338 North Carortina Troops, 1861-’65.

tillery crippled one of the boats so that it sank on reaching
the wharf. A redoubt was immediately begun on the James-
Ville road leading south for our 32-pound Parrott gun. The
iron-clad Albemarle, Captain J. W. Cooke, was expected
‘during the night. Fort Gray’s armament was one 100-
Pounder and two 32-pounders

18 April. The Albemarle, for some reason, was making
slow progress down the Roanoke, and the day passed without
a sign of it. Shelling at intervals was kept up, the Fifty-
sixth suffering but one casualty, the wounding of a man in
Company H. During the night Colonel Faison, with 250
men, had completed the earthwork near the Washington and
Jamesville road from which to bombard the fort at Sander-
son’s.

At sundown a demonstration on both sides of Lee’s Mill,
Bath road, was made against the enemy’s south front by the
artillery and Ransom’s Brigade. Our assaulting column
was formed with the left resting on Frank Fagan’s house on
the Jamesville road, a mile and a quarter south of town, and
two regiments, the Twenty-fourth and Eighth, beyond the
Lee Mill road at Redd Gap. The Fifty-sixth was next on
the left, and then the Thirty-fifth, while the Twenty-fifth
connected us with Hoke’s right. The batteries following on
the heels of a battalion of sharpshooters composed of Com-
panies B, I, E and A, of the Fifty-sixth, under their worthy
Captains, Roberts, Harrill, Lockhart and Hughes, led by
Captain Jno. C. Pegram, Assistant Adjutant-General, driv-
ing the enemy over their breastworks, advanced steadily from
position to position, firing with the utmost rapidity, while the
rest of the brigade in the line of battle kept pace with them.
Ransom was conspicuous on the field, keeping his mount
throughout the engagement. This was kept up till 10 p. m.,
the enemy replying with great spirit from his forts and gun-
boats, carrying twenty pieces. The object was as far as pos-
sible to draw the enemy’s fire in this direction, while Hoke’s
Brigade assaulted in earnest the “85th Redoubt” at the San-
derson house, some distance to our left. The fort was carried
after a very stubborn resistance and the death of its com-
mander, Captain Chapin. Among our killed we mourn the

Firty-SixtH REGIMENT. 339

loss of the brigade commander, the gallant Colonel Mercer,
of the Twenty-first Georgia. Lieutenant Charles R. Wilson,
of Company D, and 14 men of the Fifty-sixth North Carolina
were wounded at our end. Colonel Mercer was a West Point
classmate of Generals J. E. B. Stuart, Hood, Custis Lee, and
W. D. Pender. He is buried at Tarboro beside his last
named comrade.

19 April. Towards day Colonel Wm. J. Clarke, with his
own, the Twenty-fourth, and the Fifty-sixth Regiment, was
posted below the town on the Columbia road, to prevent escape
in that direction. But the enemy was still confident in the
strength of his fortifications, even after the loss of the “85th
Redoubt” and the arrival of our ram, Albemarle, the same
night passing the big guns at Warren’s Neck unharmed. It
sank one of their gunboats, the Southfield, and chased off the
other two, the naval commander, Flusser, being killed on the
deck of the Miami. The enemy still held a continuous, thar-
oughly fortified line, well constructed, from a point on the
river, near Warren’s Neck, along their west and south fronts,
and terminating on the east in a swamp, bordering which a
deep creek, known as Conaby, a mile or two further east,
runs into the Roanoke river, on the south bank of which Ply-
mouth is situated. It has four streets parallel with the river
and five at right angles to it. Fort Williams, projecting be-
yond the south face of the parallelogram, is ready for action
on all four sides and enfilades, right and left, the whole south
front of the fortifications, while Battery Worth was built to
command the west, water and land, approach. Between the
latter and Warren’s Neck was 85th Redoubt at Sanderson’s
house. At Boyle’s steam mill near the road entering Second
street from the west was another redoubt outside the en-
trenchments, and within the southwest angle still another at
Harriet Toodles’. On the east centre was Fort Comfort,
with a redoubt on either side of the Columbia road at James
Bateman’s and Charles Latham’s. General Hoke ordered
an assault from this (east) side by Ransom’s Brigade. Ac-
cordingly that night our sharpshooters effected a crossing
of Conaby creek on felled trees with some opposition. A
pontoon bridge was laid, and before the night was far ad-