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General Burnside left
General Foster in command of the troops in
North Carolina, and for awhile he had his Headquarters at
Morehead City.
He soon established them at New Berne, where the bulk of the army was held, and where, in the course of a few weeks, re-enforcements began to arrive.
The sea-coast of that State was in possession of the
National troops, but until near the close of the year
these were barely sufficient to hold the territory against attempts made by the
Confederates,
now and then, to repossess themselves of lost posts.
One of these attempts was made at the village of
Washington, on the Little Pamlico River, then held by a small land force under
Colonel Potter,
2 and two gunboats (
Pickett and
Louisiana ) lying in the stream near.
The post was surprised by Confederate cavalry at early dawn on a foggy September morning.
These swept through the village almost unopposed at first.
But the garrison was soon under arms, and, with some troops which had marched out to go to another point, and now returned, sustained a vigorous street-fight with the assailants for nearly three hours, the gun-boats at the same time giving assistance, until the
Pickett exploded.
3 The Confederates were finally repulsed, with a loss of thirty-three men killed and one hundred wounded. The Union loss was eight killed and thirty-six wounded.
Foster was soon satisfied that preparations were making for a vigorous effort to drive him from the posts in his possession, and as re-enforcements were now strengthening his little army, he resolved to strike some aggressive blows that might intimidate his adversaries.
Early in November,
he moved with the bulk of his army to
Washington, and thence marched, by way of
Williamson (near which he had a skirmish), for
Hamilton, on the
Roanoke River, where he expected to find some Confederate armored gun-boats a-building.
He was disappointed; so he marched inland toward
Tarboroa, when, being informed that a force larger than his own was gathered there, he turned oceanward, and made his way to
Plymouth, where his troops were embarked for New Berne.
Little of importance was accomplished by this expedition, excepting the liberation of several hundred slaves.
A little later
Foster undertook a more important expedition with a larger force.
4 He set out from New Berne
for the purpose of striking and breaking up at Goldsboroa, the railway that connected
