in force in rear of the town, and Forts engine, with two screws. placed in her ability to run an an- Her armament Wessels and Williams were vigorously consisted of only two guns, twentyattacked near sunset, but in three suc-pounder Whitworths, the chief dependcessive charges the rebels were repulsed ence on her power for mischief being by the garrison, aided by the gun-boats, from which shells were thrown into the rebel columns. The defence promised to be successful. General H. W. Wessels, a West Point officer who had seen much service, was in command, with twenty-five hundred men. He had for some days been expecting the enemy, and sent away a number of non-combatants to Roanoke Island. The rebels had sustained severe loss in the several attempts to take the forts by storm, and though four times as numerous as the garrison, would easily have been kept at bay till the arrival of rein-in such a way as to get her between the forcements, which were already on their way. These were not destined to arrive, however. At three o'clock in the morning of the April 19th the rebel ram Albemarle, 19. accompanied by the sharpshooter battery Cotton Plant, when the moon had disappeared, quietly left her moorings and stole down along the left bank of the river, in the shadow of the trees, using no steam, but, floating down with the stream, slipped through the piles and other obstructions which had been placed six miles up the river, passed the batteries, and suddenly made her appearance on the scene. This vessel was built on the plan of the Merrimac, one hundred and fifty-two feet long, forty feet in breadth of beam, twelve feet in depth of hold, and heavily iron plated, moved by an English-built low-pressure The approach of the ram had been expected, and preparations had been made for a contest with her by Lieutenant-Commander Flusser, who commanded the Federal vessels, by lashing together two gun-boats, the Miami and Southfield, in the hope of attacking her bows of his vessels and thus run her aground. In the working of this plan he was disappointed; his arrangements were only partially complete when the ram appeared within a hundred yards. The united boats were nevertheless advanced at full speed against the ram. The result was, instead of the capture of the Albemarle, the sinking of the Southfield, which received the beak of the ram in her starboard bow and went to the bottom in fifteen minutes. This vessel had formerly been employed as a ferry-boat between New York and Staten Island. A part of her officers and crew were picked up by the Miami; some were made prisoners, and a few were lost. Both vessels had been shortly before engaged in shelling the troops on shore, and the guns had been left loaded with shell, which there had been no time to draw. On approaching the ram, Lieutenant-Commander Flusser fired the first gun from the Miami. The shell exploded on striking the ram, making no impression on it, however; but, upon its bursting, some fragments, either from this or the Southfield's shells, rebounded, and instantly killed Lieutenant-Commander Flusser, pieces of shell piercing his chest. face, and skull, besides wounding several officers and six or eight men. The Miami herself received no injury, and as soon as she was disentangled from the Southfield, retired, firing solid shot at the ram. The surrender of Plymouth was a necessary consequence of the superior power of the rebel ram; two out of the five gun-boats, the Bombshell and the Southfield, had been sunk; the other three were compelled to withdraw or be sunk also. The ram remained monarch of the waters, and not only shelled the town and forts, and thus materially aided in bringing about the final surrender, but would have sunk any vessel bringing reinforcements from Newbern or elsewhere. Prolonged resistance on the part of General Wessels would have had no other result than to swell the lists of killed and wounded; accordingly at halfpast ten on the morning of Wednesday, the 20th of April, he pulled down the flags from Forts Williams and Comfort. Fort Wessels had been evacuated the day before. Fort Gray held out for a time. The rebels took possession of Plymouth, together with twenty-five hundred prisoners, thirty pieces of artillery, among which was a two-hundred pounder Parrott gun, subsequently transferred to the Albemarle, several hundred horses, a large amount of provisions, stores, etc. The Federal loss in killed. and wounded was about a hundred and fifty, that of the Confederates about five hundred. The fall of Plymouth was followed by the evacuation of Washington, a beautiful little town at the mouth of the Tar River, thirty-two miles north of Newbern. The place was strongly fortified, and had a garrison of four thousand troops commanded by General Palmer. This step was taken for strategic reasons; for though under ordinary circumstances the place might have been held against any force the Confederates could afford to send against it, its communications by sea were now liable to be interrupted at any moment by the appearance of the ram Albemarle, against which the gunboats were supposed to be totally unable to contend. In addition to these considerations, the garrison was needed to reinforce that of Newbern, which it was determined to hold at all hazards. Accordingly, on the 28th of April, the April evacuation was commenced, and 28. was so well managed that no information. of the movement was received by the enemy, who were in the neighborhood, though in greatly inferior force. Though Washington was of little importance in a strategic point of view, its abandonment was much to be regretted on account of its inhabitants and those of the surrounding district; a great any attack on that town. By this time, too, the war was beginning to take such a shape in Virginia that the Confederacy could ill spare troops for North Carolina. portion of whom were sincerely attached Confederates were deterred from making to the Union, or, having been assured that the Federal occupation would be permanent, had returned to their allegiance. All these were under the necessity of leaving their property behind them, if they went away, or, if they remained, were in danger of becoming the objects of rebel vengeance. But this was not all: when the evacuation was nearly completed, some straggling marines and soldiers fired the town; and it would appear that this was done for purposes of plunder, for in the language of General Palmer, their commander, "the vandals did not even respect the charitable institutions, but bursting open the doors of the Masonic and Odd Fellows' lodges, pillaged them both, and hawked about the streets the regalia and jewels." A number of stores, both public and private, were plundered, and much property was wasted and destroyed. The fire spread rapidly, and got beyond control. The entire town was laid in ashes. Vast quantities of naval, commissary, ordnance and quartermasters' stores were destroyed, besides private property, the whole estimated at a value of several millions of dollars. As in the case of Alexandria, abandoned by General Banks under a similar bitter military necessity, their sufferings were without remedy; in the midst of the great storm of war they could obtain no hearing for the story of their wrongs. The abandonment of Washington set at liberty a number of troops, and made it possible to strengthen the garrison of Newbern to such an extent that the The disasters caused by the ram Albemarle, and the fact that she was supposed to be about going round to Pamlico Sound, to aid in an attempt upon Newbern, called for vigorous measures to restore the Federal naval supremacy in the North Carolina sounds. Several double-enders were added to the fleet in Albemarle Sound, with directions to attack the ram at all hazards, and to use every means to destroy or disable her. On the afternoon of the 5th of May the three side-wheel gun-boats, Mattabesett, Sassacus, and Wyalusing, were lying at anchor in Albemarle Sound, twenty miles below the mouth of the Roanoke, watching an opportunity to make an attack upon the ram, which was lying a little distance up the Roanoke, to the mouth of which river several smaller gun-boats had been sent, with the design of provoking an attack from the ram, and decoying her into the open waters of the sound. The plan succeeded. Soon after three in the afternoon, signals were made that the ram was out; the "double-enders" had already got under way; at four o'clock the picket-boats were seen retreating before the Albemarle, and soon afterward she was discerned, accompanied by the Cotton Plant, cotton-clad and manned by two hundred sharpshooters and boarders, and the Bombshell, a small FIGHT BETWEEN GUN-BOATS AND THE ALBEMARLE. one-gun vessel which had been attached to Burnside's expedition, and which had fallen into the hands of the Confederates at the surrender of Plymouth. The Cotton Plant soon put back hastily for Plymouth. The ram came on, accompanied by the Bombshell. The latter, after receiving a broadside from the Sassacus, surrendered, and was ordered to drop out of fire and anchor, which she did. The contest was now between the ram alone and a fleet of seven vessels of various sizes. Owing, however, to the rapid and indiscriminate fire of the smaller vessels, and their neglect of signals from the flag-ship, it became impossible for the larger ones to take up advantageous positions. Their round shot rebounded from the armored sides of the ram like "dried peas" and "India-rubber" balls. The ram threw one-hundred pounder Brooks rifle shot and shell. About five o'clock the commander of the Sassacus, finding his position favorable for the attempt, ordered his vessel, then about eight hundred yards from the ram, to be headed directly for her, with the design of running her down or disabling her. While going nine or ten knots, the Sassacus struck the iron-plated monster fairly amidships. The stem of the Sassacus was forced over the side of the ram, and headway being kept up, the ram was pushed on and careened down under the weight of her antagonist till the water rushed over her deck and casemate. The two vessels 331 remained in this position for about ten minutes, the crew of the Sassacus throwing hand-grenades down the deck-hatch of the Albemarle and trying to throw powder into her smoke-stack. Could another of the gun-boats at this juncture have attacked the ram, she might have been disabled or caused to surrender. Shots were being constantly exchanged, but without much effect, till a hundredpound ball pierced the starboard boiler of the Sassacus, when the vessel became enveloped in steam and many of the crew were badly scalded. The contest nevertheless continued for a few minutes between the two vessels, the consorts of the Sassacus fearing to fire lest they should injure their friends. When the cloud of steam lifted, the Albemarle had got clear of the Sassacus, and begun to retire up the sound toward the Roanoke but kept up a general engagement with the gun-boats till half-past seven. Though not destroyed or disabled, the ram was to some extent injured. She had her boats knocked to pieces, her smoke-stack riddled, and one of her guns partially disabled, but her machinery remained intact, and the rifle projectiles of her antagonists, even when fired at short range, rebounded harmlessly from her sides. The result of the contest was, that she was prevented from leaving the sound for Newbern, and that she was no longer considered invincible or even very formidable. She remained idle in the Roanoke till sunk the following October by Lieutenant Cushing. CHAPTER XXXII. Inactivity in Virginia.-Position of the Armies of Generals Meade and Lee-Camp Life.-Desultory Operations.-Loss of Supply Trains in Western Virginia.—Fight near Williamsport.-Evacuation of Petersburg, Hardin Co., by Colonel Thoburn.-Rebels driven back.- Reoccupation of Petersburg.-Plan for the Surprise of Richmond.-General Sedgwick crosses the Rapidan.-General Lee deceived.-General Wistar's March up the Peninsula.-Retreat of General Wistar.-Alarm and Confusion in Richmond.-Another Plan for taking Richmond by Surprise.-Movements of Generals Sedgwick, Birney, and Custer.-March of General Custer toward Charlottesville.-Stuart's Cavalry encountered. -Retreat of General Custer.-Pursuit by Stuart's Cavalry.-Return to Madison Court House.-General Kilpatrick's Raid.-Colonel Dahlgren sent toward Frederickshall.-Destruction of Railroads, Mills, Bridges, etc.-Narrow Escape of General R. E. Lee.-Destruction of Railroads, etc., effected by Kilpatrick.-Kilpatrick's Force near Richmond. -First Line of Defences taken.-No News of Dahlgren.-Retreat of Kilpatrick.-His Camp shelled.-Colonel Dahlgren misled by his Negro Guide.-Negro Guide hung.-Destruction of Mills, etc., on the James River and Canal.-Dahlgren near Richmond.-Fight with Rebel Infantry.-Death of Dahlgren.-Co-operative Force sent too late by General Butler.-Papers said to have been found on Dahlgren's Body.-Life of Colonel Dahlgren.-General ill success of Northern Arms in the early part of the Year.-Drafts of March and April ordered by President Lincoln. 1864. IN Virginia the armies remained in- | amuse themselves in any way not inactive through the winter; rain and consistent with their military duties. mud made the movement of large Neither army feared an attack in force, bodies of troops impracticable. The or a surprise, the roads being in such a Federal forces were no nearer Richmond condition as to make the movement of than they were at the same date in the large bodies of infantry, and especially preceding year. The headquarters of of artillery, utterly impracticable. Nevthe Army of the Potomac, commanded ertheless military vigilance was not reby General Meade, were at Culpeper laxed, as parties of guerrillas from time Court House, on the Orange and Alex- to time made dashes upon exposed points andria Railroad, north of the Rapidan, of the Union lines. seventy miles north-northwest of Richmond in a direct line; the headquarters of General Lee, at Orange Court House, south of the Rapidan, on the same railroad. The pickets of the respective armies, if they did not hold much friendly intercourse, made no hostile demonstrations on each other. Some of the officers built themselves comfortable log houses; the Masons in the army held their meetings in regular form, and the soldiers were permitted to This inactivity of the armies in Virginia continued till the appointment of General Grant to the position of Lieutenant-General, broken only by a few desultory operations which had little effect on the general course of the war. Among these was an attempt, on the part of General Early, in Western Virginia, in the department of General Kelley, to cut the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the early part of January, in which he failed, as well as in another to capture |