Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 5.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[551] She was not crippled or injured in the least, strange as it may appear, by our shells, which raked her decks. She is a stern-wheel steamer, of very light draught, and capable of carrying a regiment of troops.

In this engagement every officer and man behaved in the most heroic manner.

Capt. Flusser, of the Commodore Perry, Capt. Macdiarmid, of the Ceres, Captain Woodward, of the Shawsheen, have been through all the important battles in this department, and are now well known to the country. Lieut. Green, of company F, with a portion of the Zouaves, was on the Ceres, lending valuable assistance with his dashing followers all through the action. He was wounded in the leg, and was brought to the deck, where he lay during the remainder of the action, loading guns for his men, and speaking words of good cheer to them.

The following are the names of the killed and wounded on board the Ceres: John H. Bridges, killed; Manuel Sylvia, seriously wounded in the chest; John J. Dennison, seriously wounded in left breast; George Waterman, in the leg; Nicholas Waysen, in the leg; Edward B. Perry, in the arm; Timothy Dacey, in the arm; Thomas Rodgers, in arm and hand; Henry G. Rose, shoulder.

Of the Zouaves none were killed, though many slight wounds were received. On the Shawsheen, Thos. Smith was seriously wounded through the head, and a few others on the same boat received some slight wounds. On the Perry, one powderboy — a contraband, named Stephen Jones — was killed, while bravely performing his duty, and Daniel Donovan, a seaman on the same boat, was wounded, and Mr. Coleman, the executive officer of the Ceres, had his pants torn by a rebel bullet while in the act of fixing a shell for the enemy, and a splinter sent into his throat from a ball which struck the deck near his head. Captain Woodward, Capt. Macdiarmid, and Capt. Flusser each had very narrow escapes.

This victory is of great importance, inasmuch as it clears the way to Weldon. It is impossible to estimate the loss to the enemy, who, it is said, left some forty or fifty dead on the field.

Since the departure of Gen. Burnside with a part of his army for Virginia, Acting Major-Gen. Foster, the wheel-horse of the Burnside expedition, is chief officer in command of this department. This is said to be a permanent arrangement, as it is understood that Gen. Burnside will be continued hereafter in a more active field of labor.