AEMY OPERATIONS. 



41 



On the next day, the 14th, Lieut. Jeffers was 

 sent by Lieut. Maury with the gunboats Under- 

 writer, Lockwood, Shawshene, and WhiteTiead, 

 towing a couple of schooners to the mouth of 

 the Chesapeake and Albemarle canal. The 

 enemy were found engaged in placing obstruc- 

 tions in the mouth of the canal. These works 

 were completed by sinking the two schooners 

 and burning all that remained above water. 

 This small expedition then returned to the 

 mouth of North River. This was two days be- 

 fore the surrender of Fort Donelson. On the 

 18th of February the joint commanders of the 

 Union forces in North Carolina issued the fol- 

 lowing proclamation, declaring to the people of 

 that State the object of their mission : 



EOA-XOKE ISLASD. XOP.TH CiP.OI.nfA, ) 



Ftlruary IS, 1S62. j 

 To the Peoph of North Carolina : 



The mission of our joint expedition is not to invade 

 any of your rights, but to assert the authority of the 

 United States, and to close with you the desolating war 

 brought upon your State by comparatively a few bad 

 men in your midst. 



Influenced infinitely more by the worst passions of 

 human nature than by any sh'ow of elevated reason, 

 they are still urging you astray to gratify their unholy 

 purposes. 



They impose upon your credulity by telling you of 

 wicked and even diabolical intentions on onr part ; of 

 our desire to destroy your freedom, demolish your 

 property, liberate your slaves, injure your women," and 

 such like enormities all of which, we assure you, is 

 not only ridiculous, but utterly and wilfully false. 



We are Christians as well as yourselves, "and we pro- 

 fess to know full well, and to feel profoundly, the sacred 

 obligations of the character. 



Xo apprehensions need be entertained that the de- 

 mands of humanity or justice will be disregarded. We 

 shall inflict no injury, unless forced to do so by your 

 own acts, and upon this you may confidently rely." 



Those men are your worst enemies. They, in'truth, 

 have drawn you into your presentcondition, and are 

 the real disturbers of your peace and the happiness of 

 your firesides. 



We invite you, in the name of the Constitution, and 

 in that of virtuous loyalty and civilization, to separate 

 yourselves at once from these malign influences, to re- 

 turn to your allegiance, and not compel us to resort 

 further to the force under our control. 



The Government asks only that its authority may be 

 recognized ; and we repeat, in no manner or way does 

 it desire to interfere with your laws constitutionally 

 established, your institutions of any kind whatever, 

 your property of any sort, or your usages in anv re- 

 spect. L. M. GOLDSBOROUGH, Flag Officer, 

 Commanding North Carolina Blockading Squadron. 



A. E. BURNSIDE, Brigadier-General, 

 Commanding Department of Xorth Carolina. 



It may be thought that this part of North 

 Carolina was in a very defenceless condition. 

 In many respects this was not so. It cost the 

 United States two military and naval expe- 

 ditions before it was reached. The first expe- 

 dition, under the command of Gen. Benjamin F. 

 Butler and Commodore S. H. Stringham, con- 

 sisted of the steam frigates Minnesota and Wa- 

 bash, and armed steamers Monticello, Pawnee, 

 and Harriet Lane, and the steam transports 

 Adelaide and George Peabody, and the tug 

 Fanny. The steam frigate Susquehanna also 

 joined the expedition. The military force con- 

 sisted of 880 men. These forces captured the 



forts at the entrance of Hatteras Inlet, and 

 made no further advance. The result of the 

 expedition was the acquisition of the forts cap- 

 tured, the control of the island in which they 

 were located, and the closing of the inlet against 

 the passage of vessels running the blockade. 

 The expedition under Gen. Burnside entered 

 the inlet and captured the fortifications on 

 Roanoke Island and destroyed the Confederate 

 navy, when the country lay at its mercy. Small 

 fortifications and some military force was found, 

 however, at every town of any importance. No 

 civil, commercial, or political changes were 

 made such as to indicate that the inhabitants 

 regarded themselves as restored to the Union. 

 Those in whose hands was held the local civil 

 and political power, retired to safe quarters upon 

 the approach of the Federal force. They ac- 

 knowledged another allegiance due to a power 

 which they believed or hoped would yet be able 

 to expel the Union troops. So long as that 

 power retained its strength they either feared 

 or declined to acknowledge allegiance else- 

 where. That invariable follower of the inva- 

 sion of hostile armies, the provost marshal, or 

 military governor, attended the footsteps of 

 the Burnside expedition as he has almost every 

 other which has entered within the limits of the 

 Confederate States during this year. 



On the 19th of February a reconnoitring ex- 

 pedition left Edenton for "\Vinton, the capital 

 of Hereford county, situated near the head of 

 navigation on the Chowan river, about fifty 

 miles above its mouth. It consisted of the flo- 

 tilla under the command of Commander Rowan 

 and a company of Col. Hawkins' N. Y. regi- 

 ment. This force had been informed at Eliza- 

 beth City, that five hundred Union men at 

 "Winton had raised " the Stars and Stripes " and 

 desired protection. Upon arriving opposite the 

 landing of the town, which was a short distance 

 in the rear, a perfect shower of balls and buck- 

 shot were fired upon the advancing vessel. The 

 river here is about a hundred yards wide and 

 the banks high. The boats ascended and 

 brought their guns to bear and fired several 

 shells, and retired about eight miles down the 

 river for the night. The next morning they 

 returned and shelled the village. The military 

 were landed and found it deserted, when the 

 buildings were set on fire and burned. 



The movements of the Federal forces caused 

 efforts to be made by the State authorities to 

 resist them. On the 22d Governor Clark issued 

 the following proclamation : 



NORTH-CAROLINIANS ! Our country needs your aid 

 for its protection and defence against an invading foe. 

 The President of the Confederate States has made a 

 requisition upon our State to complete her quota of 

 troops in the field. Our own borders are invaded by 

 the enemy in force, now threatening an advance to 

 deprive us of liberty, property, and all that we hold 

 dea_r, as a self-governing and free people. We must 

 resist him at all hazards and by every means in our 

 power. He wages a war for our subjugation a war 

 forced upon us in wrong and prosecuted without right, 

 and in a spirit of vengeful wickedness without a paral- 

 lel in the history of warfare among civilized nations. 



