. As the Confederate infantry advanced forward and to their left, it quickly became apparent that nearly three Federal infantry divisions were in position to received their allack. Near the Harper b.ouse, the Confederate right came upon the deployed artillery battalion of 20th Anny Corps and portions of both 1st and 3rd divisions of20tb Army Corps. Their combined firepow­er stopped the assault cold and forced tbe Confederate divisions

PAGE TEN

to pull back. IL was hoped that General Johnston would hit U1e 14th Anny Corps before reinforcements could arrive, but the majority of the 20th Anny Corps was present to assist their sis­ter corps and quickly negated the tactical surprise of lbc Confederate deploymenL Clearly, General Wlleeler failed to cut the Old Goldsboro Road at its intersection with Smithfield & Clinton Road, which would have prevented the 20th Army Corps from reaching the battle.

On lhe moming of lhe 19th. General Wheeler moved hjs two depleted divisions in preparation to advance southward toward the Old Goldsboro Road. Before he could reach the Union column, his two divisions were stopped by the increased flooding of both Stone and MiU Creeks. As with the Federal columns on March 14-1.5, General Wheeler was forced to find safe fording points for his caval1y regiments. After getting a por­tion of his command across Stone Creek, General Wheeler .ran into Federal pickets stationed before Mill Creek. Despite clear­ing away these Federals, the element of surprise was now gone from General Wheeler's colwnn. By I :30 p.m., General Wheeler had sent dispatches to General Hampton reporting his problems, and the movement of e lements of the 20th Army Corps toward Goldsboro. ft is not clear whether General Wheeler's half-heart­ed advance can be blamed on the .flooding of the creeks or prob­lems with the leadership of U1e cavalry in the field. By attempt­ing to pull out o f Averasboro too soon or not pressing home his advance on the I 9th. General Wheeler was clearly not al bis best during lhe campaign. The effect of his probe and General Hampton's demonstrations on General Johnston's right Oank did force the 20th Am1y Corps commander, Brevet Brigad ier General Alpheus Williams, to deploy clements of two divisions facing to cover the Union left flank. Unfortunately, this maneu­ver put these Union regiments in position to blunt the Confederate assault.

With the Confederate assault unable to seriously damage General Shennan's left wing, the Confederate lligb Comm.and worked to prepare the anny to withdraw back to Smithfield. The route of retreat was across a single bridge over the flooded Mill Creek, and this coupled with confusion of units of different commands serving together forced General Hampton's cavalry to deploy to give General Johnston's anny time to pull back. General Wheeler was ordered lo abandon the Smithfield & Clinton Road and move b.is corps to Bentonville. Butler's divi­sion drew the assignment of slowing down elements of the Army or the Tennessee rushing from Cox's bridge to link up with General Slocum and 1um General Johnston's left flank. With 15th Anny Corps advancing westward on tile Old Goldsboro Road, this corps would be in position to pitch into General Johnston's rear. General Wheeler was ordered to secure the road intersection of the Bentonville and the Old Goldsboro Road. As General Wheeler's men deployed to secw·e the intersection, Butler's cavalty division was engaged in a series of running fire­fights with die 1st Division, 15th Anny Corps. TI1e veterans from the Army of Northern Virginia faced a foe utilizing skiJ­mishers armed with Henry and Spencer repeating riOes, which forced the Confoderates to pull back faster toward General Wheeler's men. At one point, General Hampton attempted to counter-attack th:is advance and nearly captw·ed General Howard and his staff pushing forward with the skirmishers. By the after­noon of the 20th, Major General Robert F. Hoke's infantry divi­sion was able to pull back and take over General Wheeler's posi-

R£CALL

tion in time co confront arriving clements of the 15th Anny Corps. General Johnston's flank was now secllfed, and General Hampton moved to reposition his cavalry to secure General Johnston's flank to Mill Creek.

Throughout the night of the 20th and iL1to 1.he day of March 2 1, elements of General Johnston's Anny of the South began their slow process of moving across Mill Creek. With General Johnston's position shaped like a "U" with both flanks on Mill Creek, his anny would have to withdraw in sections to ensure no Federal penetrations into the route of march. The Confederate line was stretched thin with all units, infantry and cavalry, attempting to maintain their lines against Federal skinnishers. In General Wheeler's position on General Johnston's extreme right flank, his cavalry had nearly ten paces between each soldier to cover the area to Mill Creek. In front of General Wheeler, cle­ments of 17th army Corps were deploying to connect with tbe lines of 15th Am1y Corps. The command of lst Division, 17th Army Corps, Major General Joseph Mower, received permission to probe for the end of the Confederate Line near MilJ Creek. In short order, General "Fighting Joe" Mower had pushed e lements of his three brigades into General Wheeler's lines and broken through the 8th Confederate Cavalry's position and nearly took Earle's battery. General Mower pnshed his men forward into the Confederate rear, and General Johnston's staff had co abandon the area of their General Headquarters. General Hampton and General Hardee organized an ad h.oc strike force to deal with General Mower's advance. Fortunately for the Confederates, General Mower bad acted on his own without suppo1i from his parent corps and conveniently left his flanks open for attack. Generals llampton and Hardee charged General Mower's front with the 8th Texas Cavalry (forry's Texas Rangers) as Colonel James Hagan's brigade from AIJen's division charged dismounL­ed into the FederaJ left fl anks, whiJe the right flank was struck by Henderson's infantry brigade of 250 effectives. With their flanks collapsing, GeneraJ Mower's regiments quickJy pulled back fighting off the charging Texans to their original line of departure. The heaviest loss was with tJ1e moUJ1ted cavalry, which pitched headlong into the Federal infantry. Several Union regiments withdraw into the woods, where mounted horsemen could be separated into groups. Even one regiment formed into a "square" and moved downhill from the Confederate rear. General llardee's son, Willie. was killed as well as a number of the 8tb Texas Cavalry due to their mounted charge into the Federal lines. Once again, General Johnston's flanks were secure for his continuing withdrawaJ.

For two days, Confederate cavalry fought to secure General Johnston's flanks against FederaJ probes to protect the expected line of retreat. Finally on March 22, the Confederare infantry began crossing Mill Creek as the final stage of the wilhdrawaJ back to SmiLllfield. General Hampton assigned General Wheeler and his corps to cover the rear of the army and to bum the Mill Creek Bridge as soon as the last unit crossed over. It quickly became apparent what the withdrawal was going slower than expected with infantry regiments pi ling up at the bridge waiting lo cross. General Wheeler fou nd his divisions being probed by the same Union division that gave Butler's division such a prob­lem on March 20. 1st Division, 15th Army Corps, aggressively pushed General Wheeler back aJong the Bentonville road and through the town itself. Soon General Hampton discovered that General Wheeler was across MiU Creek Bridge, and the Federals

NOVl:.MBIJR 1998

had possession of the bridge. General Hampton attempted to return to retake tbe bridge and bum it, but the .Federal strength prevented his actions. Elements of the 15th Army Corps raced forward to press the enemy but found tbe Almy of tbe South deployed for battle behind Hannah Creek. _Fresh from arriving by rail that morning. Cheatham's corps marched to Hannah Creek and established a defensive lioe for General Johnston. After sev­eral minor probes, General Shennan called off the advance to redirect his army to Goldsboro.

As General Johnston moved his infantry and artillery back to Smithfield, General Hampton pushed his cavalry overland to Moccas in Creek and Little River to cover the roads from Goldsboro. GeneraJ Hampton aggressively probed the Federal columns moving from Cox's Bridge on the cusc River to the town of Goldsboro itself. Prisoners were taken from all of General She1man 's corps moving overland as well as the units represented in General Terry's provisional corps. General Terry's corps had secured the area around Cox's bridge, and General llampto11 saw this point as an excellent one for a possi­ble attack. On March 24, GeneraJ Hampton led an attack on the pickets of the black 3rd Division, 25th anuy Corps, with e le­ments of Butler's division. After taking several prisoners, Hampton recommended that General Johnston move a force in position to attack and take Cox's bridge to cut Lhat line of advance for General Shennan's armies. General Johnston was content to let General Sherman unite in Goldsboro with Generals Schofield and Terry, especially since General Johnston knew he needed time to reorganize his am1y.

The Third Stage of the Carolinas Campaign was over with General Sl1erman's arrival in Goldsboro on Marcb 24, 1865. Confederate cavalry performed well in the field considering their want in personnel, horses, and supplies. Considering the poor perfonnancc of General Shennan's cavalry, the Confederate horsemen were truly a force to reckon with in the field. GeneraJ Shcm1an believed that General Hampton outnumbered him in cavalry, and this led him to order General Kilpatrick to engage in a feint to draw off the Confederates. Yet with advantages over their mounted opponents, the conflict in tl1c Confederate cavalry command served to create problems in the execution of orders. General Wheeler's problems at Avcrasboro on March 17, Smithfield & Clinton Road on March 19, and Bentonville on March 22 reflected the discord between him and General Hampton and General Wheeler's problems with being a deputy commander. General Hampton brought proven cavalry tactics to the Western Theater and showed that under his leadership, Confederate cavaJry couJd master their ill-led opponents and provide intelligence to their army commaJJder.

Map illustrations are from the Atlas accompanying The Official Records of the U11ion and Confederate Armies (1891-1895), Plate LXXX.

SOURCES Barrrell, John G. Sherman's March Through the Carolinas (Chapel Hilt: The

University of North Carolina Press. !956). Blackbum. J.K.P. Remi11iscences o/Terry s Texas Ra11gers (Austin: University of

Texas. 19 19). Brooks, U.R. (ed.). Butler 011d His Cavalry i11 the War of Secession (Columbia,

1902). Connelly, Thomas L. Aut1111111 of Glory: Tire Army of Te1111essee, 1862-1865

(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. t 971 ). Dodson, William Carey (ed.). Campaigns of Wheeler and His Cavalry (Atlanta.

1899). Hampton. Wad.:. "Tire Battle of 8e111<m1'ille, " Ball/es and Leaders of tire Civil

War, Volume Ill (Secaucus: Castle .. 1982), pp. 700-705. War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Reccrds of tire Union a11d

Confederate Armies: 129 volumes (1990). Volume 47, Parts 1-m.

PAGE ELEVEN

EDITOR'S TACK ROO]_\.f By Ricba1rd Ripley

This is the first publication that includes a variety of articles covering any American war. Prior publications had focused on a single war. The last such publication was the June 1998 issue, "The American Civil War." A number of members suggested we try the '·variety of articles" approach. How do you feel about it? We are not limit­ed in publication, except we would like having a North Carolina connection in the article, either by an individual, a

unit. or a battle area. When renewing your membership, it is suggested that you

write on your check the year you arc renewing, i.e., for 1999 renewal write: "for 1999 renewal." This should help prevent con­fusion at the NCMHS office for renewals received from September on. Remember, your annual membcrsh.ip nms from January I to December 31 each year.

We have established an Editor"s Advisory Board. The pres­ent Board Members include Thomas W.H. Alexander, Dr. Donald 11. Street, Mrs. Frances 11. Wynn, and Barrie Davis. We thank them for ilieir interest and support. If you would like to become an Advisory Board Member, let me know.

Photos, Interviews Sought of Late 20th Century N.C. Veterans In July the N.C. Division of Archives and History began

Phase ill of its effort to beuer document the state's 20lb century military experience. Previous phases have focused on the period from 1900 lhrough the end of the Korean War. Though still actively collecting and preserving items from this era, the Archives is seeking to honor North Carolina veterans who served North Carolina and tJ1c natjon from 1954 through the present.

In keeping with this state's long and proud military tradition, large numbers of orth Carolinians served in the military forces of t11e United States both in time of war and in operations other than war, primarily in support of humanitarian efforts around the world.

During the Vietnam War alone, 216,348 Tar Heels served in this country's armed forces. Sadly, 1,602 made the supreme sac­rifice. In 1965, North Carolinians (many from Fort Bragg's own 82nd Airborne Division) responded to trouble in the Dominican Republic. When tbe security and stability of the Caribbean was t11reatened in 1983, Tar Heel service men and women deployed to the tiny island of Grenada to safeguard American lives and prevent the island's hostile take-over. When Saddam Hussein invaded his neighbor, Kuwait, approximately 16,000 No1th Carolinians were among tbc forces dispatched during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Stonn lo assist in restoring order to that small nation's borders.

If you have a photograph or photographs of a North Carolinian in uniform, consider maldng a donation to the Military Collection Project. The Archives also seeks to collect

The North Carolina Military Historical Society 7410Chapel Hill Road

Raleigh, North Carolina 27607-5096

PAO!! TWJ,NTY

and preserve military related papers and memorabilia so that future students, researchers, historians. and otJ1crs can better unden;tand the nature of military service and sacrifice.

The Military History Collection Project also is engaged in an extensive oral history program. People around the state are encouraged to tape interviews with veterans of all time periods and services for deposit in the Military Collection of the state Archives. A free, easy-to-follow interview question guide is available on request.

If you have items to share, please mail them to or con1ac1: Sion Harrington Ill, Coordinator Military Collection Project North Carolina Division of Archives and History I 09 East Jones Street Raleigh. N.C. 27601-2807

or call 919-733-3952. email: sharrington@ncsl.dcr.stale.nc.us

AN INVITATION

Contribute Articles to Recall Readers are invited to submit material to Recall. In choosing mate­

rial for publication. the cdjtor of Reen/I will give preference 10 articles of unusual significance and transcripts or abstracts of dirticul1-to-loc111e records. Material submitted for publication will be reviewed by persons knowledgeable in tile areas covered for validity, significance, and appropriateness. All material will be edited for clarity and conciseness. Manuscripts should be sent to the Editor, 44~ Leota Drive, Raleigh, N.C. 27603. Telephone 919-772-7688.E-mail:muiplcy@gatcway.net.

NONPROFIT ORG. AUTOCR NO. 0660262·LBM U.S. POSTAGE

PAID CARY, NC 27511

Examples of Material Sllitable for Publication

Articles on military history Biographies of military figures Personal and family papers pertaming

10 the military Military society records Military censuses Personal experiences Records, diaries, letters penaming to service Impressment records Oral histories Military and pension records

Abstracts should be for a full record series. If an abstracl is nor complete, ii should include all individuals and families within the pages abstracted.