USA > New York > Cayuga in the field : a record of the 19th N. Y. Volunteers, all the batteries of the 3d New York Artillery, and 75th New York Volunteers > Part 13
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Newbern was left under command of Col. John Kurtz, of the 23d Massachusetts. Foster said to him in writing, "Your in- structions are simply to act in all things on your best judgment. If attacked, defend to the last practicable moment." Lieut .- Col.
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THE TARBORO EXPEDITION.
Stewart, who, by Col. Ledlie's order of October 4th, had been left in command of the 3d Artillery, was to remain as Engineer and Chief of Artillery of the post.
The troops for the expedition were gathered together at Washington on the Tar. Two brigades went thither by water from Newbern. The cavalry (3d New York,) and artillery, with Col. T. J. C. Amory's brigade, came up overland, arriving Sat- urday evening, November 2d, 1862. The artillery force was commanded by Major Kennedy and comprised Battery B, 3d New York Artillery, six guns ; Battery F, six guns ; Battery H, four guns ; Battery K, four guns ; Belger's Rhode Island Bat- tery, six guns ; and some marine artillery. Among the regi- ments of Amory's brigade was the 9th New Jersey, one of the most daring lot of warriors in the service, between whom and the 3d Artillery there ever existed a singularly warm and fra- ternal attachment.
On Sunday morning, November 3d, Foster put his long train of artillery in the middle of his column of 10,000 men, placed Stevenson's brigade in the advance and made a rapid march northwards in the direction of Williamston. The country was level and sandy. But the road ran through dense forests and the soil was at times swampy. The day was hot and progress slow. Passing a deserted rebel cavalry camp, lying in ashes, about 4 P. M., the occasional rifle crack of the advance guard changed to a sustained fire that indicated business on hand. At Old Ford, 700 rebels with two cannon disputed the way. Belger's Battery opened fire and Stevenson's infantry advanced, when the rebels fell back from rifle pits they had made a mile or more to the crossing of a stream, at a place called Rawles Mills. The creek ran through a gulley. On the other side were woods and in the road a newly made earthwork. Here the rebels made a second stand. Batteries B and K, 3d Artillery, came quickly up, and while the infantry was trying to put out the fire the rebels had set on the bridge, they discharged shell for an hour at the rebel redoubt and the woods where their in- fantry lay concealed. Twilight came on and the flash of our bursting shells became visible in the gloom. Our infantry now began to cross the stream, and late at night the rebels suddenly ceased firing and ran.
The troops bivouacked while pioneers rebuilt the bridge. In the morning the advance was resumed-Battery K with the advance. As our men crossed the stream, the effect of their 'shells excited comment. The redoubt and the trees around it Were badly gashed, and here and there a dead rebel or an artil-
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
lery horse lay, showing the enemy had met with loss. Our ad- vance was evidently a source of disquietude to the rebels. They skirmished heavily in the front all day, making a pause on the banks of streams and opening fire with cannon to retard us, and then, as we came up, limbering up and scuttling away again to repeat the experiment further on. Williamston was entered and passed about midnight. The army bivouacked near it.
The navy co-operated in this movement up to this point, mov- ing up the Roanoke abreast of the army. The gunboats Hunch- back, Valley City, Perry and Hetzel were among the number.
Finding no iron-clads at Williamston, Foster turned off west- ward and struck straight for Tarboro, with the hope of cutting of three Confederate regiments there and eventually reaching the Weldon Railroad a few miles beyorid. On the 4th he ad- vanced to Hamilton, encamping two miles beyond the town, · capturing with his infantry some rebel fortifications at Rainbow Bluff, on the river, three miles below the town. Our cavalry on entering Hamilton found the roads alive with wagons of people leaving the place in the greatest terror of the terrible Yankees. On the 5th, Foster pushed on to within six miles of Tarboro, his scouts going to within a mile of it.
While in camp that night the whistling of locomotives and commotion of railroad trains, conveyed to the ear of Foster in- telligence that a large force of the enemy was being collected in his front. Pickets came in with information that that was the fact. Foster called a council of officers. Major Kennedy at- tended it. The General laid the truth before the council, and asked the opinions of the officers as to attacking or retiring. Their names were called. Some were for fighting, some for going back. Kennedy voted to fight. So did the Colonel of the roth Connecticut, a regiment of only 350 men. Foster voted last, and was for going ahead. The majority favored re- tiring. This course, on consideration, the General resolved to take from motives of prudence. A day was spent before Tar- boro, and then the army marched back to Hamilton, fifteen miles away, in mud and rain.
Next day, the 8th, amid snow and sleet, the army pushed to Williamston, where it remained two nights. The exhausted troops were quartered in the houses. A sight met the eyes of our patriot soldiers here which filled' them with anger. It was the whipping post of the slaves. The post was cut down, with great excitement, and the town jail, where slaves had been ha- . bitually confined, was burnt to the ground, neither ever again to be the instruments of wrong and oppression. By the riotous
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PICTURESQUE CAMP.
conduct of drunken marines, Williamston was set on fire before the army left it. Gen. Foster severely reprimanded the act.
Plymouth was reached on the Ioth. The army encamped within a few miles of the place on the farm of a rich old rebel planter. After the privations of the raid, the bivouac on this plantation, swarming as it was with poultry and stocked with vegetables, was something pleasant. Our lads subsisted on the enemy on this occasion, much to the wrath of the ardent old fire eater's family. The camp here was a most picturesque one, and the scene at night will never fade from the memory of those who saw it. The thousand flickering camp fires, whose beams glinted from cannon and wagons and stacks of burnished arms, and lighted up flags and white tents and rows of picketed horses, were surrounded by merry groups of volunteers, laugh- ing, playing cards, and watching darkies dance, or gravely dis- cussing the prospects of the war. From time to time, silvery bugle notes floated over the camps from far and near, and drums beat signals for the various rounds of duties of camp service.
On the IIth, a portion of the army embarked at Plymouth and went to Newbern, ending the Tarboro expedition. The re- sults of this expedition were the giving the rebels a grand scare and the release of several hundred slaves from bondage.
The Batteries of the 3d Artillery, with an infantry force under Col. Bartholomew of the 27th Massachusetts, remained at Ply- mouth till the latter part of the month. To protect the town against an attack the rebels were supposed to intend, the Bat- teries were disposed on the various roads converging at the town to guard them. On the 22d, Sergt. Loren S. Bradley, Corp. Edward Richardson, and three privates of Battery B were captured while out foraging. They were afterwards ex- changed at Camp Parole, Annapolis.
Foster was now gathering his forces at Newbern for a raid of more business-like proportions, and the Batteries at Plymouth were brought down on transports to that post.
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
· VIII.
FOSTER'S EXPEDITION TO GOLDSBORO.
Foster's Orders-Organization of the Column-The Advance-Obstructions at Deep Gully-Capture of Redoubt at South-west Creek-Lieut -Col. Stewart in a Hot Place -- Battle of Kinston-Saving the Bridge-Morrison's Prisoners -Shelling the Town-Advance into Kinston-Dasb at the Blockade -The Spoils-Advance to Whitehall-The Battle-Hackett's and Ryan's Death- Mercereau's Shot-On to Goldsboro-Burning the Bridge-Army Commences to Return-Attack on the Rear Guard-Morrison's Achievement-Sundry Cavalry Dashes -- Wading a Mill Stream-Through Burning Woods-Return to Newbern-Foster's Thanks.
The month of December, 1862, is memorable in the annals of the War for the Union, for the grand assault upon the stub- born heights of Fredericksburg, Va., by the Army of the Poto- mac under Burnside, and the co-operative expedition into the in- terior of North Carolina by the troops of Gen. Foster, com- manding the latter department. When the assault on Freder- icksburg was planned, Gen. Halleck, Commander-in-Chief under the President, issued orders that, simultaneously with Burnside's crossing the Rapahannock, all the available forces at Newbern should advance to Goldsboro, N. C., break the rail- road, burn the bridges and smash things generally, so as to create a diversion in favor of Burnside.
Burnside had nearly stripped the department of troops in July. But in November, Massachusetts regiments began to arrive, when the work of brigading and fitting them for the field
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ORGANIZATION OF THE COLUMN.
began with energy. On the 9th of December, the veteran brigade of Gen. Wessels, loaned from Dix's corps at Fortress Monroe, reached Newbern. Having then called in from Fort Macon, Washington and Roanoke all his surplus troops, Foster issued orders for the expedition. They were read that same evening to all the regiments on dress parade. 'The des- tination was not stated, but all were ordered to be in readiness to march in thirty-six hours, in light marching order, that is without knapsacks or tents, carrying only blankets, overcoats and shelter-tents, with three days' rations in haversacks, seven in wagons.
As organized for the expedition, Foster's army in the field consisted of four large brigades of infantry and one magnificent brigade of artillery, viz :
Wessel's Brigade : 85th, IoIst and 103d Pennsylvania Vol- unteers ; 88th, 92d and 96th New York Volunteers.
Stevenson's Brigade : 9th New Jersey, Ioth Connecticut, 24th Massachusetts, 44th Massachusetts.
Lee's Brigade : 3d, 5th, 25th, 27th, 28th, and 46th Massa- chusetts.
Amory's Brigade : 17th, 23d, 43d, 45th and 51st Massachu- setts.
Artillery Brigade : This was in two battalions commanded by that dashing officer, Major Kennedy, and Major Stone, re- spectively, comprising the following : Battery B, 3d New York, Capt. Morrison, armament six twelve pound brass Napoleons ; Battery E, 3d New York, Lieut. Geo. E. Ashby, two twenty pound Parrots, two thirty-two pound brass howitzers ; Battery F, 3d New York, Capt. Jenny, six twelve pound Wiards, rifles ; Battery H, 3d New York, Capt. Riggs, six twelve pound Napo- leons ; Battery K, 3d New York, Capt. Angel, six three inch Rodmans, iron ; Battery I,. 3d New York, Lieut. Geo. W. Thomas, four twenty pound Parrots. Ist Rhode Island Battery, Capt. Belger. One section of 23d New York Independent Bat- tery, Capt. Jay E. Lee. One section of 24th New York Inde- pendent Battery, Capt. Alfred Ransom. Battery C, Ist United States. In all forty guns, manned by a thousand men. This brigade, Gen. Foster placed under command of Col. Ledlie, act- ing Brigadier, by General Orders, No. 63, December 3d, which organized all the artillery of the department into one command under Col. Ledlie.
Also in the column were the 3d New York Cavalry, a brave and gallant corps, which, with the 9th New Jersey, Col. Hick- man, acted as advance guard all the way to Goldsboro.
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
..
The column was 12,000 strong, brave, well disciplined, finely appointed, and spoiling for a fight.
Capt. James C. Slaght was Chief Quartermaster of the expe- dition, and Lieut. Fred. W. Prince was his able and untiring as- sistant.
By order of Gen. Foster, Lieut .- Col. Stewart accompanied the expedition as Chief Engineer, to build bridges and clear the roads, taking with him 300 stout contrabands from the black camps at Newbern, under the immediate superintendency of Henry W. Wilson, master carpenter, with wagons, axes and tools. The blacks constituted the pioneer brigade and were of incalcu- lable service.
The advance began at 6 o'clock, on the dark, cool morning of Thursday, December 1Ith. A vail of mist at sunrise hid the face of the country, concealing the movement from rebel scouts for some hours. Gen. Foster was a stout fighter, but also knew the value of strategy ; and so, believing that there must be heavy intrenchments to oppose and delay him on the straight road to Kinston, the first principal town on the way to Goldsboro, he marched out on a different road, taking the one along the river Trent, expecting thereby, by a rapid movement, to flank and get easily past all obstructions. Once under way, the troops were put upon their mettle and moved as fast as they could along the sandy and swampy path. The men were in splendid spirits, having perfect confidence in Gen. Foster, whom they all loved and respected ; and the spectacle they made was magnificent as the long columns marched rapidly by with springing step and sparkling eyes, while their merry jokes and laughter and patriotic songs mingled on the air with the rustling of feet, the rattle of muskets and sabres, and the rumbling of teams of artillery and wagons. The artillery, the gem and idol of the army, occupied the center of the army, and alone made a column nearly a mile in length.
After a march of fourteen miles, the advance guard, the 9th New Jersey, met a picket post of the rebels at Deep Gully, where a tributary to the Trent crosses the road. The picket was routed unceremoniously. Finding that the road beyond the Gully had been obstructed for nearly a mile, by felling heavy forest trees across it, Foster halted there for the night, bivou- acking his army on a large and good looking plantation. As the regiments stacked arms, there was an eager rush for the fences and the spare poultry and cattle of the plantation. Both disappeared as if by magic. After night fall, the spacious field was covered with countless camp fires, lighting up rows of shin-
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ADVANCING TO SOUTH WEST CREEK.
ing stacks of muskets, ranks of picketed horses, with bivouacked artillery and the crowds of volunteers who came around them to gossip and smoke their evening pipes. The sights and sounds of that memorable bivouac are not forgotten.
Meanwhile, Lieut .- Col. Stewart had brought up his black pioneers to attack the prostrate timber. Lustily were they ply- ing their axes upon it, and separating and rolling out of the road the heavy pine trunks. By 3 1-2 A. M. report was made to Gen. Foster that the way was clear.
The march was resumed at 5 A. M. of the 12th. Opposite Trenton, a rebel skirmish party of cavalry and infantry attacked our advance, but had their fingers severely burnt in the attempt to handle it, and ran off in a hurry after a short fight. At the upper end of the great Dover swamp, along whose southern border the army had been moving, a direct road to Kinston forks off to the right. Foster sent a strong cavalry force down this road several miles to make a show of advancing straight upon Kinston. The battalion encountered the main picket guard of the enemy, and superintended its pell-mell re. treat to some powerful earthworks thrown up across the road. Beaver creek bridge having been rebuilt, Gen. Foster then moved rapidly forward by the left, or Vine Swamp, road, under cover of the feint, thus avoiding the obstructions and enemy on the main road. He had in view the object of reaching the stream known as South West creek, at a point nine miles from Kin- ston, where stands the most westerly of the four bridges that cross it. The 23d Battery and 5Ist Massachusetts were left to guard the road junction and Beaver creek bridge. The army bivouacked at dusk four miles beyond Beaver creek.
Again there was a lively raid on the fences, for it was cool, and soon thousands of fence rails were smoking in the camps of the volunteers. Before leaving Newbern, Gen. Foster had is- sued an imperative order that soldiers must not stray from canıp nor pillage from the farmers. But the three days' rations in haversacks were nearly eaten by the close of this day, and all, infantry and artillery alike, sent out foraging parties to get them provisions. They went out at night fall and an hour afterwards they returned to testify to the thoroughness with which they had done their work by showing the loads of poultry, honey, sweet potatoes and fat pigs they had relieved the rebel farmers of. Here, too, they made the acquaintance of apple jack, that bever- age of cheering qualities and promotive of socialty.
Our advance reached South West creek at 9 1-2 A. M. of the 13th, having had a sharp skirmish by the way. It found it to be
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
a swift, unfordable stream, coursing through a deep and woody ravine, a bad place for us to cross should the enemy defend it in force. As anticipated, however, the crossing was weakly guarded, the rebels having been so confused as to Gen. Foster's intentions as to be able to concentrate only 400 men, with two cannon, to resist us there. When our skirmishers began firing from the top of the bank at a redoubt thrown up in the road across the creek, Lieut .- Col. Stewart rode forward with his or- derly to reconnoiter and obtain any scraps of useful informa- tion, at the request of Gen. Wessels. The road descended sinuously into the ravine, winding around on the left-hand side of a high bluff. The two horsemen went cautiously down the road, scanning the wooded banks opposite with a searching gaze, but without discovering the enemy until, on coming out from behind the interposing buttress of the bluff, they suddenly confronted the two rebel guns, glaring savagely at them from the redoubt across the stream, not fifty yards away. The rebel gunners evidently failed to recognize in the two "solitary horse- men descending the hill," the heroes of James's novels. They evidently thought that a whole column of the dreaded Yankees was charging on them. Bang ! and a load of cannister was fired point blank at our brave Chief Engineer. The iron hail flew whistling around in a perfect storm, tearing up the ground and slashing the bush in all directions. But not a hair of the riders was touched. Being exactly in the line of fire, the missiles had, through that peculiar whirl given them by rifled ordnance, scattered so widely that they received no harm. Had it been a smooth bore that emptied its contents on this occasion, they would have been blown to atoms. Stewart beat a masterly re- treat, and at once directed the placing of our artillery.
Lieut. Day's section of Battery B was with the advance. It was planted immediately on the bluff overlooking the redoubt. Depressing the muzzles of its pieces it began to send in burst- ing shells to the rebel work. The second shot disabled a rebel gun and the other was silenced soon after. The rest of Battery B took position further to the right in line of battle with Am- ory's and Wessel's brigades, and opened fire on the woods. The 9th New Jersey and 23d Massachusetts now crossed on a mill-dam above the bridge ; the 85th Pennsylvania on trees be- low. Thus flanked the rebels ran and the Stars and Stripes were planted on the redoubt amid great cheering. We captured one 6-pound gun, some munitions of war and prisoners, besides killing and wounding several of the enemy.
The pioneers now came up and repaired the bridge, when a
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ADVANCING ON KINSTON.
portion of the army marched on, going into bivouac four miles from Kinston-the rest remaining near the creek.
This was the first taste of war for many of our artillerymen. The first bloody tokens were regarded with curiosity. First the rebels wounded in the first skirmish of the day were passed. Then a man dying on the stoop of a house with his face shot away. Rebel prisoners bleeding and limping went to the rear in charge of guards. A mere boy in rebel uniform lay by the road side dead, with a fearful saber cut in his head. The terrible destructive power of our cannon shot, as shown by the trees in line of our fire, was also noted. These horrors and scenes were all to be repeated on a vastly larger scale next day.
On reaching camp that night, our men were so tired with marching that they fell to the ground under their guns, wrapped in their shaggy but warm blankets, without stopping even for the usual luxury of hard-tack and coffee.
Next morning a hasty ration was snatched at 5 o'clock, and the brigades fell into line for the march. The 9th New Jersey, 3d Cavalry and Day's section of Battery B, 3d New York, felt the way cautiously in advance. The road the army now trod led straight to Kinston, running in a direction at right angles to the general direction of the Neuse River.
Two miles from Kinston bridge our troops suddenly came into the presence of a formidable enemy, 6,000 strong, under Gen. Evans, of Ball's Bluff notoriety, drawn up in line of battle on a hill crossing the road. They were protected on the west by woods, while in their foreground, at the base of the hill, was a great swamp overgrown with thickets and groves of pines. The road to Kinston ran through the heart of the rebel position.
Wessels's regiments, on coming up, deployed into the fields on both sides of the road and a sharp fight commenced. Amory's brigade deployed in the rear as a line of support. The rest of the infantry halted, and opened to the right and left while seve- ral batteries went through on a run to the front. Under Gen. Foster's own direction, Batteries B, F and I of the 3d New York, were placed on different sides of the road, supported by Amory, about half a mile in rear of the line of attack. As they came into position, one after the other, and opened with shell on the woods and hill, the action became more earnest, the musketry firing doubled in intensity and the ground trembled with the concussion of the guns.
Under a horrible fire, Wessel's brigade advanced steadily into the swamp at the foot of the hill and pushed through to the open ground beyond after hard fighting. Here the 9th New Jersey
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3D NEW-YORK VOLUNTEER ARTILLERY.
and other regiments emptied their cartridge boxes in an engage- ment with a heavy line of men in gray on the hill. The roth Connecticut and 96th New York then replaced them on the ad- vance. The rebels turning the fire of their batteries on the woods, right and left, sought to make them untenable for us, but in vain. One of their shots struck within ten feet of Gen. Foster and his staff.
. During the fight, Gen. Foster sent Lieut .- Col. Stewart to the extreme right of our line of battle, just beyond the swamp and woods, as a precautionary measure, to guard against the surprise of our flank. Stewart hied to the end of the woods and kept a vigilant watch. His eye at length caught the flash of musket barrels down on the river road and a moment later he discovered one of the most glorious chances of the day to capture a rich prize. A rebel force that had been guarding the river road, some miles out, was now retreating to the bridge, lest we should get in its rear. Well handled, a couple of regiments and a bat- tery could cut that body all to pieces. Stewart sent an orderly in haste to Gen. Foster. Half an hour later, getting no re- sponse, he went himself. Foster directed Gen. Amory to take a portion of his brigade with Battery F, 3d New York, and perform this service. But Amory moved slow and the prize slipped through his fingers without a fight.
The rebels gave way gradually to the top of the hill, occupy- ing in the retreat a church and holding it till it had been riddled like a seive with bullets and cannon balls. A persistent attack of two hours' duration failed to dislodge the enemy from the heights, Then, the 10th Connecticut and 96th New York were ordered to pierce his center at the point of the bayonet. Well they did their work. They went right through the enemy's line with a rush, when Evans' whole army lost its coherence, and, as our victorious columns swept forward with ringing cheers to the summit of the hill, a panic seized his entire center and it fled in confusion. The right wing maintained a semblance of order and made a hard run of it to get to the bridge. But the roth Connecticut and 96th New York, with other regiments close at their heels, continued their charge and cut off the right wing from that avenue of escape, upon which it turned westward and fled into the woods and retreated up the south bank of the Neuse unmolested. The enemy, nearest the bridge, retreated across it under cover of the fire of a five gun battery, ensconced in a strong redoubt on the north side, and also under the pro- tection afforded by a regiment drawn up in line of battle near the river to temporarily stay our advance. Amory's men at this
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BATTLE OF KINSTON.
juncture got down near the river and Battery F raked it with shell and cannister. The scream of the first Wiard shell made the regiment sway to and fro like a mob and in a moment it broke, threw away muskets and knapsacks and rushed across the bridge in a frightened herd.
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