The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-05-11


the aight got back to our lines. The
wounded and captured were taken to
Northern hospitals and Northern prisons.
The dead were buried under the flag of
truce, but the artillery horses were
saved.
History tells MS of the mem
orable campaign of General Grant
i'm 1864; but how that Generals
strategy was thwartcd. and his
campaign miscarried. is known to but
few; the part played in that great drama
by North Carolina troops nder the North
Carolina officers was so honorable and
important that | must crave indulgence
TO describe it. General Grants strategy
for the campaign of 1864. which opens
at the crossing of the Rapidan by his
army OH the 4th of May, embraced CO.
operative movements i'm the advance Of
six thousand men under General Sigel
up the Kanawha: ten thousand under
Crook to march from Winchester with
view Of taking Staunt0n and Lynch
burg and operating on General Lees
rear. Thirty thousand under Burnside
were to move from Plymouth. North
Carolina. and destroy the Weldon
bridge, and thirty Thousand upder Gene
raj Butler were to start from Bermuda
Hundreds and capture Petersburg and
Richmond while General Grant with his
main army Of one hundred thousand was
to set out simultaneously on an overland
march to attack Richmond, and by his
overwhelming numbers crush Lees OPP
posing army.
We know how the column under Sigel
was defeated at New Market May 15D
by breckenridge; and those Of Crook and
Averill by Early at Lynchhurg. CIune
lS) and Butler by Beauregard ut Drew
rvs Bluff, May 16, and of the series of
battles, beginning on the 9th of May.
and ending on the 18th Of June. as
Grant was moving by his left flank first
at the Wilderness, then ut Spottsyvania
Court House then at North Anna and
lastly at Cold IIarbor, hurled his legion
against Lee in vain attempt to break
through the latter's lines until exhaust
ed and dispirited, with a loss of sixty
thousand, number equal to Lees en-
tire army, General Grant ceases all ac-
tive operations; seeks Il new base on the
James, and settles down to protract-
cd seige Of Petersburg
Now for North Cardinals part in this
game of war.
In the spring of 1864, the Confederate
authorities decided to anticipate the
commencement of the pending campaign
by the capture of some of the towns
held by the enemy in eastern North
Carolina.
Brigadier General r. f. Hoke was Sc
lected to command the expedition. He
took with him. his own Ransom's, Ter
rvs Virginia Brigade. the 43rd North
Carolina regiment, of which your dis
tinguished citizen, Thomas S. Kenan,
WAS Colonel and several batteries of ar
tillery, assisted by the Ram Albemarle
| operating in the Roanoke river
Capturing Plymouth april 20, 1864.
after one Of the most brilliant Of as
SaultS. with some $500 prisoners and
large supplies of privsions and munitions
of war, General Hobe marched to Wash
ington, forced the evacuation of the
place. promptly invested Newbern which
was to be assaulted the next day with
every prospect of success. when tele-
grams from President Davis. Secretary
of War Seldom Generals Lee and Beau
regard ordered him to withdraw from
Newbern with all haste and interp0se
his troops between Butler and Richmond.
Moving without Il moments delay. Gen
eral Hoke reached Petersburg i'm advance
of Butler: but so close was the race
that as Hoke's troops filed into the works
protecting Petersburg, the advance of
Buffers army appeared in view making
for the same point This march of GEN
eral HOke's troops stands on record Mt
West Point as the most rapid move
ment Of troops on record. Appointed a
Major General for his distinguished SER
vices as above, Hokcs division of which
Clingman's Brigade was a part. helped
to win the victory of Drewry's Bluff
Transferred to the northern bank of the
james. it saved the day at Cold Har-
Dor. Hurried again to the southern side
of the James, it reached the works
defending Petersburg just in time to
save the city on the memorable attack,
June 18th. 1864.
When General Hoke reached Drewry's
Bluff on his forced march from New
bern. as above described. he was met by
President Davis with the statement:
General your success at Plymouth has
given me credit for more information of
the designs of the enemy than | deserve.
\ court of inquiry is now going on at
Washington to ascertain how the infor-
nation about General Grants plan of
campaign has leaked out
1t now appears that the capture of
Plymouth. where supplies and munitions
of war had been collected in anticipation
of the arrival of Burnside with his thirty
thousand troops, broke up that part Of
the cooperative movement looking to the
capture of Weldon. This success and
the defeat of Butler at Drewry's Bluff,
followed by his retreat to Bermuda Hun
dreds where he remained bottled up,
practically removed for the time from
the field of military operations sixty
thousand men. These successes follow
ed by his disastrous defeat mt Cold Har-
Dor rendered abortive General Grants
splendid strategy for 1864. This result
was largely brought about by the brave
conduct Of division of ten thousand
men, composed chiefly Of North Carolina
troops under the command of North
Carolina Generals, and al in the brief
period of sixty days. Whore will yOu
match such n record? Survivors Of
hundred battlefelds! Comrades l greet
You. There never was an army superior
i'll fighting qualities and endurance to
the army or Northern Virginia. OF that
army fOpty-SiV Of ite uinatv-fIvo ra0i-