86 Norto Caronina Troops, 1861-’65.

artillery was uncertain. General Evans had kept up the un-
equal contest so long that his troops had barely time to reach
Kinston by the bridge ere they were overtaken and scattered
by Foster’s forces. Evans’ South Carolina Brigade could
alone be mustered, and was picketing the banks of the small
stream which he had chosen for a stand should Foster ad-
vance from Kinston. General Evans was made aware that
General Smith intended to reinforce him largely on the mor-
row, and he expressed his resolution to send Leventhorpe’s
Regiment forward in the morning to feel the enemy. But
this determination was changed on the following day as it
was thought probable that Foster might recross the river

march up the Neuse on its southern bank to White Hall wads
passing the river on the bridge, interpose his force between
General Evans and Goldsboro. General Robertson was

therefore, ordered to march with Evans’ (Sixty-third North
Carolina) and Ferebee’s (Fifty-ninth North Carolina) Reg-
iments of dismounted cavalry, and Leventhorpe’s (Eleventh
North Carolina) and Jordan’s (Thirty-first North Carolina)
Regiments, prevent the enemy from crossing at White
Hall and, in furtherance of that object, destroy the bridge
there, if necessary. White Hall was, at that time, a small
hamlet on Neuse river which was spanned bya substantial
county bridge. The river, though much narrower at White
Hall, is deep and navigable. On the northern side the river
has a gentle slope to the stream, which, in 1862, was bor-
dered by a swamp in which there was a somewhat dense
growth of tall timber. A quantity of this timber-had been
felled and cut into logs, which lay around the bank of the
river, and through the swamp, affording admirable protec-
tion for riflemen, of which good use was made on the follow-
ing day. A gun-boat was in course of building, and stood.

propped on rollers, in the upper end of the swamp, and ‘sea

the river not far from the bridge. A bridge road bas through

and about equally divided the swamp. There was perhaps a

depth of rather less than a hundred yards of timbered swamp

land on the left side of the bridge road, and between it and

the river. The little hamlet of White Hall, built on the
southern bank of the Neuse, consisted of two or three stores

 

Tue Barrie or Waite Hatt. 87

and warehouses, and a straggling street with some neat dwell-
ings and enclosures. ‘The warehouses were on the bluff
which is lofty on the southern side; and some eminences fur-
ther from the river, and commanding the much lower level
of the northern shore, gave great advantage to the former as
a military position. The Confederate troops reached the
neighborhood of the bridge about sunset and stacked arms
whilst the mounted officers rode over the bridge to the village.
Some scouts were sent out immediately on the Kinston road.
They returned at sunset reporting the enemy advancing, and
his scouts quite near. The bluffs were crowded with piles of
ernde rosin, and barrels of spirits of turpentine. By Gen-
eral Robertson’s orders these combustibles were arranged on
the bridge and a party detailed to fire them when the order
should be given. As subsequent reports convinced General
Robertson that the whole force of the enemy was advancing
on him, he considered that it would be impossible, with his
small force to prevent his crossing should the bridge remain
undestroyed. It was therefore fired after nightfall, as the en-
emy came up and the burning fabric, thoroughly saturated
with turpentine, fell into the Neuse and floated down its
waters a blazing wreck. This work was searcely accom-
plished when the enemy entered and occupied the village. A
strong picket from the Eleventh North Carolina was posted
in the swamp fronting White Hall. The Confederate troops
bivouacked within short distance. The enemy was active
during the night, and could be heard throwing up works, and
preparing for coming operations. Some sharp picket firing
occurred during“intervals, and an occasional shell disturbed
the sleeping Confederates. About midnight the Federals
burned the warehouses and some other buildings at White
Hall. With what object this was done was uncertain, but,
whether in order to avail themselves of the temporary light
of this conflagration in directing their missiles of death, or
whether from a wanton spirit of evil, the act proved highly

disastrous to its perpetrators in the ensuing engagements, as

it destroyed what would have been a safe shelter for skirmish-
ers, and exposed the infantry, without cover, and on a high
elevation, to the balls of the Confederate soldiers. In the