EARLY COAST OPERATIONS IN NORTH CAROLINA.

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anxious to protect the “pasteboard” vessels composing his fleet. We decidedit would be feasible to land a considerable force at Elizabeth City, make aforced march to the south end of the Dismal Swamp Canal, and destroy thelock that connected it with the river. In an interview with General Burn-side the plan was submitted and approved; he agreed to detail a necessaryadditional force from Hew Berne to take part in the movement, and I wasordered to have my entire command ready for April 14th. On the 17th Ireceived a personal letter from him, saying he had detailed the 21st Massachu-setts and the 51st Pennsylvania, and ordering me to embark immediately withat least eighteen hundred men, and closed by saying he would be up at onceor send orders. The morning of the 18th I was greatly surprised to receive acall from General Reno , who stated that he had with him two regiments andwas in command of the expedition.

The transports were soon under way, and reached the point of debarkationat about 1 o’clock the next morning. My brigade, consisting of the 9th NewYork, Lieutenant-Colonel Kimball ; the 89th New York , Colonel H. S. Fair-child ; and the 6th New Hampshire , Colonel S. G. Griffin, was landed and onthe march by 3 o’clock. A light mulatto man for a guide came to me fromone of the gun-boats and by a circuitous route took us far out of the way,so that we marched 30 miles to get at the rebel position, instead of 16 bythe direct road.J This detour led to the meeting of the Union commandswhere two roads joined, about three or four miles from the enemy’s position.It was decided that General Reno should take the advance, and that I shouldfollow as rapidly as the fatigued condition of my men would permit.

Soon after 1 o’clock the rebels were discovered with a small detachment ofcavalry thrown to the front, their infantry and artillery in a concealed linealong the edge of a wood, facing an open field. The action was commencedby rapid shell-firing from the enemy’s guns, which was vigorously answeredby the four rifled pieces (two belonging to Company K, 9th New York), com-manded by Colonel William A. Howard, of the Marine Artillery. The 21stMassachusetts and the 51st Pennsylvania, coming in range, were deflected outof a road, through a field, to a wood on the right. My command soon arrived,when the 6th New Hampshire was ordered to the left, and the two other regi-ments followed those on the right. The action had continued for about anhour (chiefly artillery), when I concluded to make an observation in an opencorn-field, directly in front of the rebel center. I proceeded to a fence withina hundred yards of the edge of the clearing, heard no firing of infantry,concluded the rebels had been silently outflanked on their left by the 21stMassachusetts and the 51st Pennsylvania, and thought my regiment mightget across the corn-field and capture the battery which still continued theaction.

I returned, and described what I proposed to do, and asked the men ifthey thought they were equal to the undertaking. Although greatly fatigued,

^ When it was discovered that the guide had and shot. A few days after, we heard that he hadled my brigade ten miles out of the way, he was been sent to us by the enemy for the purpose ofquietly taken to a wood out of sight of the troops leading our troops astray.— E. C. H.