Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/86

76 rooms into confusion. A marine was dashed against the ceiling and his leg broken, while several other men were slightly injured.

Glassell and Tombs were promoted for their gallant behavior in this audacious enterprise. Glassell was exchanged in a few months, and served in the James river squadron. Tombs was afterward conspicuous in torpedo warfare in and around Charleston harbor.

The capture of the United States steamer Underwriter, on the night of February 1, 1864, by Commander John Taylor Wood and his men, was one of the brilliant episodes of the war. It was intended that General Pickett should attack the land forces at New Bern, N. C., while Wood should attempt to carry the gunboats in the Neuse and Trent rivers. General Pickett's attack was only partially successful, owing to the failure of one of his divisions to make the necessary diversion.

Wood's party rendezvoused at Kinston, on the Neuse river. It consisted of drafts from the Confederate vessels at Richmond, Wilmington and Charleston. From the schoolship Patrick Henry and the James river squadron went Lieut. Benjamin P. Loyall (second in command), Lieut. F. L. Hoge, and Midshipmen Palmer Saunders and Dan Lee; and from Wilmington and Charleston went Lieuts. Philip Porcher, William A. Kerr, F. M. Roby, J. M. Gardner, George W. Gift and Henry Wilkinson; Midshipmen H. S. Cooke, J. T. Scharf and W. S. Hogue, and Engineer E. J. Gill. The entire force consisted of 15 officers and about 100 sailors and marines, in six boats. The marines were under Capt. Thomas S. Wilson. The expedition pulled down the Neuse river from Kinston to New Bern, a distance of some 40 miles, and at 2:30 a. m., February 25th, discovered the Underwriter lying close inshore, under the protection of two forts.

J. T. Scharf, who was present in one of the boats, has written: