Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1865-01-14
The Wilmington Expedition.
TIE OFFICIAL REPORT OF GENL BUTLER
Highly Interesting Details--Gen. Grants
lns


dition against Fort Fisher, North Carolina, has
been made public, together with the reports Of
Generals Weitzel and Ames, and the instruc-
tioDs OF General Grant, urging the Importance
OF the expedition starting Off during the absence
Of General Bragg, who was reported TO have
gone to Georgia. Introducing the report of
General Butler appears the following from
HEADQUARTERS ARMIES UNITED STATES.
CITY PoINr, VA. Jan. :, ls65-HoH y;
have the honor to forward Major General b.
F. Buffers and suhordinates' reports OF the
expedition against Fort Fisher, N. y.
As the report OF Rear Admiral Porter has
BET published in the papers, would respect.
fully request that General Butler's report, with
all the papers accompanying it, be also given
| TO the public.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
U. :. GRANT, Lieutenant General.
Under date OF January Sd General Butler
reports the result Of the military portion of the
expedition, detailing all its movements from
| the first embarkation of the force at Bermuda
| Hundred on the Sth Of December down to its
return to the James river. On the 9th he says
| he reported 10 Admiral Porter the readiness of
| the land force to proceed and after waiting in
Hampton Roads until the 18th he was informed
| by the Admiral tn at the fleet would sal on the
| 18Th, but would be obliged TO put into Beaufor I
10 take on hoard ammunition for the monitors
| The expedition having become the subject of
remark, and fearing lest its destination should
| get TO the enemy, General Butler says. he or
dered the transport fleet to proceed up the
| Potomac during the day TO Matthias Point, so
| as to deceive the enemy, and retraGe their
course at night and anchor under The lee of
Cape Charles Having given the navy six
hours start. he says he sailed at noon On the
! 1ith and arrived AZ the place of rendeZTous off
New Inlet, near Fort Fisher, on the evening o. {
| the 18th, Thursday. Here he says he waited
| Tor the navy three days, having all the time
| smooth sea end fine weather On the evening
| OF the 18th the Admiral came from Beaufort TO
the place OF rendezvous, but the sea had then
become rough, aud on Monday, the 18th, the
wind sprung up freshly, so that it was impos-
sible TO land troops, and by advice of Admi
raj Porter the transports were directed to rem
| dezvous at Beaufort, as II was necessary to
coal, the vessels having mostly exhausted
their supply. The Baltic having a large sup
ply Of coal was enabled to remain at the rem.
devious with brigade board OF twelve
| hundred men, under General Ames, who re-
ported TO the Admiral that he would cooperate
with him on the 23d General B. also saws
tnat he sent word ts the Admiral that he would
again be at the rendezvous with the transports
on the evening of the s5th, for the purpose OF
commencing the attack.
Gen. Butler proceeds to say:
At o'clock On the evening Of the 9th came
in sight OF Fort Fisher, and found the naval
fleet engaged in bombarding it, the powder
vessel having been exploded on the morning
previous, about O'Clock. Through General
Wetzel / arranged with Admiral Porter to
commence the landing under cover OF the gun
boats, as early as O'clock the next morning,
as soon as the Half moon and Flag Pond bat
teries had been sienced. These are up the
shore scme two or three miles above Fort Fish
er. He was then urged, if that were so, to run
by the fort into Cape Fear river, and then
troops could land and hold the beach without
lishilitt OF being shelled by the enemy's gun
boHts, the Tallahassee being seen in the river
Ii Is 10 be remarked that Admiral Farragut
even had never taken fort except by running
by and cutting CIT from all prospect of REIN
fOrccment, as at Fort Jackson and Fort Nor
gan, and that 60 casemated fort had been 81.
fenced by naval fire during the war; that if the
Admiral would put his ships in the river, the
army conld supply him across the beach, as
we had proposed 10 do Farragut at Fort st
Philip hat al least the blockade of Whining
ton would be- thus efeetual, even if we did not
capture the fort To that the Admiral raplIad
that he should probably lose a boat by tOrpe-
DOES if he attempted 10 run by.
He wss reminded that the arRly might lose
ait men ny the assault, and that his boat wonld
not weigh in the balance, even in money point
OF view, for moment the lives OF III. men.
The Admiral decline going by, and the eXpe-
ditiCn was deprived of that essential element
If snccrss. AT ~ O'Clock noon of the 18th (Sun-
day., capt. Glisson, commanding the covering
division o. the fleet, reported the batteries 81.
fenced. and his vessels in position to cover our
landing. The transport fleet, following nv
fagship, stood within son yards of the beach,
and ar once commenced debarking The land.
ing was successfully effected.
Finding that the reconnoItar ring party inst
laE Eded could hold the shore, L deterGin to
land force with which an assault might be
attempted. Brev-t Brigadier General Curtis,
v no deserves we'll for his gallantry and con.
ducf, Immediately pushed up his brigade with
III q few hundred yards OF Fort Fisher, cap
turing the Half moon battery and It's men, " ho
Were taLen of by the coats of the navy. This
skirmish line advanced to within seventy-dve
yards OF the fort, protected by the glacis, which
had teen thrown up in such form as to give
covering. The garrison being completely kept
i'll their. bomb proofs by the fire OF the navy,
which was very rapid and continuous, their
shells bursting over the work with very CON
siderable accuracy.
AT Ibis time we lost ten men wounded in the
skiimisb lire by the shells from the fleet. nit.
ting the flagship l went on board the Cham
berlin, and ran within a few hundred yards Of
the fort, SO that it was plainly visible. 1t ap-
peared TO b. a square Fashioned work of very
high relief, say fifteen feet, surrounded by
wet ditch some fifteen feet wide. 1t was pro-
tected from being nveloped by an assaultiny
force by stockade, which extended from the
fort to The sea on the one side, and from the
mars hes OF cape Fear river to the salient on
the other.
No material damage to the fort, rs a defen.
slVe work, had heen done. Seventeen heavy
guns bore up the beach protected from the fire
of the navy by traverses eight or ten feet high,
which wele undoubtedly bomb proof shelters
for the garrison. While the garrison kept
within their bomb-proots, 1t was easy TO main.
tain this posiiion; but the shells of the navy,
which kept the enemy in their bomb proofs,
wonld keep my troops ont When these ceased
failing he paraPet WAS fully manned.
Lit utenaDt Wailing, of The l42d New York,
pressed up the edge of the ditch aud captured
a dag which had been cut down by shell
reported to me, that any soldier entered the
fort An orderly was killed apout third OF a
mile from the fort, ana his horse taken. In the
meantime the remainder Of Ames' division had
captured TWO hundred and eighteen men and
reE commissioned officers OF the North Carolina
Reserves, and other prisoners.
From them l learned taat Kirkland's and
Hasood's brigades, of Hoke's division, had left
lha front of the Army of the James near Rich
mond, and were then within two miles of the
iesr Of my forces, and their skirmishers were
ths q actually engaged, and that the rem mainder
Il Hoke's division had come night before TO
Wilmington, and were then on the march, il
they had not already arrived. learned. also
that these troops had left Richmond on Tues
day. thf 2lth. Knowing the strength of Hoke's
division, 1 found force opposed to me outside
OF the works larger than my own. In the
meantime the weather assumed threatening
aspect, the surf began to roll in SO that the
landing became difficult.
AT this tire Gen. Weitzel reported to me that
to assault the work, in his judgment and in
that o. the experienced officers Of his command
VI no had been on the skirmish line. with any
prospect OF success was impossible. This |
opnion coincided with my own, aud, much as |
regretted the necessity OF abanconing the at.