Benjamnin F. Butler, Butler's Book: Autobiography and Personal Reminiscences of Major-General Benjamin Butler

[282] great necessity of taking them. Now he was an officer in the regular army and I knew would never attempt such an expedition without a great many men with him; it must be a great expedition. Therefore I said nothing to him about how many men I thought it would need. I assured him, however, that there could be no danger of any attack either upon Newport News or Fortress Monroe, because I had sent up a balloon over a thousand feet so as to examine the whole country round about, and found that Magruder had retired to Bethel and Yorktown with his troops, and given up his expedition against Newport News. This, by the way, was the first balloon reconnoissance of the war.

I also told Wool that in his assignment Scott did not mean to let him do anything any more than he did me. I set out to him the exact condition of things in regard to Hatteras, and informed him that the navy was very anxious to make the attack, and if it were done while he was in command of that department, it would result in great glory to him as the first considerable success of the war. After my consultation with him, an order was drawn as follows, which he signed:--

headquarters Department of Virginia, Fortress Monroe, Va., August 25, 1861.

Special Order No. 13.

Major-General Butler will prepare eight hundred and sixty troops for an expedition to Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina, to go with Commodore Stringham, commanding Home Squadron, to capture several batteries in that neighborhood. The troops will be as follows: Two hundred men from Camp Butler and six hundred from Camp Hamilton, with a suitable number of commissioned officers, and one company (B) of the Second Artillery from Fortress Munroe. They will be provided with ten days rations and water, and one hundred and forty rounds of ammunition. General Butler will report, as soon as he has his troops prepared, to Flag-Officer Stringham, and he will be ready to embark at one o'clock to-morrow. As soon as the object of the expedition is attained the detachment will return to Fortress Monroe.

Captain Tallmadge, chief quartermaster, will provide a detachment of eight hundred and sixty men for the expedition to Hatteras Inlet, with a suitable quantity of water for ten days consumption, and the chief commissary of subsistence, Captain Taylor, will provide it with rations for the