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better cause.
elaborately constructed works, mounting
together twenty-two heavy guns, three
of them being 100-pounders, rifled.
Four other batteries mounting together
twenty guns, a large proportion of them
being also of large calibre, and some of
them rifled; eight steamers, mounting
vo guns each, and each having a rifled
gan with the diameter of a 32-pounder,
a prolonged obstruction of sunken vessels
and spiles to thwart our advance, and,
altogether, a body of men numbering
scarcely less than 5,000, of whom 3,000
are now our prisoners."

They consisted of two in pursuit of the fleet of the enemy which
had fled up the Albemarle Sound, a dis-
tance of some thirty or forty miles, into
Pasquotank river toward Elizabeth City.
The squadron of Captain Rowan, num-
bering fourteen vessels, sailed from Roa-
noke on the afternoon of Sunday, the
day after the surrender, and arrived at
the mouth of the river at night. The
following morning, the 10th, the fleet as-
cended the river and at eight o'clock came
in presence of the enemy's gunboats con-
sisting of seven steamers and a schooner
armed with two heavy 32-pounders,
drawn up in front of the city. On giv-
ing chase, it was found, says Lieutenant
Quackenbush, the commander of the
United States Steamer Delaware, the
flag-ship of Captain Rowan, in his spirited
report, "that the enemy had a battery
of four guns on our left, and one of one
gun in the town facing us. At six min-
utes past nine, A. M., engaged gunboats
and battery, and closed in fast upon them,
filling the air with shot and shell. At
twenty-five minutes past nine, A. M., the
schooner struck her colors and was found
to be on fire. About the same time, the
rebel flag on the battery at Cobb's Point
was taken down and waved, apparently
as a signal for the rebel gunboats. Wil-
liam F. Lynch, Flag-Officer, was in com-
mand of the fort. This signal was after-
wards ascertained to be an order for the
evacuation of the rebel gunboats. They
immediately ran close in shore, and were
instantaneously abandoned and set on
fire by their crews, some of whom es-
caped in boats, and others, jumping over-
board, swam and waded to the shore.
Lieutenant-Commanding Quackenbush,
now gave the order to his aid, F. R. Cur-
tis, to man the cutter and bring off a re-
bel flag for Commander Rowan. J. H.
Raymond, acting Master's Mate, together
with a part of his division, immediately
jumped in the boat with F. R. Curtis,
and boarded the rebel steamer Fanny,
which was at the time on fire, and haul-
ed down the rebel flag; then proceeded

President Lincoln associating this new victory at Roanoke with the recent success at Fort Henry, commemorated both achievements by a general order. "The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, returns thanks to Brigadier-General Burnside, and FlagOfficer Goldsborough, to General Grant, and Flag-Officer Foote, and the land and naval forces under their respective commands, for their gallant achievements in the capture of Fort Henry and Roanoke Island. While it will be no ordinary pleasure for him to acknowledge and reward, in becoming manner, the valor of the living, he also recognizes his duty to pay fitting honor to the memory of the gallant dead. The charge at Roanoke Island, like the bayonet charge at Mill Spring, proves that the close grapple and sharp steel, and loyal and patriotic soldiers, must always put rebels and traitors.to flight. The late achievements of the Navy show that the flag of the Union, once borne in proud glory around the world by naval heroes, will soon again float over every rebel city and stronghold, and that it shall forever be honored and respected as the emblem of liberty and union in every land, and upon every sea."*

The victory at Roanoke Island was immediately followed up by an expedition in command of Captain Rowan sent

* Order Washington, February 15th, 1862.

"THE MAN WHO SAT ON THE POWDER."

on shore to the battery, and Mr. Raymond then planted the Stars and Stripes, and returned on board the Delaware, which was moored to the wharf at Elizabeth City, at forty-five minutes past nine o'clock, in the forenoon, thus ending one of the shortest and most brilliant engagements which has occurred during this unfortunate civil war."

In this engagement, the enemy were doubtless looking for an encounter at long range, when their guns might have inflicted more serious damage, but Commander Rowan had, as we have just seen, provided another plan of attack. Regardless of the guns of the enemy, he pushed on without returning a shot until within three-quarters of a mile of the fort, when his vessels opened fire and dashed upon the rebel gunboats, driving into them and running them down. One only of the vessels was saved from destruction, the Ellis, whose Commander, Captain Cooke, was wounded and taken prisoner. After the gunboats were abandoned, the rebels commenced setting fire to the principal buildings in Elizabeth City, which had been deserted by most of its inhabitants. The prompt assurances of protection of Commander Rowan, however, checked this insane proceeding. In reference to this matter, in a general order after the action, he expressed his gratification, "at the evidence of the high discipline of the crews, in refraining from trespassing, in the slightest degree, upon the private property of defenceless people in a defenceless town. The generous offer to go on shore and extinguish the flames, applied by the torch of a vandal soldiery upon the houses of its own defenceless women and children, is a striking evidence of the justness of our cause, and must have its effect in teaching our deluded countrymen a lesson in humanity and civilization." The Union loss in this encounter, was, two killed, and several wounded. Of the enemy, says a correspondent, in his description of the scene, many were killed by the bayonet and

253

revolver in this hand-to-hand fight, and sunk beneath the water. The slaughter was fearful."*

An extraordinary act of bravery is recorded of a gunner's mate in this action. As the Valley City, one of the Union fleet, was engaged with the enemy, a shell from their battery entered the vessel and exploded by the magazine, where John Davis was passing out powder for the guns. Seeing the danger, he protected an open barrel of powder with his body, actually seating himself upon it, and remained in that position till the flames were extinguished. The heroic act was reported by Lieutenant Chaplin, the commander of the Valley City, to Flag-Officer Goldsborough, who brought it to the notice of the Navy Department, recommending "the gallant and noble sailor" to special consideration. Secretary Welles promptly replied to this communication by conferring the appointment on Davis of acting gunnera substantial promotion, which raised his salary from twenty-five dollars a month to a thousand dollars a year. A popular subscription was also started in New York by W. C. Bryant, Elias Wade, Jr., and others, for "the man who sat on the powder," which resulted in the payment to him of eleven hundred dollars. In the correspondence connected with this matter, Lieutenant Chaplin gave the following account of the brave recipient : "John Davis is a native of Finland, Russia proper; and has been a citizen of the United States for twenty-five years-fifteen of which he has spent in the merchant marine, and ten years in various vessels of the naval service in this country. His age is forty-two years. He has no family. Such is his history. As to his character: he was received on board my vessel while in the Potomac river as coxswain, along with the crew of a launch, to shelter in the exigencies of the service, and I very soon marked

Correspondence of the New York Tribune, February 15th, 1862.

him as a thorough seaman, and a man who, under all circumstances, was prudentially interested in the general details of duty on board this vessel. He is of staid, solid habits."*

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Elizabeth City was taken possession of by the Union forces the day after the engagement. On the 12th, Edenton, at the west end of Albemarle Sound, was visited by a portion of the flotilla under command of Lieutenant A. Maury. On the approach of the vessels to the town, part of a flying artillery regiment, variously estimated at from one to three hundred, fled precipitately without firing a shot. Among the results of the expedition," adds Lieutenant Maury in his report, are the destruction of eight cannon, and one schooner on the stocks at Edenton. We captured two schooners in the Sound; one loaded with four thousand bushels of corn. We also took six bales of cotton from the custom-house wharf." Lieutenant Jeffers, the next day, with several of the vessels of the fleet, proceeded to the Chesapeake and Albemarle canal, the thoroughfare between Currituck and the upper counties, for the purpose of obstructing its use. A body of rebels were found engaged with the same object. They fled on the arrival of the Union party, who completed their work by sinking two schooners in the mouth

of the canal.

A few days after, on the 19th, the flotilla, under Commander Rowan, set out from Edenton for a reconnoissance of the Chowan river as far as Winton and the Roanoke river, on the opposite side of the Sound to Plymouth. On approaching Winton, the United States steamer Perry, having on board Colonel Hawkins with a company of his regiment, was fired into with a volley of musketry from the high bank on the shore. In retaliation, the town was shelled, and, with the exception of the church, which was spared, burnt by the Union troops.

On the 18th of February, Flag

Correspondence, etc., Evening Post, July 5, 1862.

Officer Goldsborough and General Burnside issued the following joint proclamation, in words of earnest entreaty, addressed to the people of North Carolina

"The mission of our joint expedition is not to invade any of your rights, but to assert the authority of the United States, and to close with you the desolating war brought upon your state by comparatively a few bad men in your midst. Influenced infinitely more by the worst passions of human nature than by any show of elevated reason, they are still urging you astray, to gratify their unholy purposes. They impose upon your credulity by telling of wicked and even diabolical intentions on our part; of our desire to destroy your freedom, demolish your property, liberate your slaves, injure your women, and such like enormities; all of which, we assure you, is not only ridiculous, but utterly and willfully false. We are Christians as well as yourselves, and we profess to know full well, and to feel profoundly, the sacred obligations of the character. No apprehensions need be entertained that the demands of humanity or justice will be disregarded. We shall inflict no injury, unless forced to do so by your own acts, and upon this you may confidently rely. Those men are your worst enemies. They, in truth, have drawn you into your present condition, and are the real disturbers of your peace and the happiness of your firesides. We invite you, in the name of the Constitution, and in that of virtuous loyalty and civilization, to separate yourselves at once from these malign influences, to return to your allegiance, and not compel us to resort further to the force under our control. The Government asks only that its authority may be recognized; and, we repeat, in no manner or way does it desire to interfere with your laws, constitutionally established, your institutions of any kind whatever, your property of any sort, or your usages in any respect."

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WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY.

255

our zeal and animate by example. I call upon the brave and patriotic men of our state to volunteer, from the mountains to the sea.'

A proclamation of Governor Henry T. Clark, of North Carolina, issued a few days after, was in striking contrast with this generous appeal. Calling upon the citizens to supply the requisition for troops of the president of the Confederate States and to volunteer for the defence of the state, the governor denounced the advance of the Union forces as an attempt "to deprive us of liberty, property, and all that we hold dear as a selfgoverning and free people. We must resist him at all hazards and by every means in our power. He wages a war for our subjugation-a war forced upon us in wrong and prosecuted without right, and in a spirit of vengeful wickedness without a parallel in the history of warfare among civilized nations. *** The enemy is redoubling his efforts and straining every nerve to overrun our country and subjugate us to his domination-his avarice and ambition. Already is it proposed in their Congress to establish a territorial government in a portion of our state. Now is the time to prove 1862.

The two proclamations clearly enough indicate the spirit in which the war was fought. Conciliatory, forbearing, delicate, scrupulous, on the one side; on the other fierce and stubborn in opposition, rousing the passions of the people by the worst misrepresentations of those who would not call themselves their foes. The Union commanders and the Administration at Washington appeared anxious to conduct the contest, as far as possible, on the principle of peace; the Confederates, from the beginning, urged unmitigated, determined war. Was it to be wondered at, under these circumstances, that, the National Government failing adequately to exert its strength, the contest was protracted by the resolution of the party inferior in numbers and resources?

*Governor Clark's Proclamation, Raleigh, February 22,

CHAPTER LV.

FEBRUARY 22d, 1862.

THE birthday of Washington, 1862, the meeting of the electoral college, and marks an important period in the history for counting the votes, and inaugurating of the war. On both sides the occasion the President. The election having been was accepted to give renewed vigor and held in the several states, the votes were impetus to the struggle. At Richmond, formally opened in the presence of both it was memorable as the day of the inau- houses of the Confederate Congress, on guration of Jefferson Davis, as President the 19th of February, when 109 votes of the Confederate States. In accord- were received from eleven States, all of ance with the constitution which had which were given to Jefferson Davis for been adopted, the Provisional Govern- President, and Alexander H. Stevens for ment under which he had previously Vice-President. Of this number, Alaacted, was now to give place to a more bama cast 11; Arkansas, 6; Florida, 4; formal authority. By the terms of the Georgia, 12; Louisiana, 8; Mississippi, constitution, the provisional congress was 9; North Carolina, 12; South Carolina, to prescribe the time for holding the elec- 8; Tennessee, 15; Texas, 8: and Virtion of President and Vice-President, for ginia, 18 electoral votes. The inaugura

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tion was fixed for the 22d. The ceremonies, on the appointed day, generally followed the old order of proceeding at Washington. The Senate and House of Representatives met in the forenoon, in the hall of the House of Delegates of Virginia, where, with the Governor of the State and the officials, they received the President-elect. The whole company then moved in procession to the statue of Washington, on the public square, where a platform was erected for the services of the day. A prayer was offered by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Johns, Episcopal Bishop of Virginia, when an Inaugural Address was delivered by the Presidentelect, after which the oath of office was administered by the President of the Senate, and Jefferson Davis was proclaimed President of the Confederate States for the ensuing six years.

The inaugural address was well written, politic, with an air of calmness and dignity and assurance of ultimate success. The speaker commenced with a graceful allusion to the day. "Fellow CitizensOn this the birthday of the man most identified with the establishment of American Independence, and beneath the monument erected to commemorate his heroic virtues, and those of his compatriots, we have assembled to usher into existence the permanent government of the Confederate States. Through this instrumentality, under the favor of Divine Providence, we hope to perpetuate the principles of our revolutionary fathers. The day, the memory, and the purpose seem fitly associated."

"It is with mingled feelings of humility and pride," he continued, "that I appear, to take, in the presence of the people and before high Heaven, the oath prescribed as a qualification for the exalted station to which the unanimous voice of the people has called me. Deeply sensible of all that is implied by this manifestation of the people's confidence, I am yet more profoundly impressed by the vast responsibility of the office, and humbly feel

my own unworthiness. In return for their kindness, I can only offer assurances of the gratitude with which it is received, and can but pledge a zealous devotion of every faculty to the service of those who have chosen me as their Chief Magistrate."

After these brief preliminaries, the speaker passed to a denunciation of the United States, professing to find in certain measures of the government in Maryland, and elsewhere, growing out of the war, a justification of the alleged policy of the South, in withdrawing from what he was pleased to consider an assured despotism. How far his comparison of the freedom of the North and South was likely to be borne out by the realities of the case may be judged by the necessities, arising from their position, of the two portions of the country. The ample resources, and generally undisturbed loyalty of the North, required but little effort on the part of the administration to sustain the war; indeed, the government fell short of the demands of the people in pressing it on. In the South, with inferior means and resources, however prompt the public might be to submit, the war necessarily demanded a despotic exercise of authority.

"When a long course of class legislation," said President Davis, "directed not to the general welfare, but to the aggrandizement of the northern section of the Union, culminated in a warfare on the domestic institutions of the Southern States-when the dogmas of a sectional party, substituted for the provisions of the constitutional compact, threatened to destroy the sovereign rights of the States, six of those States, withdrawing from the Union, confederated together, to exercise the right and perform the duty of instituting a government which would better secure the liberties for the preservation of which that Union was established. Whatever of hope some may have entertained, that a returning sense of justice would remove the danger with

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