[
109]
and hold the
Island and Inlet.
Late in September he was re-enforced by
Colonel Brown and his Twentieth Indiana regiment.
In the mean time an expedition had been secretly prepared for following up the victory at
Hatteras, by seizing and holding the whole coast of
North Carolina washed by the waters of
Pamlico and
Albemarle Sounds, and threatening
Norfolk, still held by the
Confederates, in the rear.
1
The first object was to close the passages to these Sounds from the sea. Accordingly, a little naval force was sent
to break up a Confederate post at Ocracoke Inlet, few miles down the coast from
Hatteras.
Commodore Rowan sent
Lieutenant J. T. Maxwell to perform this service.
He went in the tug
Fanny, with a detachment of mariners and soldiers of the
Naval Brigade which had been organized in
Hampton Roads.
The tug towed a launch, and the
Susquehanna accompanied them.
An earthwork, little inferior to Fort Hatteras, was found on
Beacon Island, commanding the
Inlet; but this, called Fort Ocracoke, and older
Fort Morgan near, were abandoned.
They were disabled by
Maxwell.
In the meantime the
Confederates were evidently preparing to throw a force on to
Roanoke Island, to the northward of
Hatteras, with the intention of recovering their losses at the
Inlet, and keeping open two small inlets to
Pamlico, above
Cape Hatteras.
Hawkins sent
Colonel Brown,
with his Twentieth Indiana, up the island to a hamlet called Chicomicocomico, partly to defend the professedly loyal inhabitants there, but more particularly to watch the
Confederates, and, if possible, prevent their gaining possession of
Roanoke.
The regiment was landed in small boats
with very scant supplies.
The
Fanny was sent with stores,
but was captured by the
Confederates, who thus obtained property of the value of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The most important loss was the camp equipage, provisions, and intrenching tools of
Brown's regiment.
It defeated his undertaking; for when, on the 4th of October, a squadron of five or six Confederate steamers, bearing over two thousand men, composed of North Carolinians and Georgians, who had taken possession of
Roanoke Island, bore down from
Croatan Sound, with the evident intention of attacking him, he was compelled to retreat.
Troops were landed from the steamers at Keneekut and Chicomicocomico, above and below
Brown's Camp, under cover of shells thrown from the armed vessels.
The
Indianians succeeded in escaping to
Cape Hatteras, where they were met by five hundred of
Hawkins's Zouaves, supported by the
Susquehanna and
Monticello. They had lost about fifty men, most of whom were captured
