634 NortH Carotina Troops, 1861-’65.

mound battery had been erected sixty feet high on the ex-
treme right of the sea face of the works mounting two heavy
guns.

24 October, 1864, information was received that Wilming-
ton was to be attacked by a large fleet and a supporting army;
at the same time the garrison was distressed to hear that Gen-
eral Braxton Bragg had assumed command of the district of
the Cape Fear, superseding the brilliant, capable and fear-
less Major General W. H. C. Whiting, who, however, was to
remain second in command.

22 November 1864, Company A, Captain R. J. Mur-
phy ; Company OC, Captain K. J. Bradley ; Company D, Cap-
tain Edward B. Dudley; Company G, Captain William
Swain; and Company I, Captain John T. Melvin, under
command of Major James M. Stevenson, left for Georgia, to
join the Confederate forces opposing Sherman’s advance to
Savannah.

A contemporary publication December 1864, says:

“At the late battle of Harrison’s Old Field, which was an
advance position, fourteen miles from Savannah, Major Ste
venson was in command with a part of his own battalion,
(Thirty-sixth North Carolina) and parts of the Fiftieth and
Fortieth and Tenth battalions. General Hardee did not in-
tend them to fight the enemy, but merely to hold them in
check for a few hours, but the order to retreat failing to reach
the Major, with his small force he fought the enemy until
flanked by two brigades, by whom he and his whole command
came near being captured, for a Yankee brigade was in the
road by which he would have to retreat.

“Major Stevenson, however, seems to have known the
country better than General Hardee’s informant, and made
his escape with all his men, except thirteen killed. He also
brought off all his wounded, his artillery and wagons, and
that same night marched into Savannah and reported in per-
son to General Hardee, by whom he was warmly received
and highly complimented.”

20 December, 1864, the Federal Armada commenced gath-
ering off New Inlet. At this time Fort Fisher extended
across the peninsula 682 yards, a continuous work, mounting

THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT. 635

twenty heavy guns and having two mortars and four pieces
of light artillery, and a sea face 1,898 yards in length, con-
sisting of batteries connected by a heavy curtain and ending
in the mound battery sixty feet high, mounting in all twenty-
four heavy guns, including one 170-pound Blakeley rifle gun
and one 130-pound Armstrong rifle gun. At the extreme
end of the point at the entrance to the Cape Fear river was
Battery Buchanan, a naval command with four heavy guns.

When the fleet appeared the garrison consisted of Compa-
ny B, Captain Daniel Munn; Company E, Captain O. H.
Powell; Company F’, Captain Sam B. Hunter; Company H,
Captain Dan. Patterson, and Company K, Captain William
T. Brooks, numbering an effective total of less than 450 of-
ficers and men. The total number in the fort did not ex-
ceed 500 in all the departments. Before the repulse of the
enemy General Whiting and staff arrived with Major James
Reilly, of the Tenth North Carolina (First Artillery) and
two of his companies.

The effective total 25 December, 1864, was 1,431 consist-
ing of 921 regulars, about 450 Junior Reserves and 60 sailors
and marines. On the night of Friday, 23 December, an at-
tempt was made by the enemy to destroy the works by ex-
ploding the steamship Louisiana, with 250 tons of powder,
about half a mile from the northeast salient of Fort Fisher.
The explosion did no injury to the garrison or works, al-
though the concussion was felt distinctly at Wilmington, a
distance of twenty miles. The vessel was evidently afloat or
the damage to the fort might have been serious. :

At 12:40 o’clock a. m. 24 December, the fleet consisting of
the ironsides, four monitors and forty-five wooden steam
frigates, sloops and gun boats, commenced a terrific bom-
bardment, surpassing anything ever before known in naval
warfare. For five hours a tremendous hail of shot and shell
was poured upon the works, but with little effect. At 5:30
o’clock p. m. the fleet withdrew. Strange as it may appear,
no effort to cross the bar and run by the guns was made, al-
though one vessel inside the river would have taken the works
in reverse and compelled a surrender. There were in the
fleet a number of vessels which had been blockade runners,