Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/145

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water. They had built strong earthworks on the land side, stretch- ing from river to river, and had several gunboats cruising about t<> protect the place on the water side.

Among these gunboats one was the f Underwriter t which had been a heavy ocean tugboat at New York, and purchased by the United States government, had been converted into quite a formidable ves- sel of war. She was the ship that fired the first gun in the attack upon Roanoke Island, where your speaker had the misfortune to be captured, and it may be said there was something like the rule of compensation when said speaker had a hand in capturing her. She was armed with two 8-inch guns, one 3-inch rifle and one 12-pounder Howitzer, and had a crew of about eighty-five all told. Picture to yourself a steamer about the size of the Northampton, with very low guards, and stripped of her sides or bulwarks, except a wooden rail with rope netting from that to her deck. The quiet possession of New Bern by the Federals had distressed and worried the patriotic people of North Carolina, and General Hoke, than whom there was not a more competent or brilliant officer of his rank in the Confed- erate army, strongly advocated a quick movement upon the place by the army, assisted by the navy on the water, predicting certain success, and large reward in stores, munitions and prisoners. The matter took definite shape in January, 1864, and it was decided to send General Pickett with as much of his division as might be avail- able, to make the attempt. On Friday, January 29, 1864, orders were received by the four ships lying at Drewry's Bluff", each to fit out a cutter fully armed for service on a secret expedition. No one in the squadron knew of our destination, except your speaker and Captain Parker, serving on the Patrick Henry, and we were ordered to take five days' rations. I was put in command of that part of the expedition, with confidential orders to report to Captain John Taylor Wood (his naval rank), at Kinston, N. C.

To escape notice as much as possible, we pulled down James river to the Appomattox, and reached Petersburg before daylight. There was a railway train waiting for us, and we hauled our boats out of the water, and, by hard work, loaded them on the flat cars before the people were up and about.

We started off at once, and it was a novel sight to see a train like that Jack sitting up on the seats of the boats and waving his hat to the astonished natives, who never saw such a circus before. Many of them had never seen a boat. We reached Kinston on Sunday morning, and immediately got the boats in the water of the Neuse