344 



GKEAT BETHEL. 



enemy, will shout "Boston." Cols. Allen, Carr, 

 Townsend, Duryea, and McChesney will take notice, 

 and act accordingly. By command of 



Brigadier-General E. W. PIERCE. 



Some notes were added to this order, the 

 principal points of which were as follows : 



A regiment or battalion to march from Newport 

 News. A regiment or battalion to march from Camp 

 Hamilton, Duryea's; each to be supported by suffi- 

 cient reserves under arms in camp, and with advance- 

 guard out on the line of march. Duryea to push put 

 two pickets at 10 P. M. ; one also two and a half miles 

 beyond Hampton, on the county road, but not so far 

 as to alarm the enemy. This is important. Second 

 picket half so far as the first. Both pickets to keep as 

 much out of sight as possible. No one whosoever to 

 be allowed to pass through their lines. Persons to be 

 allowed to pass inward towards Hampton, unless it 

 appear they intend to go around about and dodge 

 through the front. At 12 M., (midnight,) Col. Duryea 

 will march his regiment, with twenty rounds of car- 

 tridges, on the county road towards Little Bethel. 

 Scows will be provided to ferry them across Hampton 

 Creek. March to be rapid but not hurried. A how- 

 itzer with canister and shrapnell to go, and a wagon 

 with planks and materials to repair the New Market 

 bridge. Duryea to have the two hundred rifles. He 

 will pick the men to whom they are to be intrusted. 

 Newport News movement to be made somewhat later, 

 as the distance is less. If we find the enemy and sur- 

 prise them, we will fire a volley if desirable, not reload, 

 and go ahead with the bayonet. As the attack is to 

 be made by night, or gray of morning, and in two 

 detachments, our people should have some token, say 

 a white rag, or nearest approach to white attainable, 

 on left arm. 



Accordingly, on that night, the regiment of 

 New York Zouaves, tinder Col. Duryea, and 

 the Albany (N. Y.) regiment, under Col. Town- 

 send, were despatched from Fortress Monroe, 

 while the New York Steuben (German) regi- 

 ment, under Col. Bendix, with detachments 

 from the First Vermont and the Third Massa- 

 chusetts, were ordered from Newport News. 

 "With the division from Fortress Monroe, or 

 Camp Hamilton, as it was called, there was a 

 small detachment of United States Artillery, 

 Lieut. Greble commanding, with three pieces 

 of light artillery. 



The Zouaves were ordered to proceed over 

 Hampton Creek at 1 o'clock in the morning, 

 and to march by the road up to New Market 

 Bridge ; thence, after crossing, to go by a by- 

 road, which would put them in the rear of the 

 enemy, and between Little Bethel and Great 

 Bethel. This was to be done for the purpose 

 of cutting off the enemy and then to make an 

 attack on Little Bethel. This movement was 

 to be supported by Col. Townsend's regiment 

 with two howitzers, which was to march from 

 Hampton one hour later. The companies of 

 Massachusetts and Vermont were to make a 

 demonstration upon Little Bethel in front, sup- 

 ported by Col. Bendix's regiment with two 

 fieldpieces. The regiments of Cols. Bendix 

 and Townsend were to effect a junction at a fork 

 of the road leading from Hampton to Newport 

 News, about a mile and a half from Little Bethel. 

 Col. Townsend, in his report, thus describes the 

 manner in which this junction was made: 



" In obedience to these orders, with the con- 



certed sign of a white badge upon our left arm, 

 (at midnight,) I marched my regiment to Hamp- 

 ton, where the general met the command and 

 accompanied it. 



" Oil approaching a defile through a thick 

 wood, about five or six miles from Hampton, a 

 heavy and well-sustained fire of canister and 

 small-arms was opened upon the regiment 

 while it was marching in a narrow road, upon 

 the flank, in easy step and wholly unsuspicious 

 of any enemy, inasmuch as we were ordered to 

 reenforce Col. Duryea, who had preceded us by 

 some two hours, and who had been ordered to 

 throw out, as he marched, an advance guard two 

 miles from his regiment, and a sustaining force 

 half-way between the advance and the regi- 

 ment ; therefore, had Col. Duryea been obliged 

 to retreat upon us before we reached his local- 

 ity, we should have heard distant firing, or 

 some of his regiment would have been seen re- 

 treating. 



" The force which fired upon us was subse- 

 quently ascertained to be only the regiment of 

 Col. Bendix, though a portion of the Vermont 

 and Fourth Massachusetts regiments was with 

 it, having come down with two 6-pounder field- 

 pieces from Newport News to join the column. 

 These regiments took up a masked position in 

 the woods at the commencement of the defile. 

 The result of the fire upon us was two mortally 

 Avounded, (one since dead.) three dangerously, 

 and four officers and twenty privates slightly, 

 making a total of twenty-nine. At the com- 

 mencement of the fire, the general, captain 

 chamberlain, his aide-de-camp, and two mount- 

 ed howitzers were about 250 paces in advance 

 of the regiment ; the fire was opened upon them 

 first by a discharge of small-arms, and imme- 

 diately followed by a rapidly returned volley 

 upon my regiment and the field-pieces ; my 

 men then generally discharged their pieces and 

 jumped from the right to the left of the road, 

 and recommenced loading and firing. In a few 

 minutes, the regiment was reformed in the midst 

 of this heavy fire, and by the general's direc- 

 tions, retired in a thoroughly military manner, 

 and in order to withdraw his supposed enemy 

 from his position. On ascertaining that the en- 

 emy were our friends, and on providing for the 

 wounded, we joined Cols. Duryea and Bendix." 



Col. Duryea, who was on the advance, thus 

 describes his movement : 



" At half-past 11 o'clock, at night, we com- 

 menced the march, and for the first two miles to 

 Hampton Bridge, proceeded leisurely, waiting 

 for the howitzer which should be placed at the 

 head of the column. Arriving at Hampton 

 Creek, much delay was occasioned by the non- 

 arrival of the surf-boats which were to convey 

 the regiment across the river, and it was 1 

 o'clock before the column was formed, ready to 

 push forward on the other side. We now ad- 

 vanced rapidly, and soon came up with our two 

 companies of skirmishers, who had been de- 

 spatched ahead an hour and a half previous. 

 Proceeding steadily on without resting a mo- 



