EARLY COAST OPERATIONS IN NORTH CAROLINA.

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were in the center of the column and did not get into the work with the menon the right who led the charge. The regiments sent around to outflankthe enemy’s left arrived at their objective point about the time the decisivecharge was made, and were entitled to a fair share of credit for the success-ful day’s work.

The commands of Generals Foster and Reno pursued the enemy to apoint near the northern end of the island, where an unconditional surrenderwas consummated. Soon after leaving the earth-work my regiment deflectedto the right and succeeded in capturing two boat-loads of the RichmondBlues, among them O. Jennings Wise, trying to escape to Nag’s Head, onthe opposite shore. Company B in the meantime had taken possession ofa two-gun battery at Shallowbag Bay. Wise , severely wounded, was carriedto a farm-house, where he received the best attention attainable, but diedthe next morning, defiant to the last, and wishing he had more lives to losein the defense of the Confederacy. Among the results of these two days’fighting were the capture of 2675 officers and men of the Confederate armyand 5 forts mounting 32 heavy guns, the complete possession of RoanokeIsland, and with it the control of the inland waters of North Carolina .[For losses, see p. 679.]

THE TWO SQUADRONS AT ELIZABETH CITY.

The Confederate fleet, known as the “ mosquito fleet,” was under commandof Commodore William F. Lynch , who, after firing one of his own steamers, theCurlew , and blowing up Fort Forrest, a work situated opposite Roanoke Island on the mainland, retreated up the Pasquotank River, and concentrated his ves-sels behind a four-gun battery at a point a short distance below Elizabeth City.

At 8 o’clock on the morning of February 10th Commander Rowan cameup with the Union fleet, and the rebels opened fire upon him at a long range.The Union forces continued their course uninterrupted by the enemy’s fireuntil within three-fourths of a mile of their position, when they opened fireand dashed on at full speed. In a few minutes five of the enemy’s sixvessels were either captured or destroyed, and Elizabeth City was in posses-sion of the naval forces. | Two days later a small naval division underLieutenant Alexander Murray took possession of Edenton.

& The Confederate commander at Roanoke Isl-and was General Henry A. Wise , who, on the 7thof January, 1862, had assumed command of theChowan district, General Benjamin Huger beingin command of the department, that of Norfolk .The official relations of the two generals weresomewhat strained, and the responsibility for thisdisaster was afterward the subject of recrimina-tion between them. General Wise claimed thathe had been deprived of his artillery by reasonof the countermanding of his orders by GeneralHuger , and that, in general, there had been culpa-ble neglect on the part of the Confederate authori-ties to aid the defense of Roanoke Island . “Noth-ing! nothing!! nothing!!!” he said. “That wasthe disease which brought disaster at Roanoke Isl-and .” There was also lack of cordial agreement

between General Wise and Flag-Officer Lynch .General Wise being ill at Nag’s Head on the dayof the battle, the Confederate troops on the fieldwere under command of Colonel II. M. Shaw,who says in his report: “An unceasing and effect-ive fire was kept up from 7 A. M. until 12:20,when, our artillery ammunition having been ex-hausted and our right flanks having been turnedby an overwhelming force of the enemy, I wascompelled to yield the place.”

4 - Of this engagement Captain Parker, C. S. N.,in his “Recollections of a Naval Officer,” writesas follows :

“The enemy were coming up at full speed and ourvessels were under weigh ready to abide the shock, whena boat came off from the shore with the bearer of a dls-