After the capture of
Roanoke Island (q. v.), the
National forces made other important movements on the coast of
State of North Carolina (q. v.).
Goldsborough having been ordered to
Fort Monroe, the fleet was left in command of
Commodore Rowan.
General Burnside, assisted by
Generals Reno.
Foster, and
Parke, at the head of 15,000 troops, proceeded against
Newbern, on the
Neuse River.
They appeared with the fleet in that stream, about 18 miles below the city, on the evening of March 12, 1862, and early the next morning the troops were landed and marched against the defences of the place.
The Confederates, under
General Branch, were inferior in numbers, but were strongly intrenched.
The march of the Nationals was made in a drenching rain, the troops dragging heavy cannon after them through the wet clay, into which men sometimes sank knee-deep.
At sunset the head of the Nationals was halted and bivouacked within a mile and a half of the
Confederate works, and during the night the main body came up. Meanwhile the gunboats had moved up the river abreast the army,
Rowan's flag-ship
Delaware leading.
The Confederate forces consisted of eight regiments of infantry and 500 cavalry, with three batteries of field-artillery of six guns each.
These occupied a line of intrenchments extending more than a mile, supported by an immense line of rifle-pits and detached works.
On the river-bank.
4 miles below
Newbern, was
Fort Thompson, armed with thirteen heavy guns.
The
Nationals made the attack at 8 A. M. on the 14th.
Foster's brigade bore the brunt of the battle for about four hours.
General Parke supported him until it was evident that
Foster could sustain himself, when the former, with nearly his whole brigade, went to the support of
General Reno in a flank movement.
After the 4th Rhode Island Battery had captured a Confederate one and dispersed the garrison,
Reno, who had been losing heavily in front of another
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battery, called up his reserves of Pennsylvanians, under
Colonel Hartranft, and ordered them to charge the work.
It was speedily done, and the battery was captured with the assistance of New York,
New Jersey, and
Massachusetts troops.
Pressed on all sides, the
Confederates now fled, leaving everything behind, and were pursued by
Foster to the verge of the
Trent.
The Confederates burned the railroad and turnpike bridges over that stream behind them (the former by sending a blazing raft against it) and escaped.
The gunboats had compelled the evacuation of
Fort Thompson.
Large numbers of the inhabitants of
Newbern fled from the town.
Foster's troops took possession of the place, and the general was appointed military governor of
Newbern.
The
Nationals lost 100 killed and 498 wounded. The Confederate loss was much less in killed and wounded, but 200 of them were made prisoners.
They reported 64 killed. 101 wounded, and 413 missing.
