Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 30.djvu/213

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[From the New Orleans, La., Picayune, December 28, 1902, January 4, 1903.]

THE CONFEDERATE RAM ALBEMARLE.

Built to Clear the Roanoke, Neuse and Pamlico Rivers, She Accomplished Her Mission Brilliantly.

By Captain JAMES DINKINS.

Early in 1863 the Federals had complete possession of all the bays and sounds and rivers along the Virginia and North Carolina coasts.

Pamlico Sound afforded a fine rendezvous for vessels of all kinds, while the towns along the Roanoke, Neuse and Pamlico rivers were garrisoned by Federal troops. From these garrisoned towns forag- ing parties scoured the country and destroyed or carried away every movable thing, including beast and fowl. The people in that sec- tion, being robbed of everything they possessed, appealed to the authorities at Richmond for aid and relief.

On March 14, 1863, General D. H. Hill sent a brigade of infantry and a battery of smoothbore guns, under General J. J. Pettigrew, in response to the call of the people, with instructions to destroy Fort Anderson, on the Neuse river, opposite Newbern, N. C.

General Pettigrew bombarded the place for two hours, but, satis- fied he could not capture it by assault, withdrew. Subsequently, General George E. Pickett was ordered from Kinston, with instruc- tions to capture Newbern and destroy the enemy's fleet.

At this juncture the Confederates did not have a vessel of any kind in either of the three rivers named. General Pickett, feeling the need of some diversion on the river, managed to get a lot of skiffs, or new boats, about thirty in all, which he filled with men armed with rifles and cutlasses, under command of Colonel John Taylor Wood, who proceeded down the Neuse, to co-operate with the infantry.

The enemy's fleet at Newbern consisted of five gunboats the Lockwood, Underwriter, Hetzel, Commodore Hull, and the Hunch- back, while the forts were garrisoned by 4,000 men and fiftyjcannon. The audacity of the Confederates, therefore, in descending the river with thirty skiffs to attack the Federal fleet of five gunboats and two heavily-armed forts, scarcely has a parallel.

Colonel Wood set out on his desperate mission with as brave a