A STORM AT HATTERAS. 555 The next that we hear of the North Carolina loyalists is an announcement of the formation of a Provisional Government at Hatteras Island on the 18th of November, "in which forty-five coun ebony. This, then, is the issue-not between dismemberment and unity, but between a unity based upon freedom and a unity which is based upon human bondage. But we must have a unity based on the old Constitution, which ties were represented by delegates and allowed slavery as evil-found an evil and tolerated,-which in the good providence of God it was hoped by and by might be ejected from the system." authorized proxies." The Rev. Mr. Taylor was appointed Provisional Governor, and his Excellency ordered an election for the 2d Congressional Dis Dr. Francis Lieber saw in the attempt | trict, at which Mr. Charles Henry Foster to foist the institution upon the reluctant was elected a member of the National world at the present time, the source of House of Representatives. But that much of the acrimony with which the re- body, when he presented himself at bellion was undertaken and maintained. Washington the ensuing month, did not There are a great many things," he said, think the certificate of the Provisional "which distinguish the operation of Sla- Governor, or the proceedings at Hatvery in modern times-Slavery, that great teras, of sufficient importance to justify anachronism, out of time, out of place in his admission. the nineteenth century. Now, one point has always struck me and I may say that I have had a great deal of experience on that subject-is, that slavery because out of time and out of place, if once adopted, if once proclaimed as a good thing, leads people invariably at this time to a great degree of vindictiveness. I do not know any period in history in which any fanaticism has shown itself more vindictive than Slavery at the present period." As a result of this meeting and appeal, a large sum of money was contributed by the city of New York for the distressed Carolinians, and expended in various articles of necessity, which were in good time transported to Hatteras Island. By the time they reached there, however, a profitable employment had been afforded to the natives by the soldiers, which relieved the wants of the people, so that a considerable portion of the produce sent for charity was sold and the money returned to the New York Committee. The fearful storm of the 2d of November should be chronicled among the incidents at Hatteras. It was the gale in which the fleet of Commodore Dupont's Port Royal Expedition suffered so severely on its passage. Its onset at Hatteras was most alarming. The waves dashed over the island in the night, submerging its lower portions between the forts, sweeping away a vast quantity of provisions and stores, which had just been landed at the wharf, driving the soldiers from their tents, threatening both forts, and rendering them quite uninhabitable. The Indiana 20th Regiment, which had not yet recovered from its early experience of Hatteras in its disasters at Chicamocomico, was most unfortunate. Its stock of winter clothing had then been captured by the enemy; now half of the new supply was carried off by the ocean, and the regiment was momentarily in expectation of being compelled to abandon its quarters at Fort Clark, and wade through the waters to such resting place as could be found on the higher making her way North. She struck on grounds above. The storm, however, the sand, and there remained without in a few hours expended its first violence, and the garrison the garrison escaped without loss of life. But they had suffered serious discomfort particularly in the fearful removal of the sick.* It was in the sequel of this gale, three days afterward, that the French steam corvette Prony, Captain M. de Fontanges, carrying six guns and a crew of one hundred and forty officers and men, was wrecked to the south of Hatteras, off Ocracoke Inlet. She was cruising on the Southern coast, and was at the time * Special Correspondence of the New York Tribune, Hatteras Inlet, Nov. 2, 1861. assistance till she was in immediate danger of destruction, when two Confederate steamers of light draft arrived and took off her crew. They were received by the small fleet of Commodore Lynch in Pamlico Sound, and after returning to burn the vessel, "that nothing belonging to her might be made use of by either belligerent," were conveyed, by way of Albemarle Sound and the Dismal Swamp Canal, to Norfolk, whence they came by a flag of truce to Fortress Monroe, and were transported in safety to New York.* * Statement of Captain De Fontanges, New York Times, Nov. 14, 1861, CHAPTER XXXV I. THE CAMPAIGN IN SOUTH-WESTERN VIRGINIA. WHEN General McClellan crossed the Ohio he sent Brigadier-General J. D. Cox, with a sufficient force of Ohio and Kentucky troops to oppose the movements of General Wise, the "chivalric" ex-Governor of Virginia, who, gathering around him a body of insurgents, was stimulating and assisting the revolt in the southerly and westerly part of the Kanawha river. His proclamation of the 6th of July, dated at Ripley, the capital of Jackson county, on the Ohio, summoned the citizens of that border region "to return to their patriotic duty and acknowledge their allegiance to Virginia and her Confederate States as their true and lawful sovereigns. You were Union men," was the conciliatory language of the appeal; "so was I, and we held a right to be so until oppression and invasion and war drove us to the assertion of a second independence. The sovereign State proclaimed it by her Convention and by a majority of more than a hundred thousand votes at the polls. She has seceded from the old, and established a new Confederacy. She has commanded, and we must obey her voice. I come to execute her command-to hold out the olive branch to her true and peaceful citizens-to repel invasion from abroad and subdue treason only at home. Come to the call of the country which owes you protection as her native sons." We have seen General McClellan's anticipation from General Cox's column, in his despatch of the 13th of July, immediately after the victory of Rich Mountain, SKIRMISH AT BARBOURSVILLE. of the early liberation of the valley of the Kanawha from the forces of General Wise.* The month of July saw the expectation fulfilled. There was some spirited fighting as the command of General Cox made their way up to the headwaters of the Kanawha. A brilliant skirmish occurred on the 12th of July at Barboursville, the county seat of Cabell county, on the Guyandotte. Five companies of Colonel Woodruff's 2d Kentucky regiment, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Neff, left the Union camp at midnight for an attack upon the town, which was held by a body of Confederate troops. "It was proposed," says the correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial accompanying General Cox's division, "to make the attack at early daylight, but the deep silence observed along the route, together with the halts to send forward scouting parties, deferred their coming into sight of the enemy until the sun was too hours high. When they did catch a first glance, if there had been any fear in their composition, it would have overpowered them at once. The rebels were drawn up in line of battle on the brow of a high hill, apparently inaccessible on all sides, and commanding a view for two miles around of a magnificent level plain, with all its roads in full sight, until they dwindled into the distant forests. Near the base of the hill wound the Guyandotte river, and within pistol shot of their position was the only bridge which spanned it from the side on which we were advancing. Our brave boys took but one glance and passed on. As they neared the bridge, they discovered a large body of cavalry on the road which wound around the base of the hill on which the enemy were ranged, re 557 treating and dividing in order to intercept our flight-a natural inference, but a matter of opinion nevertheless. The rebels very considerately reserved their fire until the head of our column had set foot upon the bridge, and then they fired a terrific volley, killing one man instantly, and wounding a number of others. To escape this terrible shelving fire, our men moved double-quick into the covered bridge, where the bullets pelted, pattered, and whistled like a leaden hailstorm. They rushed onward, however, until they halted with such a sudden shock, that it sent the whole column into disorder. The planks of the bridge had been removed on the opposite side, and the mule on which the guide was mounted had fallen through, and he barely escaped sharing its destruction by clinging to the timbers. The rebels, encouraged by our delay at the fearful impediment, broke into wild shouts and cheers. Fired by their assurances of victory, our boys could be restrained no longer; they answered with terrific yells; some ran to the path-holes of the bridge and discharged their muskets at the foe; and Company A, led by Captain Brown, made a dash in single file across the bare stringers and rafters of the bridge, followed by Company D (Woodward Guards) and the remaining companies, As they emerged from the bridge the rebels flanked and charged front from the mouth of the bridge to the road which encircled the base of the hill, and sent another bitter volley at our men, which luckily was aimed too high, and did but little damage. Our men at this time had all cleared the bridge in total disorder, but blazing away with excitement, yelling and leaping like madmen. They turned suddenly up the side of the sion." hill at a charge bayonets, and literally a spire in one of the hot-beds of secesdragging themselves up by bushes and jutting turf. They cleared in a few moments, rushed at the enemy, who had, as they commenced the ascent, fired again with effect. It was their last volley. As the glistening bayonets reached the top of the hill and met their wavering gaze, and those yells continued, which meant victory if there had been a thousand opposed, the enemy swayed for a moment, a leap was made from their flank and rear, and then the whole body scattered like sparks from a pin-wheel down the rear of the hill, streaming in every direction in the fields below, at full speed, with white faces and an impulse of fear which I heard compared to the fright of a hundred horses in a conflagration. Our men were too breathless for pursuit, but they cheered as only men who had conquered can cheer, and planted immediately the Stars and Stripes on the summit of the hill. There was some firing at the retreating foe, and their command er, The next engagement with the enemy took place a few days after at Scarytown, where Scary Creek meets the Kanawha, about forty miles above the entrance of the latter into the Ohio. The Union. camp was at this time at the mouth of Pocatalico Creek, some eight or ten miles below the camp of the enemy at Scarytown, which was held with the purpose of commanding the communication by the Kanawha with the important region above. The Confederate position was well chosen. It was on a hill well defended by intrenchments, mounting two rifled cannon, while several log-houses adjoining offered most convenient means of annoyance for musketry through their crevices. In front, in the valley, was the small stream which gave name to the place; the right rested on the Kanawha ; on the left was a wooded height. On the morning of the 17th of July, General Cox sent forward a detachment consisting of Colonel Howe's 12th Ohio regiment, portions of two companies of the 21st Ohio, with Captain Cotter's Cleveland artillery, two rifled 6-pounders, and Captain Rogers' cavalry company from Ironton, Ohio-altogether less than a thousand men, with instructions to reconnoitre the enemy's position, and drive them from it if practicable. The party was commanded by Colonel Lowe of the 12th Ohio Volunteers, an estimable citizen of the State, who had been one of the foremost to offer his services to his country in her present trials. It took a short route by land, and in the afternoon approached the enemy's works from the opposite side of the creek. The cavalry company was in advance, and was first greeted with a sharp discharge from the Colonel Mansfield, was hit and fell from his horse, but was immediately seized and carried off by his companions, as is supposed others were. They left but one on the field, an old gray-haired man, who, we are informed, was pressed into the service, as many of his companions had been. He was taken care of by our troops, but he died in the afternoon. The victorious battalion, when the rebels had disappeared, marched through the town with their banners flying and the bands playing airs which the inhabitants never hoped to hear again. The Woodland boys planted their flag on the cupola of the Court-House, and seemed to regard as a coincidence that precisely two months after it was presented it was streaming from BATTLE AT SCARYTOWN. battery, quickly retiring with the loss of a man killed. The artillery of the Union force then took position, and returned the fire with considerable effect, the distance between the parties being about five hundred yards, and the number and calibre of the guns being the same on each side. The infantry were also discharging volleys of musketry. 559 ing the stream, and making for the intrenchments, but they were not supported by the men who were to coöperate with them from the right, and the movement failed. The enemy, meanwhile, getting reinforcements, word was given by Colonel Lowe for the retreat, in which his force was not pursued. They met on their return a fresh regiment sent by General Cox from his camp, which was, of course, too late to turn the fortunes of the day. The Union loss in this affair was nine killed, thirty-eight wounded, represented as much larger. The fact that they did not follow up their advantage is the best evidence of their loss. Unhappily for General Cox's command, an accident of the day stripped him of some of his best officers. Colonel William E. Woodruff, Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Neff, Captains George Austin and J. R. Hurd, all of the 2d Kentucky regiment of Volunteers; and Colonel Charles De Villiers of the 11th Ohio Volunteers, as they were riding out of the camp to see something of the engagement, found themselves unexpectedly in the enemy's lines, and were taken prisoners. An incident of the conflict at this moment, one of a thousand like piteous scenes of this lamentable war, should not be passed over. It shows us what war really is, in the destruction and nine missing; that of the enemy was of the noblest and the best. "The first few rounds," writes a correspondent from the camp after the action, "like those of the rebels, were too high; but the Captain kept crying out, 'a little lower, boys,' till the proper elevation was attained, when he played upon them rapidly, and in fifteen minutes silenced their guns, with the loss of one man private John Haven of Scholersville, Putnam county-a handsome, intelligent young man, as brave as a lion, and the pet of the company. Poor fellow! his right hip was shot away just as he was passing a ball to his gun. When his captain saw him fall, he ran and picked him up, and conveyed him in his arms to a place of safety. 'Never mind me, Captain,' he cried; "but don't let that flag go down!' He still lingers, but can hardly survive the night. When this firing had continued for some time with mutual loss, the enemy's cannon being dismounted, the ammunition of the Union men- they had taken with them but thirty rounds-began to fail, and an order was given to charge bayonets. A portion of the troops on the left, led by LieutenantColonel White, made the attempt, ford The subsequent escape from the rebel authorities of Colonel De Villiers, is among the most interesting personal narratives of the war. After his capture on the Kanawha, he was conducted with his brother officers who were captured, to Richmond, and confined in the tobacco factory with the prisoners of war taken at Bull Run. At first, says his fellowprisoner Mr. Ely, in his journal, he appeared much distressed, and was at times subject to great depression of spirits. As this wore away, and his nervous temperament recovered its elasticity, he would |