Title length. Tent on State WADE HAMPTON SURPRISES KILPATRICK. 705 thingir ers. He thereupon fell back into (where Blair captured 25 guns), and Aiken; and Kilpatrick, after threat- thence up to the State line at Sneedslineening him there till the night of the boro'; moving on parallel roads with12th, suddenly drew off, moved rap-in easy supporting distance, till they idly across the South and then the were concentrated at Fayetteville," hold North Edisto," and, moving on the N. C.; leaving Charlotte and the left of the 14th corps, struck the Lex- bulk of the Rebel army far to our ington and Augusta road 9 miles left. Heavy rains and almost imnorth-west of Lexington, when barely passable streams had delayed our dif1,500 of Wheeler's men had got be- ferent columns; and Hardee was extween him and Columbia, while pected to make a stand at FayetteCheatham's force (the remnant of ville and resist our passage of the Hood's army) was moving parallel | Cape Fear river; but he merely with our advance still farther to the left. But, on crossing the Saluda," Wheeler was found to be ahead; and our cavalry marched all day" parallel with Cheatham's corps, moving at times within three miles a difficult stream forbidding an attempt to strike the enemy in flank, as he was strung along the road. Crossing the Greenville and Columbia road, Kilpatrick tore it up down to Alston, where he crossed" the Broad, and pushed north nearly to Chesterville; when he found that Wheeler had moved around his front, united with Wade Hampton, and was before him on the road to Charlotte and Raleigh, JN. N. C., which Sherman's advance northward from Columbia to Winnsboro'" had led the enemy to believe hiwas his intended course. with dings ery, zi ard, Aiken fullest eler's direc the E ng t desty Wheels burned the bridge and put off as Blair came up. Kilpatrick, still on our extreme left had advanced by Rockingham;" striking next day the rear of Hardee's column retreating from Cheraw on Fayetteville; when, learning from prisoners that Hampton's cavalry was behind, he resolved to intercept it. Posting a mounted brigade near Solemn Grove on one road, he made, with Spencer's brigade, a rapid night-march across to another; during which, he rode through a division of Hampton's cavalry: losing by capture his escort of 16 men, but escaping with his staff. Hampton skillfully deceived Gen. Atkins, whom Kilpatrick had left behind, passed him by an unsuspected road, and fell in full force upon Kilpatrick and Spencer about 2 a. M.; taking them completely by surprise, routing them and capturing all their guns. They were at fault, as usual. Though his left wing was thrown north nearly to Chesterville, the movement in this direction was a feint, and the whole army soon turned sharply to the right, crossing the and Catawba," and, after halting the right wing three days to enable Slocum (who had been delayed by a hflood in the Catawba) to come up, nd struck the Great Pedee at Cheraw" Feb. 15. "Feb. 17. Feb. 18. "Feb. 19 "Feb. 21 Feb. 23. "March 3. "March 11. "March 7. VOL. II.-45 Spencer and most of Kilpatrick's staff were made prisoners; Kilpatrick barely escaping on foot. Driven back into a swamp, with most of his men, he succeeded in rallying them, while the enemy, supposing him utterly routed, were intent on plundering his camp; and, 45 charging on foot, he retook his headquarters and guns, just as the enemy were harnessing the horses to draw them off, and opened upon their receding backs when scarcely twenty paces distant, quickening the pace of all who still retained the power of locomotion. Hampton soon rallied his command, and tried hard to regain all that he had so suddenly won and lost; but Kilpatrick kept him at bay till Gen. Mitchell, hearing the guns, at 8 A. M. came hastily across with a brigade of infantry of the 20th corps; when the enemy disappeared; having inflicted a loss of 19 killed, 61 wounded, and 103 prison ers. nery which had been brought hither from the U. S. armory at Harper's Ferry on its first capture in April, 1861. His army greatly needed rest; and besides, there was reason now to apprehend other resistance than that afforded by the swamps, the streams, and the elements. Hardee from Savannah and Charleston; Beauregard from Columbia; Cheatham from the Tennessee; with a considerable force drawn from North Carolina and her seaward defenses under Bragg and Hoke, made up, with Wheeler's and Hampton's cavalry, a body of not less than 40,000 men, mainly veterans, now united under the able and wary Jo. Johnston. It would no longer answer to move as hitherto; our columns must be kept well closed up, the corps within easy supporting distance, on peril of surprise and disaster. Kilpatrick reached Fayetteville, N. C., on the 11th, and the whole army was concentrated there next day; when the army tug Davidson and the gunboat Eolus steamed up from Wilmington with news of the capture of that city and of all that had occurred during the six weeks that the army had been corduroying its way through the interminable swamps and pontooning across the swollen streams of South Carolina. At Columbia, the disastrous fire and the bitter hostility of the people had prevented the only corps that entered that city from learning much of the outer world; but here Sherman was in full communication with the Government and the cooperating Generals, and able to dispatch full instructions to Gen. Schofield; who, having been brought around from Tennessee to Newbern, was preparing heavily in the advance. ing to rëenforce him at Goldsboro'. True to his favorite policy, Sherman again pushed " four divisions of his left wing, covered by Kilpatrick, directly northward to AVERYSBORO', as if intent on Raleigh; while Slocum's train, his two remaining divisions, and the right wing, moved by various roads nearly east, toward Goldsboro,' his true destination. The incessant rains had reduced the roads to a state wherein horses would mire almost anywhere, and 'corduroy' was essential wherever guns or wagons were to be moved. Sherman halted three days at Fayetteville; completely destroying the U. S. Arsenal and the costly machi Sherman was on the left with Slocum, who was that day required to send up a brigade of infantry to the aid of Kilpatrick, who was skirmish Next morning, when near Averysborough, on approaching the road, which runs eastward to Bentonville, the enemy, under Hardee, was found 40 March 15. Tampa JOHNSTON ATTACKS SLOCUM AT BENTONVILLE. posted on a narrow, swampy neck of land between the Cape Fear and South rivers; his total strength being estimated at 20,000. Ward's division of the 20th corps, in our left advance, was deployed, sending forward a skirmish line, developing a Hr brigade of infantry behind a light field-work, with a battery enfilading the approach. Williams sent Case's brigade by a circuit to our left; turning the enemy's work, and, by a m quick charge, driving back the infantry brigade holding it, under the fire of Winnegar's battery, to a stronger and better line behind it; whereupon, Ward's division charged directly on the retreating foe, capturing 3 guns and 217 prisoners, of whom 68 were wounded; while 108 of the enemy's dead were buried by Williams on the field. rting d dise orite p "four ed br leigh destit 707 while the rest of our army, bearing to the right, pushed directly for Goldsborough. Sherman, supposing the fight all out of the Rebels for the present, had ridden across to the right wing, and was intent on reaching Goldsborough and meeting Schofield, when the sound of guns on the left again challenged his attention. Slocum, approaching BENTONVILLE, had been assailed by Jo. Johnston with the entire Rebel army. Couriers from Schofield and from Terry now arrived; the former reporting himself at Kinston, short of provisions, but able to reach Goldsboro' on the 21st, which he was directed to do; Terry being likewise directed to advance. Meantime, the several divisions of the right wing were ordered to move on rapidly to the relief of the outnumbered left. 50 Jackson's division was now sent up on the right of Ward, and two Slocum had at first encountered divisions of the 14th corps on the Dibbrell's cavalry; which he was left while Kilpatrick, massing his driving, when he ran headlong upon cavalry farther to the right, was the whole Confederate army: the directed to feel for the road to Golds- two leading brigades of Carlin's diborough. He had gained that road vision being hurled back on the main with one brigade, when he was body, with a loss of 3 guns and their vehemently assailed by McLaws's caissons. Slocum thereupon, very Rebel division, and pushed back, properly, stood on the defensive; fighting gallantly; until, at length, showing a front of four divisions, our whole line advanced, driving and throwing up slight barricades; the enemy within his intrenchments while Kilpatrick came into action on and pressing him there till night fell, the left. Here our left received six dark and stormy; under cover of assaults from Johnston's army; holdwhich he retreated, taking the road ing our ground firmly, and inflicting not to Raleigh but to Smithfield. heavy loss on the foe with our arSlocum's loss was 77 killed and tillery-they having brought up 477 wounded (no prisoners)-which little or none. Johnston had hurmay or may not include that of Kil-ried hither by night from Smithfield, patrick. The enemy's was probably about the same. Ward's division made a show of pursuing the enemy; moving very light, expecting to crush Slocum before he could be supported; but he was mistaken. Night fell 80 March 18. without giving him any ground; and, | Gen. Sherman, after a hasty visit to Gens. Terry and Schofield, took' the first train of cars that ran to Morehead City, and thence a swift steamer to City Point;" where he met in council the President, Gens. Grant, Meade, &c.; returning as hurriedly to his army at Goldsboro', which he reached on the 30th. cure. before morning, Slocum got up his wagon-train, with its guard of two divisions, while Hazen's division of the 15th (Logan's) corps came up on his right, rendering his position seThe enemy not risking further attacks, Slocum awaited the coming up of Howard and the entire right wing; by which time, Johnston had intrenched thoroughly in a strong position, forming a sort of triangle, with its apex at the front, but facing Slocum on one side and Howard on the other. Here he was very cautiously approached and felt of by Sherman, who was aware that Schofield was improving this delay to get possession of Goldsborough in the enemy's rear, while Gen. Terry advanced to the Neuse at Cox's bridge, some 10 miles higher up. And now," during a heavy rain, under cover of a noisy demonstration along the Rebel front, Mower's division of Blair's corps worked around by our right to the enemy's rear; hoping to secure the bridge over Mill creek, which was his only line of retreat. But Johnston was not to be thus caught; nor did he choose to stop here and fight 60,000 men with (at most) 40,000; so he decamped during the night, retreating on Smithfield and Raleigh so suddenly as to leave his pickets behind, as well as his severely wounded. Our total loss here was 191 killed, 1,108 wounded, and 344 missing: in all, 1,643. We buried here 267 Rebel dead, and took 1,625 prisoners-many of them wounded. No further resistance being made, our army moved on to Goldsboro', where it rested and was reclad, while We e may now narrate the events of the Winter in North Carolina, which signally contributed to the final overthrow of the Rebellion, WILMINGTON, N. C., had-because of its location, so convenient for the supply of ordnance, munitions, &c., to the main Rebel armies, and the extraordinary difficulty of precluding the ingress and egress of blockaderunners, at this port-been, from the outset, one of the most important sea-ports of the Confederacy, before, by the gradual closing of the others, it became the only one of consequence that remained accessible. To close it, therefore, became at length synonymous with barring all direct and nearly all commercial intercourse between the Confederacy and the non-belligerent world. Early in the Autumn of 1864, Gen. Grant proposed to Gen. Butler the dispatch of Brig.-Gens. Weitzel and Graham to reconnoiter FORT FISHER, the main defense of the seaward approaches to Wilmington, to determine its strength, preparatory to a combined attack. The reconnoissance was made accordingly, and its result duly reported." 64 The meditated attack was intended to have been a virtual surprise, when the pressure of our armies at all points should have probably reAbout Sept. 20. 63 March 27. BUTLER AND PORTER OFF WILMINGTON. 709 at Fortress Monroe till December: thus the expedition did not get fairly off till the 14th. Admiral Porter, commanding the naval part of it, was off Beaufort, N. C., on the 16th; though Gen. Butler, in advance of the transport fleet, had reached our blockaders off Wilmington the night before. The transports and troops were at Masonborough inlet, 18 miles north, or nearly east of Wilmington. Gen. Grant, it is clear, had not designed that Butler should accompany the expedition, but intended that Weitzel should be its commander; yet it is equally plain that, up to a very late hour, Gen. Butler undoubtingly understood that he was not merely to fit it out, but personally command it. So he did. Porter, with his war vessels, arrived on the 18th, and at once sent up the powder-boat Louisiana, intend duced the garrisons of Fort Fisher $5 Nov. 1 1864 Admiral Porter-who was not on terms of cordiality with Gen. Butler set to work by himself. He had sent in the powder-boat Louisiana, Nov. 16. |