Hertford County, NC - War of the Rebellion Official Records, Part 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The War of the Rebellion, A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol IX, Page 195, Chapter XX. (Union) BATTLE OF ROANOKE ISLAND, N. C. Report of Colonel Rush C. Hawkins, Ninth New York Infantry. STEAMER VIRGINIA, Off Roanoke Island, N. C., February 21, 1862. SIR: Agreeably to your orders of the 17th instant I called upon Captain Rowan, and made arrangements to embark my regiment on board of some of the gunboats of his division for the purpose of proceeding up the Blackwater and Nottoway Rivers and destroying the bridges of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad. At 12 m. of the 18th instant the regiment embarked and the expedition got underway, and that night anchored off the mouth of the Roanoke River, where it remained until 10 a.m.. of the 19th instant, and then commenced its journey up the Chowan River. Nothing of importance occurred until about 3.30 p.m.. The flag-steamer Delaware was about 1 mile ahead of any of the other boats. I was on the cross-trees of the mainmast, where I had been on the lookout for about two hours. The steamer was within 350 yards of the wharf at Winton when I discovered the high bank, which we were nearing very rapidly, was covered with Confederate soldiers. I immediately gave the alarm, but not in time to change our course until the steamer had got within 100 yards of the shore, when we received the whole fire of about 700 infantry or more, which continued until we had passed out of range up the river, where we turned around and commenced shelling the town, the enemy returning the fire with four pieces of artillery from the shore. In the meantime the gunboat Perry, having come within range, commenced firing from below. Soon after the enemy was dislodged and retired, when the Delaware returned down the river, receiving four shots as she passed the wharf. The whole fleet came to an anchor about7 miles below Winton. A consultation was held, and it was agreed to return the next morning and burn the town if found to be occupied by the rebels. About 11.30 a.m.. of the 20th instant our gunboats arrived and took their positions, some above, some below, and others opposite to the town, when our guns commenced firing, and in twenty minutes after my regiment landed, accompanied by three boat guns, under the command of Lieutenant Flusser, of the gunboat Perry. The guns were placed in positions so as to command the approaches to the town; the regiment drawn up in line awaiting the attack of the enemy. In the mean time parties of observation were sent out in all directions. It was soon ascertained that the enemy had retreated as soon as our force appeared in sight that morning, leaving everything behind except their arms and accouterments. Six companies of my regiment took possession of the main approach to the town and I commenced making a personal inspection of all the buildings. I found that nearly all of them had been taken possession of and had been occupied by the Confederate troops as quarters and store-houses. I then ordered that every building containing stores for the enemy and occupied by them as quarters should be fired, and placed guards in the others to see that they were not disturbed or destroyed. The property destroyed belonging to the Confederate forces consisted of bacon, corn-meal, flour, sugar, powder, mess-pans, camp-kettles, knap-sacks, haversacks, canteens, &c., the whole worth not less than $10,000. This, I believe, is the first instance during the war on our side where fire has accompanied the sword. It is to be regretted that such severe measures have to be adopted; they can only be justified upon two grounds-first, retaliation for trying to decoy us into a trap at the time of the firing into the Delaware. Evidence of this is that a negress, the property of one of the Confederate officers, was sent down to the wharf by her master to beckon the boat in to the wharf, when we were all to be slaughtered, or in the words of the negress, "Dey said dat dey wan't goin' to let anybody lib at all, but was goin' to kill ebery one's of'em." I infer from this that we were to received no quarter. Second, the buildings fired had been taken possession of by and were in the use of the rebel forces as store-houses and quarters, which forces had been raised, supported, and used by the States in rebellion for the purpose of subverting the Constitution and the laws of the United States. From information obtained at Winton we came to the conclusion that it would be impossible for us to accomplish the original object and aim of the expedition, so it had to be abandoned. The forces at Winton, as near as I could ascertain, consisted of the First Battalion North Carolina Volunteers (six companies), under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William T. Williams; one battery of light artillery; one company of the Southampton cavalry, and one or two companies of the North Carolina Militia, the whole under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Williams. I am happy to inform you that none of our forces were injured. The enemy sustained some loss from the fire of our gunboats on the 19th, but I am not able to state how many were either killed or wounded. The troops under my command and the officers and sailors on board of the gunboats behaved exceedingly well, and performed all of their various duties with great promptness and alacrity. I feel greatly indebted to Commodore S. C. Rowan and the lieutenants of the U. S. Navy, in command of the gunboats, for their kind care and attention to the comforts and wants of my regiment, and also of for their hearty co-operation in trying to carry out the object of the expedition. I am, most faithfully, your obedient servant, RUSH C. HAWKINS, Colonel Ninth Regiment New York Volunteers. ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Linda Gamel ___________________________________________________________________