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756 Norra Carotina Troops, 1861-65.

another ship. The next day we got two cannons off of her.
On 1 March while the regiment was at Fort Holmes, with
only a small detail at Smithville, Lieutenant Cushing, with a
boat’s crew from the fleet, made a raid at Smithville. He
landed at the salt works wharf about 1 o’clock a. m., taking
with him a negro pilot. He went to Brigadier-General He-
bert’s quarters, he being at Wilmington. They captured
Captain Kelly, of his ‘staff, and made their escape, taking
with them their prisoner and the negro pilot, on board the
blockade. ‘After this a river picket, in boats, was kept
between Bald Head and Fort Caswell, with rocket signals
to be displayed at the discovery of any movements of the
enemy. We also kept a picket station on the beach at the
head of “Buzzard Bay,” (where “Corn Cake Inlet” now is),
this being a low, narrow, flat beach, where negroes and de-
serters from the army would escape to the enemy, by hauling
boats over this beach, then launching them into the sea and
go off to the blockade ships. This was done until there could
not be a boat found unless it had been kept under guard at
night, anywhere in that section. Governor Vance, who was
a candidate for re-election against W. W. Holden,
visited our command in July, 1864. The regiment went
on review in honor of the great “War Governor.” The elec-
tion was held in August following, the result of which was
that Z. B. Vance received almost the entire vote of the regi-
ment; that was this writer’s first vote. On 29 October,
1864, Company A, Captain A. W. Ezzell, was ordered to
Fort Anderson, about ten miles above Smithville, on the
Cape Fear river, where it remained until the fort was evacu-
ated 19 February, 1865. On 24 November, 1864, Com-
panies B, Captain Tripp; C, Captain Legget; D, Captain
Lane; G, Captain Buchan; I, Captain Whitehurst, of the
Fortieth Regiment, under the command of Major Holland,
with five companies of the Thirty-sixth Regiment under the
command of Major Stevenson, were ordered to Georgia to
reinforce Lieutenant-General W. J. Hardee, who was then
falling back from Atlanta, Georgia. On reaching Augusta,
the 27th, we went forward in the direction of Waynesboro.
That night, about 12 o’clock, a citizen of that town drove up

FortietH REGIMENT. 757

to our picket, en route for Augusta, with information that
the enemy, under the command of General Sherman, had
torn up the railroad between Augusta and Millen, which
cut us off from General Hardee’s command. The next day
we returned to Augusta and took the train for Savannah. On
reaching Charleston, S. C., the 29th, we found the city un-
der bombardment from the batteries on Morris Island, which
had been going on over five hundred days, with great damage
to that city. The next day (the 30th) we arrived at Coosa-
hatchie, S. C., where we were ordered to leave knapsacks
and make a forced march to reinforce General Gustavus W.
Smith at Honey Hill, near Grahamville, S. C., where General
Foster had concentrated a large force of negro troops from
Hilton Head to destroy the railroad and cut off reinforce-
ments from General Hardee, who was then falling back to-
wards Savannah, Ga., but before we had proceeded far we
were ordered back. The enemy having been defeated, fell
back to the Tullafuiney river, with a heavy loss in killed and
wounded. Thinking that they would make a move against
the railroad at Coosahatchie bridge, under cover of their
gunboats, we sent out a picket down the river banks that
night, and the next day we saw no movements of an advance
of the enemy. We were ordered to proceed on to Savan-
nah, Ga., where we arrived on 2 December, and took the train
on the Georgia Central Railroad and arrived at Rocky Ford,
about fifty miles from Savannah, about night, where we join-
ed General Hardee’s corps, which was composed largely of
senior and junior reserves. Colonel Washington M. Hardy,
of the Sixtieth North Carolina, was assigned to the com-
mand of the regiment, which was rear guard. Through the
negligence of Wheeler’s Cavalry, which were deployed as
scouts, we were entirely cut off, and would have been captured
had not Major Young’s Tenth North Carolina Battalion come
to our assistance when we had a skirmish with the enemy,
driving them back, with some loss on both sides. General
Sherman’s army numbered about 80,000 men of the great
Northwest. Their ancestors, for the large part, were of the
emigrants from North Carolina and Virginia. He had a
fine command, which lay between the Savannah and Ogee-