574 NorrH Caronina Troops, 1861~’65.

after dark, Ransom’s Brigade attacked a regiment on picket
posted to defend the crossing of Conaby creek. This force
of the enemy was dispersed, and the brigade then moved
across the creek and took position in line of battle near the
river, extending across an open field to a point a little south
of the town. At early dawn the brigade assaulted the works
areund Plymouth, charging through an open field three
fourths of a mile, and carried the two forts on the eastern
face of the town. The largest fort south of the town, then
known as Fort Wessels, upon reconnoissance was found im-
pregnable. The brigade charged through the town, up the
streets, through the gardens and was resisted at every step
by detachments of soldiers from the windows and doors, for
they had barricaded the streets in all directions. The fort
holding the large guns on the bank of the river Was now cap-
tured, and soon the defences in the upper or western part
of the town were taken. The big guns having been silenced,
the Albemarle was signalled to come up, which it did gal-
lantly. A few mortar shots from the Albemarle were thrown
into the fort and then its surrender demanded, and General
Wessels, after seeing the intrepidity of the forces attacking
him, and realizing his forlorn condition, surrendered the
place. The loss in Ransom’s Brigade was over one hundred
killed, and five hundred wounded. The brigade captured
three thousand prisoners, one hundred pieces of artillery, five
hundred horses, a large number of small arms and a large
quantity of quartermaster and commissary stores,

As an evidence of the appreciation of the State for this
brigade in this action, when the usual resolution of thanks
to General Hoke, the ranking officer, and the officers and men
under his command, was introduced in the General Assem-
bly of North Carolina, Captain David M. Carter, an able
statesman and gallant soldier, then a member of that body,
offered as an amendment, that after the words “General Hoke”’
in the resolution, the words “General Matt. W. Ransom”
should be inserted. The amendment was accepted with ap-
probation by Judge Shepherd, Chairman of the Military
Committee, and unanimously adopted by the House.

 

RAnNsom’s BRIGADE. 575

PETERSBURG.

After this battle, the brigade went with General Hoke’s
command to New Bern, and without any serious engagement
there, was ordered hastily to proceed to Petersburg, which
was then imperiled by Butler’s advance from City Point.
They reached the city of Petersburg on 11 May and with
Beauregard’s army, on the next day, marched to Drewry’s
Bluff. On the 13th, had a sharp fight with the enemy in
which the enemy was repulsed, and the noble Cicero Dur-
ham, who had just been assigned to the command of the
brigade sharpshooters, was mortally wounded. On the 14th
in a short, but hard engagement with the enemy, General
Ransom was seriously wounded, and during the summer and
fall till his return the brigade was commanded by the senior
Colonel for the time being. On the 16th the brigade in
General Robert Ransom’s Division joined in the attack upon
General Butler’s army and routed the enemy in their front.
After the battle of Drewry’s Bluff the brigade was engaged
in the defence of the Bermuda Hundreds line.

About 16 June it was hurried to Petersburg to meet Gen-
eral Grant’s advance upon the city. It held its ground and
repulsed the enemy invariably in all the fights that occurred
on the front lines of Petersburg during that memorable siege.
There was no harder or better fighting during the war than
that which engaged the brigade on those lines and days. There
17 June the gallant Colonel Jones, of the Thirty-fifth Regi-
ment, was killed; there Adjutant-General Pegram fell; there
large numbers of the best soldiers in the army met their fate,
the brigade at that time being under the command of Colonel
Faison, of the Fifty-sixth.

On the morning of the Crater fight, 30 July, the brigade,
commanded by Colonel Lee M. McAfee, oceupied the in-
trenchments near the scene of the explosion, and exhib-
ited a coolness and courage in driving back the enemy and
holding our lines, which were never surpassed. The Pe-
tersburg papers, published on the afternoon after the battle
had been fought, were most pronounced in its praise. The bri-
gade continued all during the summer, fall and winter of
1864, and up to 1 March in 1865, to hold the line of intrench-