The Burnside Expedition – The Fleet and Transports Off Hatteras During the Storm – The General Giving Orders.
March 1, 1862 – The first blow of the Burnside Expedition has fallen with terrific force on the enemy’s flank. After innumerable delays and disasters, the Expedition succeeded in fairly entering Pamlico Sound on the 4th of February. On the 6th it left Hatteras for Roanoke Island, commanding the passage between Pamlico -and Albemarle Sounds, which had been strongly fortified and garrisoned. It reached its destination on the 7th, and found that the defenses consisted of not less than six forts and batteries, mounting over 40 heavy guns, and garrisoned by between 4,000 and 5,000 men. The passage between the two Sounds was found obstructed by sunken vessels and heavy piles, behind which lay the rebel flotilla of eight vessels, under command of Com. Lynch. The bombardment of the principal fort was at once commenced by the gunboats, under Com. Goldsborough, while Gen. Burnside, under cover of a few vessels, landed his forces on the lower end of Island. This movement was rapidly and successfully effected, in face of the enemy, without loss. These operations consumed the 7th, and it was not until the 8th that the work of reduction commenced in earnest. On that day the barricades in the Sound were forced, the rebel flotilla defeated and dispersed, the forts silenced and captured, and the entire rebel force on the island, with the exception of a few hundreds, who escaped in small boats, taken prisoners.
