Civil War Officer Describes NC Gunboat Expedition As Union Controls Coastal Area
In August 182, following the successes of the Burnside Expedition earlier that year, Union forces in eastern North Carolina focused on maintaining their control of the coastal areas and conducting reconnaissance missions, rather than launching major offensives inland. Here we offer a nicely detailed letter involving a gunboat expedition and a trip to Morehead City regarding reconnaissance. Though unsigned and written to the soldier's parents, the letter appears to make a complete statement about his trip down the river.
The soldier was obviously an officer as he notes in the postscript that he has sent twenty-five dollars to deposit for my men. 4 pp, 5 x 8, August 21, 1862, New Bern, NC. I should have written before leaving N.
Our expedition composed of two gun boats and three transports carrying seven companies of our regt. With barges carrying guns, artillery, etc... Seven companies of our regt left New Bern on last Wednesday, part embarked on boats for Morehead City, the remaining on the cars. I, being with the colors, did not go with my company, but with the color co. On board a stern wheeled boat which has been of great service in shallow water.
We spent one night on the sound, arrived by eight on the following morning at Morehead City. The passage up from the sound past Beaufort to Morehead City, was a rich treat to us... The salt air seemed to revive us at once.
We saw curfew and game of other kinds in plenty, also great quantities of fish... [We] enjoyed some luxurious swims in the salt water... Early the next morning, we started part by an inland passage, the rest by ocean. After a rough passage during which the water was throwing us nearly over our good-sized boat, we arrived at the inlet which gives entrance to the town of Swansboro, after striking twice we anchored for the night at three p. As part of the Union's reconnaissance action, an official report on August 4, 1862, detailed the activities of Lt.Woodward of the USS Shawsheen and Company F, 9th New York Infantry who were stationed at Plymouth, North Carolina. Woodward seized goods and livestock from the property of a wealthy Confederate sympathizer, Josiah Collins, confiscating 1,100 bushels of corn and 240 bushels of wheat, turning them over to the superintendent of the poor at Plymouth for distribution. Woodward also seized twelve horses for use by a mounted picket. Folds, light toning but very readable.
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