Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 4.djvu/297

Rh without new casualties. Fully 200 had been killed during these two days, and only three or four of the land guns remained serviceable.

Then the land forces approached nearer and nearer by pits and shelter, and the assault began. Most desperately did General Whiting, Colonel Lamb, and all their officers and men fight for the important fort; frequently did they signal for the aid they sorely needed. General Whiting and Colonel Lamb were both severely wounded. On the 15th, after exhausting every energy, the fort was surrendered. The Federal loss is stated at 1,445. The garrison lost about 500. Few more gallant defenses against such odds are recorded. General Whiting died shortly after in a Northern prison.

The winter around Petersburg was the worst one of the four years of the war, to the North Carolina troops, as well as to all of Lee’s army. The gloom of despondency was fast settling upon the army that had defied so many perils. It was now known that there was not meat enough in the Southern Confederacy for the armies it had in the field; that there was not in Virginia either meat or bread enough for the armies within her limits; that meat must be obtained from abroad.

But by heavy drafts upon North Carolina, food was sent to the armies in Virginia, and by February of 1865, their condition was somewhat improved. Reserve depots were established at Lynchburg, Danville and Greensboro. Even then new difficulties appeared, for the railroads were so poorly equipped that they could not haul rations as fast as the armies consumed them. Wagons had to make regular trips to supplement the worn-out trains.

At the opening of the spring campaign, the following North Carolina troops were present in the army of Northern Virginia: In Gen. Bryan Grimes division were the First North Carolina, Maj. L. C. Latham; the Second, Maj. J. T. Scales; the Third, Maj. W. T. Ennett; the Fourth, Capt. J. B. Forcum; the Fourteenth,