The part of the coast of
North Carolina menaced by the enemy includes about half of its ocean front.
The
Sounds in which it is supposed he proposes to conduct his operations are separated from the ocean by a spit of sand, pierced by a few very narrow inlets.
These Sounds are bordered by swamps, save here and there points of land a little elevated.
The arable land contiguous to the rivers emptying into the
Sounds is fertile, and produces heavy crops of Indian corn; but the interrening country chiefly consists of pine barrens, valuable only for the turpentine yielded so abundantly by the pine forests.
The towns situated upon the rivers and at or near their entrance into the
Sounds are all very moderate in size, and plain and old-fashioned.
The largest of them is Newborn, situated on the Nonse river, some forty miles from the
Southern extremity of
Pamlico Sound.
It has a population of only some 4,000.
So that it may be presumed that there is no great deal of damage to be done if some of these towns are taken.
They are Newborn,
Washington,
Edenton,
Elizabeth City, Murtreesborough, and
Winton, principally engaged in the turpentine and lumber trade.
There could hardly be any design simply against these towns, as the enemy could gain little by seizing them.
If we look to the interior, we find no salient point nearer than
Weldon, or some other locality as far from the
Sound, on the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.
By seizing the Railroad, our communication with the
South by that way may be interrupted.
But the march to that road, some sixty or seventy miles, is one of difficulty, incurring the danger of being cut off, and not therefore to be undertaken lightly or without some great end in view, which we can hardly see possible.
If, then, there is no important field of operations in the
Sounds themselves or in the westward interior, we cannot see what the great Burnside Expedition can be after unless it be to threaten
Norfolk in the rear.
That is a move on the chess-board that may present pleasing expectations to our Northern neighbors; but the execution of it is a very different matter from the planning.
It will be found that it is easier to take
Norfolk in the rear on paper than by the
Dismal Swampor at this season some other dismal routes of swamp, marsh, mud and forest, fit only for the marches of Amphibis.
By the canal of course they cannot come to
Norfolk.
Any other line of march, if not obstructed by natural difficulties at this season, is easily defensible.
But once more we suppose
Burnside will soon let us know what he means to do.
