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Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 1. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), chapter 6.36 (search)
rned me as one dead until I was regularly exchanged and reached Richmond. The enemy pushed forward, after my capture, and soon came upon Colonel Gayle and the rear support. He was ordered to surrender, but drawing his pistol and firing in their faces, he exclaimed: We are flanked, boys, but let's die in our tracks, and continued to fire until he was literally riddled by bullets, and surrendered up his pure, brave young spirit to the God who gave it. Colonel Gayle was originally from Portsmouth, Virginia. The gallant Lieutenant-Colonel S. B. Pickens was severely wounded also, and the regiment fell to the command of Captain Tucker, who was killed at Sharpsburg, three days afterwards. Thoughts of that day's conflict bring to mind the names and faces of many of my noble company, very few of whom are still with me. I am grateful that such gallant spirits as Sergeants T. H. Clower, R. H. Stafford, A. P. Reid, J. H. Eason, W. M. Carr and A. G. Howard, and Privates Chappell, Tobe Ward, L
Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buell, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: The Opening Battles. Volume 1., chapter 14.53 (search)
d it produced unpleasant scorbutic results. On the 10th of September relief arrived, and with it, under Lieut.-Colonel George F. Betts, six more companies of the 9th New York. Until September 16th, nothing occurred to disturb the uneventful routine work incident to military occupation of an enemy's territory. On that day a mixed expedition of land and sea forces under conmand of Lieutenant James G. Maxwell, of the United States navy, was sent to destroy the forts of Beacon Island and Portsmouth, near Ocracoke Inlet. They were found to have been deserted by the Confederates, but Forts Hatteras and Clark. From War-time sketches. twenty-two guns of heavy caliber, that were left intact, were made useless by the Union forces. Soon after the capture of the forts the intelligent contraband began to arrive, often bringing news of important military activity in several directions. Before the first week of our occupation had expired I became convinced that the enemy was fortify
Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buell, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: The Opening Battles. Volume 1., chapter 15.58 (search)
e ship of the line Columbus, 74 guns, in ordinary; and the ship of the line Pennsylvania, 120 guns, receiving-ship ;--all lying at the yard or in the stream. The yard was walled around with a high brick inclosure, and protected by the Elizabeth River, and there were over 800 marines and sailors with officers. On the side of Virginia the situation was: that of General Taliaferro with his staff; Captain Heth and Major Tyler, two volunteer companies,--the Blues of Norfolk and the Grays of Portsmouth,--and Captains Pegram and Jones, of the navy. These were the only troops in Norfolk, until after the evacuation of the navy yard and the departure of the Federal ships. Captain H. G. Wright, of the Engineers, who was on the United States steamer Pawnee that had been sent to secure the ships and property at the Gosport Navy Yard, reached Norfolk after dark on April 20th. He reported thus: On reaching the yard it was found that all the ships afloat except the Cumberland had been scuttle
Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buell, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: The Opening Battles. Volume 1., chapter 15.60 (search)
forward and 22 feet aft. After the engagements of the 8th and 9th of March, 1862, I put her in the dry-dock and found she had 97 indentations on her armor from shot, 20 of which were from the 10-inch guns of the Monitor. Six of her top layer of plates were broken by the Monitor's shots, and none by those of the other vessels. None of the lower layer of plates were injured. I removed those plates and replaced them by others. Her wood-work underneath was not hurt. Her smoke-stack was full of shot-holes. She never had any boat-davits. Her pilot-house was east solid, and was not covered with plate-iron like her shield. She had port shutters only at her four quarter port-holes. It will thus be seen that the conversion of the Merrimac into an iron-clad was merely accidental, and grew out of the impracticability of building an engine within the time at the disposal of the Confederacy, and no iron-clad, with submerged ends, was afterward built. Portsmouth, Va., October, 1887.
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), Morgan's Indiana and Ohio Railroad. (search)
14th. We were fitted out with a fleet of steamers, and, leisurely waiting until Morgan passed the city, we started up the river, under orders to keep as near abreast of the enemy as practicable, and not to land until we were certain of reaching Buffington ford about the same time the raiders did. We steamed slowly up the Ohio, sending boats ashore from the headquarters' steamer every few hours to get reports of scouts and citizens on the movements and whereabouts of Morgan. We landed at Portsmouth on the evening of the 16th, and had some trouble in convincing the loyal people of that town that they ought, in consideration of liberal compensation in cash, to furnish us a sufficient train to carry our extra baggage and ammunition. A little coaxing, emphasized in special cases by resolute-looking fellows with drawn sabres, was successful. At nightfall I drove up in front of the shabby old hotel, for the general's inspection, a dozen wagons. With vigilant guarding, we kept them a co
J. B. Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary, chapter 15 (search)
on; the troopers rose, and said they were Confederate soldiers, and it was their duty to arrest a traitor. They brought him hither. Will he, too, escape merited punishment? May 3 I fear there is something in the rumor that Norfolk and Portsmouth and Yorktown and the Peninsula will be given up. The Secretaries of War and Navy are going down to Norfolk. May 4 The Yankees on the Peninsula mean to fight. Well, that is what our brave army pants for.. May 5 The prospect of battle produces a joyous smile on every soldier's face to-day. May 6-7 We have not yet reached the lowest round of the ladder. The Secretary is at Norfolk, and the place is to be evacuated. I would resign first. May 8 Norfolk and Portsmouth are evacuated! Our army falling back! The Merrimac is to be, or has been, blown up! May 9 My family, excepting my son Custis, started to-day for Raleigh, N. C., where our youngest daughter is at school. But it is in reality another flight fr
J. B. Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary, XXXII. November, 1863 (search)
d, caprice and folly have combined to snap the silken cord, and break the golden bowl. These are the consequences of a persistency in sectional strife and domination, foreseen and foretold by me in the Southern Monitor, published in Philadelphia; no one regarded the warning. Now hundreds of thousands are weeping in sackcloth and ashes. over the untimely end of hundreds of thousands slain in battle! And thousands yet must fall, before the strife be ended. November 2 A refugee from Portsmouth reports the arrival of 6000 Federal troops at Newport News, and that Richmond is to be menaced again. Brig.-Gen. H. W. Allen, Alexandria, La., reports 8000 deserters and skulking conscripts in that vicinity, and a bad state of things generally. Gen. Lee has written three letters to the department, dated 30th and 31st October. 1st, complaining of the tardiness of the Bureau of Examination, and the want of efficient officers; 2d, complaining of the furloughs given Georgia officers as
Judith White McGuire, Diary of a southern refugee during the war, by a lady of Virginia, 1864. (search)
gust 14th, 1864. Norfolk, poor Norfolk nothing can exceed its long-suffering, its night of gloom and darkness. Unlike Winchester, it has no bright spots — no oasis in its blank desert of wretchedness. Like Alexandria, it has no relief, but must submit, and drag on its chain of servility, till the final cry of victory bursts its bonds, and makes it free. I have no time to write of all I hear and know of the indignities offered to our countrymen and countrywomen in Alexandria, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and other places which remain incarcerated in the sloughs of Federal tyranny. God help them, and give us strength speedily to break the chain that binds them. August 15, 1864. An account from my relatives, of the raid of the 19th of June into the village of Tappahannock, has lately reached me. The village had been frequently visited and pillaged before, and both sides of the beautiful Rappahannock, above and below, had been sadly devastated; but the last visit seems to carry with
John G. Nicolay, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, condensed from Nicolay and Hayes' Abraham Lincoln: A History, Chapter 24. (search)
the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. And I hereby en
The Atlanta (Georgia) Campaign: May 1 - September 8, 1864., Part I: General Report. (ed. Maj. George B. Davis, Mr. Leslie J. Perry, Mr. Joseph W. Kirkley), Report of Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, U. S. Army, commanding armies of the United States, of operations march, 1864-May, 1865. (search)
minimum number of cavalry necessary for picket duty, in the absence of the main army. A cavalry expedition from General Ord's command will also be started from Suffolk, to leave there on Saturday, the 1st of April, under Colonel Sumner, for the purpose of cutting the railroad about Hicksford. This, if accomplished, will have to be a surprise, and therefore from 300 to 500 men will be sufficient. They should, however, be supported by all the infantry that can be spared from Norfolk and Portsmouth, as far out as to where the cavalry crosses the Blackwater. The crossing should probably be at Uniten. Should Colonel Sumner succeed in reaching the Weldon road he will be instructed to do all the damage possible to the triangle of roads between Hicksford, Weldon, and Gaston. The railroad bridge at Weldon being fitted up for the passage of carriages, it might be practicable to destroy any accumulation of supplies the enemy may have collected south of the Roanoke. All the troops will mo
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