Chapter 35:
- Arrival of General Beauregard at Weldon, April 22d. -- he Disapproves operations against Plymouth and Newbern. -- Predicts Burnside's attack upon Petersburg, and Advises concentration of forces, -- letter of General Bragg. -- alarm of the authorities in Richmond. -- General Butler beaten off on the 6th and 7th of May. -- recall of troops. -- General Hoke's junction with General Ransom. -- General Beauregard reaches Drury's Bluff. -- his plan to destroy Butler's and Grant's forces. -- he Submits it to General Bragg. -- the latter approves, but will not consent without the President's Ratification. -- President Davis visits Drury's Bluff. -- Refuses his consent. -- General Beauregard's command is extended. -- he forms a plan of attack. -- narrative of the battle of Drury's Bluff. -- failure of General Whiting to arrive in time. -- General Wise's comments upon him. -- he Resigns his command. -- errors of Mr. Davis.
General Beauregard reached Weldon, North Carolina, on the 22d of April, 1864; but, contrary to the assurances given him by the War Department, found no orders awaiting him there. He immediately called General Bragg's attention to the fact, and the next day was officially assigned to the command of what was called the Department of North Carolina and Cape Fear, including Virginia south of the James and Appomattox, and all that portion of North Carolina east of the mountains. On the 23d he assumed command of his new Department, which he henceforth designated as the ‘Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia,’ and applied for those officers of his former staff whose services he deemed indispensable. While at Weldon, watching and aiding certain operations specially ordered by the War Department against Plymouth and Newbern, but of which he did not approve, he carefully studied on the maps then in his possession the field around Petersburg, between that city and the James, and along the lines of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, then about to become the theatre of a hostile movement against the Confederate capital under Major-General B. F. Butler. This expedition General Beauregard had anticipated for several weeks, and he had instructed his Chief-Engineer, Colonel Harris,
