50 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



Johnston, made up an army superior to me in 

 cavalry, and 'formidable enough in artillery and 

 infantry to justify me in extreme caution in 

 making the last step necessary to complete the 

 march I had undertaken. Previous to reaching 

 Fayetteville I had despatched to Wilmington 

 from Laurel Hill Church two of our best scouts 

 with intelligence of our position and my gen- 

 eral plans. Both of these messengers reached 

 Wilmington, and on the morning of the 12th 

 of March, the army tug Davidson, Capt. Ains- 

 worth, reached Fayetteville from Wilmington, 

 bringing me full intelligence of events from the 

 outer world. On the same day, this tug carried 

 back to Gen. Terry, at Wilmington, and Gen. 

 Schofield at Newborn, my despatches to the ef- 

 fect that on Wednesday, the 15th, we would 

 move for Goldsboro, feigning on Raleigh, and 

 ordering them to march straight for Goldsboro, 

 which I expected to reach about the 20th. The 

 same day, the gunboat Eolus, Capt. Young, 

 United States navy, also reached Fayetteville, 

 and through her I continued to have communi- 

 cation with Wilmington until the day of our 

 actual departure. While the work of destruc- 

 tion was going on at Fayetteville, two pontoon 

 bridges were laid across Cape Fear River, one 

 opposite the town, the other three miles below." 



While Gen. Sherman had been advancing to 

 Fayetteville, some movements had taken place 

 at Wilmington, N. C., intended to prepare the 

 way for cooperation with him. It was on Jan. 

 15th that Gen. Schofield, with the 23d corps, left 

 Gen. Thomas, as has been stated, for the Atlan- 

 tic coast. The troops moved with their artil- 

 lery and horses, but without wagons, by steam 

 transports, to Cincinnati, Ohio, and thence by 

 railroad to Washington, D. C., and Alexandria, 

 Va. Although it was midwinter and the weather 

 unusually severe, the movement was effected 

 without delay, accident, or suffering on the part 

 of the troops. In February an order was issued 

 by the Secretary of War creating the depart- 

 ment of North Carolina, and assigning Gen. 

 Schofield to the command. The ultimate object 

 of his operations was to occupy Goldsboro, 

 N. C., and to open railroad communication be- 

 tween that point and the sea-coast, and further 

 to accumulate supplies for Gen. Sherman's army 

 and to join it, in its approach, at or near Golds- 

 boro. Wilmington was made the first point to 

 capture, as it would afford a valuable auxiliary 

 base to Morehead City in the event of the junc- 

 tion being made at Goldsboro ; and also as it 

 would be of great value to Gen. Sherman in 

 case the movement of the main army of the 

 enemy or other circumstances should render 

 advisable a concentration of Sherman's army at 

 some point further south than Goldsboro. 



With the 8d division of the 23d corps, under 

 Major-Gen. J. D. Cox, Gen. Schofield reached 

 the mouth of Cape Fear River on Feb. 9th, and 

 landed near Fort Fisher. The other troops 

 were to follow. Major-Gen. Terry, with about 

 eight thousand men, then held a line across the 

 peninsula, about two miles above the fort, and 



occupied Smitjiville and Fort Caswell on the 

 south side of the river, while the naval squad- 

 ron under Rear- Admiral Porter, occupied po- 

 sitions in Cape Fear River, and off the coast 

 covering the flanks of Gen. Terry's liue. On 

 the west bank, Fort Anderson was occupied by 

 the enemy with a collateral line running to a 

 large swamp about three-fourths of a mile dis- 

 tant, and a line opposite Fort Anderson, run- 

 ning across the peninsula from Cape Fear River 

 to Masonboro' Sound. This position was im- 

 pregnable against a. direct attack, and could be 

 turned only by crossing the sound above his 

 left, or passing around the swamp which cov- 

 vered his right. The first movement of Gen. 

 Schofield consisted in pushing forward Gen. 

 Terry's line on Feb. llth, supported by Gen. 

 Cox's division, which drove in the enemy's 

 pickets, and intrenched in a new position close 

 enough to the enemy's line to compel him to 

 hold it in force. Efforts were then made to 

 turn his left by the aid of a fleet of boats to 

 cross the sound, but the weather prevented. 

 Finally Gen. Schofield determined to attempt 

 to turn the enemy's right. Gen. Cox's and 

 Gen. Ames' divisions were crossed over to 

 Smithville and joined by Col. Moore's brigade 

 of Gen. Couch's division, which had just de- 

 barked. They advanced along the main Wil- 

 mington road until they encountered the ene- 

 my's position at Fort Anderson and the ad- 

 jacent wt>rks. Here two brigades were in- 

 trenched to occupy the enemy, while Gen. 

 Cox with the other two brigades and Gen. 

 Ames' division moved around the swamp cover- 

 ing the enemy's right, in order to strike the 

 Wilmington road in the rear of Fort Anderson. 

 The distance to be travelled was about fifteen 

 miles. The enemy, by means of their cavalry, 

 discovering the movement of Gen. Cox, hastily 

 abandoned their works on both sides of the 

 river during the night of Feb. 19th, fell back 

 behind Town Creek on the west, and to a 

 similar position covered with swamps on the 

 east. Thus the main defences of the Cape 

 Fear River and of Wilmington were captured, 

 with ten pieces of heavy ordnance and a large 

 amount of ammunition. 



On the next day Gen. Cox pursued the 

 enemy to Town Creek, behind which he was 

 found intrenched. The only bridge over had 

 been destroyed. Gen. Terry, on the east bank, 

 also encountered the enemy in superior force, 

 and Gen. Ames' division was recrossed and 

 joined him during the night. On the 20th 

 Gen. Cox crossed Town Creek, and gaining the 

 flank and rear of the enemy attacked and rout- 

 ed them, capturing two guns and three hundred 

 and seventy-five prisoners, besides the killed 

 and wounded. During the night he rebuilt the 

 bridge, crossed his artillery, and advanced tow- 

 ard Wilmington without opposition. Mean- 

 while, Gen. Terry being unable to advance, so 

 occupied the attention of the entire force of 

 Gen. Hoke that he was unable to rei-nforce those 

 defeated by Gen. Cox. On Feb. 21st Gen. Cox 



