CHAPTER XLV. THE CAPTURE OF PORT ROYAL, NOVEMBER, 1861. of the Southern Coast, the popular conjectures of the precise locality to be assailed ranging widely from North Coro in view of their value, to the harbors of Georgia and South Carolina. In the month of October the enterprise which had been energetically forwarded by the Secretary of the Navy and his efficient assistant, Mr. Fox, began to take definite shape to the eye of the public, in the ton Roads, and the collection of a considerable body of troops at a convenient point for embarkation at Annapolis. It was, of course, an object, as far as possible, to keep these movements secret from the enemy, and the press was consequently put under restraint in reporting the progress of the Expedition. At length, however, the completeness and unavoidable publicity of the preparations rendered secrecy no longer practicable, and the public, a few days before the departure of the fleet, were made acquainted with its military proportions and resources, though its particular destination was sedulously kept secret even in official circles. THE obvious need by the Government of the possession of a series of harbors on the Southern Coast, to serve as the stations and places of refuge of the block-lina to Texas, with a special inclination, ading fleet during the approaching inclement season, as well as to provide a basis of operations for future military movements against the Southern States, and afford protection to loyal citizens, required the prosecution of those naval undertakings which had been commenced with such success in the victory at Hat-gathering of a large squadron in Hampteras Inlet. The attention of the Navy Department had been early directed to this necessity, and in June a special board of army and Navy officers was ordered for the thorough investigation of the whole subject. The board was composed of Captains Samuel F. Dupont and Charles H. Davis of the Navy, Major John G. Barnard of the Engineer Corps of the Army, and Professor Alexander Bache of the Coast Survey. The Commission prepared several elaborate reports, exhibiting the position and advantage of almost every available point on the Coast, and it was in accordance with their recommendations that the expeditions to the Southern Coast in the summer and autumn of 1861 were undertaken. The rapidly increasing resources of the Department, in connection with the larger requirements of the war, demanded the equipment of a Naval Expedition on a larger scale, and one productive of more important results than that which had so readily gained possession of the forts at Hatteras. Accordingly, for the month or two following that event, there were rumors of the preparation of a fleet to be accompanied by a military force and to be directed against some important point At the head of the Naval Expedition was placed Commodore Samuel F. Dupont, the chairman of the board of Inquiry, just mentioned, who consequently was in full possession of the knowledge acquired by the Government in reference to the opportunities of the enterprise, and largely shared with the Administration the responsibility of its success. Indeed, so thoroughly had he studied the matter, and so confident was the reliance on his judgment, that the selection within certain limits, of the place where the LEADERS OF THE EXPEDITION. assault should first be made, was left to his discretion. This officer now assigned to so important a command, was born in New Jersey about the year 1802. He entered the navy from the State of Delaware in 1815, and had consequently been attached to the service some fortysix years, nearly half of which had been passed in active duty at sea. He had held many responsible commands in the West Indies, on the Pacific, the Coast of California, where he served with distinction in the Mexican War, and elsewhere, having attained the rank of Captain in 1855. His last service at sea was in command of the Minnesota on the China Station in 1859. He was subsequently commander of the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The naval vessels of the expedition assembled at Hampton Roads, consisted of the flag-ship, the Wabash, of 44 guns, accompanied by a fleet of sixteen gun-boats, the Pawnee, Ottawa, Seminole, and others, some of which had been newly purchased, and all of which were provided with powerful armaments. Other larger and more effective vessels of the Navy were expected to join the expedition from the Southern Stations as it approached the scene of operations. The land forces of the Expedition numbered about 15,000 men, and were placed under charge of Brigadier-General Thomas W. Sherman, as acting Major-General. This officer, a native of Rhode Island, was a graduate of the Military Academy of the year 1836, when he was appointed 2d Lieutenant in the 3d United States Artillery. Having served with distinction in the Indian Wars in Florida, he was promoted to a Captaincy in May, 1846, at the opening of the Mexican War, joined the army of General Taylor, and was brevetted Major for gallant and meritorious conduct on the battle-field of Buena Vista. He had since been employed in the Indian country in the West, where in 1857 he distinguished himself by his prudence and fitness in preventing a war with 95 the Sioux. His battery of Light Artillery, "Sherman's Battery," had a wide reputation for the skill and efficiency with which it was handled. At the outbreak of the rebellion he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel of the new 5th Regiment of Artillery, and was presently appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers. He was in command of his brigade on the battle-field of Bull Run, where, it will be remembered, he had charge of some of the most important operations of the day. His experience pointed him out as one peculiarly fitted to organize the land forces of the projected Southern Expedition, and he was accordingly entrusted with the work. Previously to the gathering at Annapolis, a camp of instruction was formed under his direction at Hempstead, Long Island. The army division under General Sherman in the Southern Expedition was divided into three brigades, commanded respectively by Brigadier-Generals Egbert S. Viele, Isaac J. Stevens and Horatio G. Wright. General Viele, a native of New York, was born in Saratoga County in 1825. He was a graduate of West Point of 1846, served in the Mexican War, and was subsequently appointed Chief Engineer of the State of New Jersey, in which capacity he made a trigonometrical survey of the State. He was afterward Chief Engineer in the preliminary laying out of the Central Park in New York. On the 17th of August, 1861, he was appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers. His brigade in the new Southern Expedition was composed of the 3d New Hampshire, 8th Maine, 46th, 47th and 48th New York Regiments. Brigadier-General Stevens, the commander of the Second Brigade, a man of eminent capacity and worth, was born at Andover, Massachusetts, in 1818, graduated at the head of his class at West Point in 1839, and was appointed First Lieutenant of Engineers the following year. He was on the staff of General land regiments, a battalion of Volunteer Engineers under Colonel Serrell, and a battery of six rifled cannon, formerly Sherman's, now commanded by Captain Hamilton. The fleet of transport and merchant ships for carrying the troops with the various supplies of ammunition, equipments, cavalry horses, and quartermaster's stores, numbered some thirty-five vessels, including not a few of the most Scott in the Mexican war, was brevetted Captain for gallant and meritorious conduct at Contreras and Cherubusco, and Major for his gallantry before the city of Mexico. After the war he was engaged upon the United States Coast Survey, and subsequently was at the head of the Government Survey of the Northern railway route to the Pacific, in which he was associated with General, then Captain, McClellan. In 1853 he was appointed Governor of Washington Terri-distinguished in the United States Mertory, and in 1857 represented the Terri- cantile service. The steamships Atlantic tory in Congress. Associated with the under Captain Oliver Eldridge, the headSouthern democracy in the late canvass quarters of this division, and the Baltic, for the Presidency, he was chairman of Captain Joseph Comstock, of the New the National Executive Committee. This, York and Liverpool Collins' Line, carhowever, did not hinder a prompt ex- ried each a full New Hampshire regipression by him of loyalty to the Gov-ment, and were laden with vast quantities ernment, on the outbreak of the rebel- of stores. These vessels bore also a lion. He offered his services to the Government and entered the army with the appointment of Colonel of the 79th New York Highland regiment of Volunteers, as the successor of Colonel Cameron, on the death of that officer at Bull Run. His appointment of BrigadierGeneral of Volunteers was dated 28th of September, 1861. His brigade in the expedition consisted of the 8th Michigan, 50th Pennsylvania, the Round-Head Pennsylvania, and 79th New York regi-ple resources of the well-furnished Amments. Brigadier-General Horatio G. Wright, the commander of the Third Brigade, a native of Connecticut, graduated at West Point second in his class, in 1841, when he was appointed 2d Lieutenant of Engineers. For the three following years he was Acting Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Engineering, in the Military Academy, was made 1st Lieutenant in 1848, Captain of Engineers in 1855, attained the rank of Major in the Engineer corps in August, 1861, and the next month was appointed BrigadierGeneral of Volunteers. His brigade in the expedition was composed of the 6th and 7th Connecticut, the 9th Maine, the 4th New Hampshire, the 3d Rhode Is number of rifled cannon, surf boats to land troops, a launch to take ashore the heavy guns, and the frames of houses, bricks for building, etc. The fast sailing Vanderbilt, the Ericsson, Empire City, Daniel Webster, Ocean Queen, and the New York Ship Great Republic of 3350 tons, which had been employed in similar service by the British Government in the Crimean war, were among the vessels of this fleet, which fully represented the am erican Mercantile Marine. Bringing up the rear in this naval inventory, were a half-dozen ferry boats, such as are employed in the harbor of New York, capacious, admirably constructed vessels of their class, of the lightest draft, admirably adapted for the transportation and landing of troops in peaceful waters, but little fitted to breast the stormy waves of the Atlantic in a tempestuous season. The total tonnage of the transport steamers, it was calculated, amounted to 32, 391 tons, and of the Great Republic and other sailing vessels, 7,151 tons. On the 21st of October the embarkation of the troops having been completed, and the weather, which had been foggy for the last few days, permitting |