EXPEDITIONS. 



289 



bands, this twenty-ninth day of August, A. n. l^'.l, 

 and of the independence of theUnited States the ei-^ht v- 

 fifihyear. S. H. STRIXGHAM, 



Flag-Officer Atlantic Blockading Squadron. 



BENJAMIN F. Bt TI.KK, 

 Major-General U. S. A., Commanding. 



S. BARROX, 

 'ificer C. S. N., Com'g Naval Forces Va. & X. C. 



WILLIAM F. MARTIN, 

 Col. Seventh Light Infantry X. C. Volunteers. 



W. L. G. ANDREWS, 

 Major Com'g Forts Hatteras and Clark. 



The results of this capitulation were the cap- 

 ture of 715 men, including the commander, 

 Com. Barren, who was at the time Acting Sec- 

 retary of the Navy of the Confederate States, 

 and Major Bradford, Chief of the Ordnance 

 Department of the Confederate States army, 

 2 forts, 1,000 stand of arms, 75 kegs of 

 powder, 5 stand of colors, 31 pieces of cannon, 

 including one 10-inch columbiad, a brig loaded 

 with cotton, a sloop loaded with provisions and 

 stores, 2 light boats, 150 bags of coffee. &c. 

 The forts were held and garrisoned by U. S. 

 troops, and the Fanny and Montieello retained 

 at the inlet to keep off the Confederate gun- 

 boats, and capture vessels attempting to run 

 the blockade. On the 30th Sept. a fortification 

 called Fort Oregon at Ocracoke Inlet, about 15 

 miles below Hatteras Inlet, was abandoned by 

 the Confederate forces, and on the 16th of 

 September, an expedition from Hatteras Inlet 

 visited and destroyed it. On the 7th of Sep- 

 tember, four Confederate vessels, and on the 8th 

 a fifth, attempted to enter Hatteras Inlet, and 

 were all captured by the steamtug Fanny. On 

 the 2d of October, the Fanny was captured by 

 a party of Confederates in armed steamtugs ; 

 her two brass cannon and 35 men belonging to 

 the 9th X. Y. Volunteers (Hawkins' Zouaves) 

 were taken, and a considerable quantity of 

 stores. On the 4th of October, the Confederate 

 troops attacked the 20th Indiana Regiment at 

 Chicamacomico, about 30 miles above Hatteras 

 Inlet, and took a considerable number of them 



Erisoners. The next day the Monticello and 

 nsquehanna came down and shelled the Con- 

 federate troops, killing a large number, and 

 driving the remainder to their boats. The U. 

 S. Government authorized the enlistment of 

 loyal citizens of North Carolina in the army, 

 and a considerable number availed themselves 

 of the opportunity. 



2. The Expedition to Port RoyalThe Hat- 

 teras expedition having proved successful, the 

 ~~. S. Government was encouraged to prosecute 

 "th all diligence a much greater and more 

 midable undertaking, which it had already 

 projected. The finest harbor on the Southern 

 Atlantic coast was that of Port Royal in South 

 Carolina a broad estnary, formed by the 

 junction of Broad and Port Royal rivers, and 

 Archer's Creek and their debouchure into the 

 Atlantic. The interlacing of these and other 

 rivers in the vicinity has formed a large 

 group of islands, of which Hilton Head, Hunt- 

 ing. St. Helena, Paris, and Port Royal are the 

 principal. This harbor is situated about half- 

 19 



ter 



s 



way between Charleston and Savannah, with 

 both which cities it has an interior water com- 

 munication. The parish, of which these islands 

 form the greater part, was the richest agricul- 

 tural district in South Carolina. It was the 

 most important seat of the production of the 

 fine long-stapled Sea Island cotton, and was also 

 largely engaged in the rice culture. It was the 

 largest slaveholding parish in South Carolina, 

 having 32,000 slaves to less than 7,000 whites. 

 The village of Beaufort and the adjacent country 

 on Port Royal and the other interior islands 

 was the summer residence of the wealthy plant- 

 ers of South Carolina. 



The Government at first seems to have pur- 

 posed sending the expedition to some other 

 point (perhaps Savannah) on the coast, but 

 wisely referred the final decision of the point 

 to be first attacked, to the thorough profes- 

 sional knowledge and skill of the flag-officer of 

 the expedition, Com. S. F. Dupont, who, after 

 much deliberation and consultation with the 

 Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Fox, fixed 

 upon Port Royal, as being the best point from 

 which to move either northward or southward. 

 The preparations for the expedition were on an 

 extensive scale, and required a longer period for 

 the completion of all its equipments than was 

 at first expected. It finally set sail from Hamp- 

 ton Roads on the 29th of October, consisting of 

 fifty vessels, including transports. A fleet of 

 twenty-five coal vessels, to supply the necessary 

 fuel, had been despatched the previous day. 



The naval vessels connected with the expe- 

 dition were the Wabash, (the flag-ship,) the Sus- 

 quehanna, and the gunboats Mohican, Seminole, 

 Pawnee, Unadilla, Ottawa, Pembina, Isaac 

 Smith, Bienville, Seneca, Curlew, Penguin, 

 Augusta, R. B. Forbes, and Pocahontas, the 

 steam-tug Mercury, the frigate Vandalia, and 

 the little steam-cutter Vixen. There were also 

 thirty-three transports, many of them of the 

 first class, such as the Baltic, Ocean Queen, 

 Vanderbilt, Illinois, Cahawba, Empire City, 

 Ariel, Daniel Webster, Coatzacoalcos, Ericsson, 

 Oriental, Philadelphia, S. R. Spaulding, TVinfield 

 Scott, Atlantic, &c., &c. ; and such sailing ves- 

 sels as the Great Republic, Ocean Express, 

 Golden Eagle, &c. The naval command was, 

 as has already been said, assigned to Com. S. 

 F. Dupont, but the transports carried out an 

 army of about 15,000 troops, under the com- 

 mand of Acting Major-General Thomas "W. 

 Sherman. This force was divided into three 

 brigades, commanded respectively by Brigadier- 

 Generals Egbert S. Viele, Isaac J. Stevens, and 

 Horatio G. "Wright. The first brigade consisted 

 of the Third New Hampshire, Eighth Maine, 

 Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, and Forty-eighth 

 New York regiments ; the second brigade of 

 the Eighth Michigan, Fiftieth Pennsylvania, 

 Roundhead Pennsylvania, and Seventy-ninth 

 New York, (Highlanders ;) the third brigade, 

 of the Sixth and Seventh Connecticut, the 

 Ninth Maine, the Fourth New Hampshire, and 

 the Third Rhode Island, with Hamilton's (late 



