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290 North Caroitina Troops, 1861-65.

5th, between Greenville and Washington, a detachment from
the Eighth, and also from the Seventeenth Regiment, and an
artillery company, but without cannon, armed as infantry,
under the command of Colonel S. D. Pool, who, from this
time, being the ranking officer, took command of the force on
the march, although General J. G. Martin had the general
direction of the movement. Later, Captain R. 8. Tucker,
with his company of cavalry, joined us. We camped on the
night of the 5th within a few miles of Washington, and be-
fore dawn the next morning, we commenced our march upon
the town. We struck the Federal pickets just outside of
the town before it was fairly light; we followed at double-
quick, and with a “Rebel Yell,” entered the town. The Fed-
eral troops were taken by surprise, and after firing a round
or two, fell back through the town upon the river, under cover
of their gunboats. We were in possession of the town, the
troops from our regiment being stationed on a square near the
center of the town. We held the position for several hours,
but the cannon from the gunboats were turned upon us, and
the Federal infantry, having re-formed, commenced to fire
upon us with long range rifles, while we were armed with the
old smooth-bore muskets. We were forced to fall back to the
place where we had camped the night before; the enemy did
not pursue us, and the next day we commenced our march
back to camp. Captains Mull and Williams, both of whom
behaved with great bravery, were wounded; of the men of
the Fifty-fifth Regiment engaged, seven were killed and eight
wounded. There was no other meeting with Federal forces
while the regiment was in this section.

On 1 October, while the regiment was doing picket duty at
Wise’s Fork, between Kinston and New Bern, it was ordered
to Virginia, and for a while did provost duty in the city of
Petersburg. With the Second, Eleventh, and Forty-second
Mississippi, it was formed into a brigade, and General Joseph
R. Davis was assigned to its command. The regiment re-
mained in this brigade until January, 1865, when it was
transferred to Cooke’s Brigade. The Twenty-sixth Missis-
sippi Regiment and the First Confederate Battalion were
brought into the brigade in the early part of 1864. It wasa