Page:Annual report of the superintendent of Negro Affairs in North Carolina, 1864.djvu/38

36 which had been projected in aid of the Plymouth freedmen. One of these was the cutting of reeds for paper making. An agent of the Fiber Disintegrating Co., of Wall St. New York, had been here several times for the purpose of starting the business, and was on the point of succeeding, when Hoke appeared before the town. The same Hoke is answerable for the discontinuance of our agricultural operations, our fishing, shingle making, and turpentine farming. The Ram ruled the hour in Plymouth, and guarded like a Cerberus the mouth of the Roanoke, until the night when Lieut. Cushing succeeded in exploding a torpedo beneath her armor and sinking her. So Plymouth is ours again. But with less than 100 negroes in the town, there is little to be done in this department of labor. Let no one associate Roanoke river, on the right bank of which stands the town of Plymouth, with Roanoke Island. They are nearly one hundred miles apart, both bearing a name known chiefly before the war in connection with the nativity of that singular man, John Randolph. The river is navigable for small vessels as far up as Weldon, and the birthplace of Randolph was in the little town of Roanoke, still nearer the source of the river. Roanoke river empties into Albemarle Sound at its west end. Roanoke Island lies near the eastern extremity of the Sound.

This town lying midway between Plymouth and New Berne, on the Tar or Pamlico river, was, before the war, a place of more importance than Plymouth, but somewhat smaller than New Berne. Its plan is perfectly regular, with streets crossing one another at right angles, and beautifully shaded. A year ago it contained a colored population of nearly three thousand, where now are not one hundred. The fall of Plymouth hastened its evacuation by our army. But the need of troops for the Virginia campaign was one of the causes which led to this result.

The brave defence which Gen. Foster made here the year before having given the place some celebrity, our troops left it with regret. But especially sorrowful was this leave taking to the colored people, who parted with all they had, forsaking houses and lands, furniture, clothing, business, and all the associations