Norwich bulletin., 1910-01-25
NORWICH MEN KILLED
 AT ROANOKE ISLAND.
Battle Fought Forty-Eisht Years Ago -An1iversary Celebration Feb. 8.

-An1versary Celebration Feb. B.
 The forty-eighth anniversary, of the battle of Roanoke Island will be cele- brated by the Society of the Burnside Expedition at the Hotel Astor. New York, Tuesday night, Feb. 8. At this reunion the question will be decided whether the society will hereafter give an annual banquet or not. The mem bership has been so decimated in the last few years that the attendance at the annual gatherings has noticeably fallen off The present officers are William C. Peckham of the. Twenty third Massachusetts, president and F. J. L. Soaring of the Ninth New York, acting secretary. The committee hav- ing the banquet in charge consists of James B. Homer, Ninth New York, chairman; John D. Terry, Twenty third Massachusetts; w. P. Alderman, Ninth New Jersey: Edward p. Pelton. of Noroton Heights, Eighth Connecti- cut, and R. V. Lewis, Ninth New York The Burnside expedition took place in the months of February and March, Roanoke, Feb. 8, and Newborn, March IA. The Connecticut troops engaged in the expedition were the Eighth, Fourth and Eleventh regiments. The Henry c. Dwiglht's, was also an active participant in the operations. The Eighth Connecticut, under Gen. Ed ward Harland of Norwich, was held in
 
 Colonel Russell Killed.
 The Tenth regiment, under command of Col. Charles L. Russell. was assign ed to the First brigade, Burnside's df- vision, Gen. J. G. Foster commanding, and left Annapolis, Md, Jan- 2, 1862, on transports for North Carolina. It was on shipboard five weeks. At the battle Of Roanoke Island it lost 56 in killed and wounded. Colonel Russell was killed. Lieut.. Col. Albert w. Drake of South Windsor succeeded him.. Second Lieut.. Henry M. Still man of New Haven, Company A. Bras tus Vergason of Norwich and Dwight T. Lester of New London, Company H, were also killed at Roanoke.
 The Eleventh Connecticut, under Col. Thomas H. c. Kingsbury of Franklin, was assigned to the expedi- tion and embarked at Fortress Monroe Jan. ', 1862. One-hah of-the regiment was on the gunboat Sentinel and the remaining half on the bark Foltigeur. The day after sailing from Fortress Monroe disastrous storm was en- countered and the Voltigeur was beached off Capt Hatteras and left high and dry on the shore. After being on shipboard twenty-nine days the regi- ment encamped in the neighborhood of Hatteras. In March it joined the forces on Roanoke Island and took an active part in the operations against Newborn The battle of Newborn was fought March 14, 1862. The troops in
 
 creek, eighteen miles below the city and marched up the NeuSe river, smak- ing the first attack on the line of de- lenses which had been established by the rebels. The Eighth assisted in the capture of 500 confederates. Two of the regiment were killed, Halsey F. D. Phelps of East Windsor, Company B, and Charles Patterson of Roxbury, Company l. A considerable number were wounded
 Victims in the Tenth
 The members of the Tenth regiment who were killed at Newborn were James G. Smith of Wilmington, Patrick Marc of Norwich and Sergt. Joseph A. Lombard of Greenwich, Company l.
 The death losses in the Eleventh at Newborn were George Bills of South Windsor, Company D, commanded by Capt. EIwin R. Lee of Hartford. Peter and Clark Decker of North Canaan, Com pany I. After the battle the EIev- enth encamped on the Trent until July, when it was ordered to the Army of the Potomac at fredericksburg.
 Edward E. Pelton of the banquet committee for Feb. was a member of Company K, Eighth Connecticut. He enlisted from Meriden under Col at Newborn Mir Pelton is a member of the Army and Navy club of Con necticut and resides at Noroton 
 Members or the Association. Charles Jackson of the Hartford corps of letter carriers is a member Of the Roanoke association. He belonged to Company D of the Eighth regiment and enlisted from Windham. He was wounded at Antietam Sept. z, 1882, losing his right arm on the field. He is a past president of the Regimental association of the Eighth and a past commander Of Nathaniel Lyon post, G. A. R.
 Gen. Edwin s. Greeley of New Haven was at Newborn with the Tenth and is a member of the association. Col Clayton H. Case, who is a Tenth regi- ment man, is also a member of the or ganization. Gen. Henry c. Dwight who is life president of the Twenty seventh Massachusetts, is a prominent of the Roanoke association and has regularly attended it's reunions for years. President William c. Peckham Of the society is connected with Adel- phi college in Brooklyn, N. Y. In ad- vance of the Burnside expedition Gen. William T. Sherman and Admiral Du- pont organized a series of opera tiOns against the southern coast. An attack on Forts Walker and Beauregard at Port Royal, $. C., was made Nov. ', l 1S6d, being the first naval enlargement of the war. The Sixth and Seventh Connecticut regiments participated in the battle, serving with conspicuous gallantry. Col. John L. Chatfield of l the Sixth was mortally wounded at Fort Wagner July 1e, 1863. and died Aug. g. The forty-eighth anniversary of the battle of Roanoke Island serves | to call attention to the ilIustrious par ticipation of Connecticut regiments in | the naval operations of the first year of the war.