I sent to Edenton yesterday to arrest some thirty men who had formed themselves into a company to attack our home guard thieves at Wingfield, and who were only prevented from executing their intentions by an accident to the man who was to furnish the ammunition for the party. Colhoun succeeded in capturing three. I send them today to Roanoke, with a request to Howard to hold them.

Wingfield was in Colonial days the home of the Brownriggs, who emigrated from the Vale of Avoca in Wicklow County, Ireland. The house was finished in 1762, and was built of brick. It was a large square central building with wings on either side, and fronted directly on the river: The bank, which is quite bold at this point, was terraced down to the river shore: Long rows of Catalpa trees, planted with reference to use in shipbuilding, stretched from the house to the main road, three quarters of a mile. Few gates were used about the premises, old fashioned English stiles, with broad platforms. took their places.

This house was destroyed by a fire which originated in the laundry wing in 1772. and was not rebuilt until 1790. the new building, though a wooden structure, preserving the beauty and form of the old one: Formerly an old wind mill stood sentinel upon the river bank, and away to the south, at the mouth of Indian Creek, which bounds the estate, nestled the fishery, with its long low shelters, the first one ever established in this section. It was an idylic spot; the sunshine spilled in diapered patterns of light and shadow upon the lawn through the rifts of the foliage of the stately ancestral trees, and the ancient river lapped the shore at the back of the beautiful old garden. Such was Wingfield at the time of its occupation by the Buffaloes. Wheeler, our historian, says: "This section of the state suffered sadly from the ravages of warfare, for after the fall the Roanoke Island the sounds and navigable rivers were open to the enemy's gunboats. These coasted up and down, and bore off the means and necessaries of life, living freights of fugitive negroes, and the low and skulking Buffaloes. These were shameless and mean whites, who turned traitors to their friends and betrayed them to their unrelenting foes: They were held in abhorrence and contempt. They established a stronghold at Wingfield, the lovely, homestead of the Brownrigg family, afterwards occupied by Dr. Dillard, but the Buffaloes took possession, and the spacious halls, once the scene of elegance and beauty, were occupied by a foul and cowardly crew, who became such an intolerable nuisance that the building was fired. These miscreants plundered alike the plate and pianos of the rich, as also the poultry and breadstuffs of the poor." The family were away in Virginia, and the late Mr. Wm. P. Jones was in charge at Wingfield when the Buffaloes arrived, but he stubbornly refused to leave his post. In August, 1862, a detachment of N. Y. Mounted Rifles from Suffolk under Capt. Terwilliger, seventy-five in all, came to the place, and ordered him to furnish his men with the necessary supplies, he remained two weeks, and was succeeded by Captain Walter S. Poor, and he in turn by Capt. A. J. McLane: After that another Company of cavalry came and took complete possession of everything, and demanded the keys, which Mr. Jones peremptorily refused to surrender; he was then placed under arrest in the carriage house, the buildings were broken open and looted, and he was ordered to either leave, or take the oath of allegiance and remain with them. this he contemptuously declined to do, and left the place: The Buffaloes were now in complete possession, and constituted Company E of the North Carolina United States Infantry, commanded by the notorious Jack Fairless; Fairless was subsequently killed at Wardville by one of his own men, a deserter from the Confederate army, named Wallace. Fairless was very abusive and overbearing, and Wallace drew his revolver and shot him dead, making good his escape, after that Joseph W. Etheridge, 1st Lieut. was in command.

In obedience to your order, I submit to you the following report in regard to proceedings of a company of home guards stationed at Wingfield, Chowan County, N. C. On my arrival there on the 18th of September I found out of sixty-three recruits only twenty present; the others had gone to their homes or elsewhere, as they chose. The captain was in a state of intoxication, threatening to shoot some of the remaining men. and conducting himself in a most disgraceful manner by taking one man's horse and making other people pay him the money to pay for them, and this, too, from people who were well disposed toward our Government. He had some eight or ten horses when I went there, gotten in this way. He has no control over his men and (by) the manner in which he conducts himself he is doing much injury to the cause of the U. S. Government. Some of the men that have gone have taken their arms or guns with them; the ammunition has all been smuggled out and sold to citizens for liquor; what remaining arms there were I took on board for safe-keeping. On the 21st, Captain Fairless went off and left his men, as he said, to go to New Berne by way of Suffolk. His men say they will serve under him no longer. They are now left in charge of a man they call lieutenant, with no clothing, no rations; are dependent on the county for subsistence.

Wingfield was occupied by them nearly two years, and most of the time a United States gunboat was stationed in the river back of the house. On Nov. 17th, 1862, Capt. Ned Small of Edenton with a company of 20 picked men, among whom was Mr. W. D. Rea, crossed the Chowan at Harrellsville with the intention of capturing the Buffalo camp at Wingfield, but too much publicity had been given his plans, the pickets were informed and on the alert, and having ample warning the Buffaloes took refuge on the gunboat back of the garden.* The neighborhood was then shelled and Small was obliged to withdraw without having accomplished his purpose.

The following is the report of the Federal Commander concerning this expedition.

I have the honor to submit to you the following report of preceedings about here day before yesterday, the 17th instant. A body of rebel troops crossed the river at night—near as can be ascertained, two companies, Small's and Hill's. They have pressed horses and mounted part of their number. Last night they drove in all the pickets. At *The following boats were on duty at Wingfield during the Buffalo occupation: The Hunchback, E. R. Calhoun, Comm., The Shawsheen, Thos. J. Woodward, Comm., Whitehead, Chas. A. French, Comm., and the Lockwood, G. W. Graves, Comm. 10 P. M., I drove them back by shelling them, when the pickets were put out and at 3 A. M., 18th instant, they were driven in again by cavalry and infantry, when I again shelled them out. No more was seen of them, as the pickets were not put out until daylight. Expended forty rounds of ammunition during the night. The U. S. S. Lockwood arrived up here at 8 o'clock tonight. At 11:30 P. M., the pickets were all driven in. At about the same time the troops all fell back to the river, when both steamers shelled the grounds in the vicinity of the camp and picket station, as many troops were seen. I took all our troops and all the contrabands on board, there being about 200 contrabands now here, then threw a few rounds of grape and canister all about the camp ground. Everything remains quiet at present since shelling them. We destroyed the boats they came across in. They crossed about 2 miles above here at Cannon's Ferry, (Chowan River). Two men left here this morning with a dispatch for Suffolk, (Va.), to acquaint the general commanding there of their being on this side of the river.

As they have not effected their object in capturing the home guard or destroying the headquarters, I think they will not stay on this side long. As there is no provision made here for contrabands. I will send part of what are here to Plymouth by the Lockwood for your disposal. She will leave at daylight.

Wingfield was unfortified at that time, and the Buffaloes had no protection save from the gunboats ling out in the river, but it was accomplished with the greatest military skill and alacrity; a Federal officer was detailed to devise the plans, and have them executed, and the large number of negroes, who had fled thither from the masters, were compelled to do this work. A line of breastworks were constructed commencing at the river bank some distance above the house, running a southeasterly direction 200 yards, they then turned south 400 yards across the field to a ravine, which carried a small stream, fed by springs: Across this was thrown a dam to hold water 10 ft. deep, and, at a point where it emptied into the river, was another dam. holding water 15 ft. deep; making approach from the south almost impossible; on the river bank were erected two blockhouses, and at the northeast angle of the fortifications, which was their weakest point, a fort was constructed, the earth was thrown up in a mound 75 feet square and 15 feet high, and this was surmounted by a house built of heavy hewn logs covered with a flat roof. Embrasures were made for rifles, and four port holes looking North, South, East and West; there they planted a cannon, which had been secured at Edenton. The fortifications in all comprised a area of 50 acres, with the residence in the middle, and two sallyports. A smaller line of inside breastworks 150 yards long encircles the fort, to prevent enfilading. For their further security, and to prevent surprises. they cut down all the trees in the lawn and along the river bank, and burned all the buildings lying outside the fortifications, reserving the residence for general headquarters. During the winter in 1863 the 42nd N. C. Regiment was quartered at GarysLurg, Col. Jno. E. Brown of Charlotte in command. Col. Brown was ordered by Gen. D. H. Hill to attack the fort at Wingfield and drive the Buffaloes from the section. So taking with him Company B, W. H. Crawford, Captain, Co. E. T. J. Brown, Capt. and Co. F, Wiley F. Clement, Captain, making a complement of 150 men, he established headquarters at Merry Hill, placing a line of pickets to protect his movements.

Early in March, 1863, as soon as he had completed his arrangements, he crossed the Chowan in small boats, and landed at Chamber's Ferry after dark, intending to surprise the enemy the next morning at daybreak, but finding the distance greater than expected, he decided to march his men to a woods surrounding Wingfield, in an easy striking distance, bivouac for the night, and watch the enemy's movements: The next day was Sunday, which the Buffaloes spent in target shooting and general carousing. That evening he captured several of the Buffaloes on the road going to the camp, but one of the enemy's pickets accidentally saw some of his men, and running to the block houses, sounded the long roll: Almost immediately the Federal gunboat, lying back of the house, shelled Col. Brown's position so vigorously that he was forced to retire and his plans were for the time frustrated. Col. Brown then resolved to recross the River, being in the enemy's country with but one day's rations. At the mouth of Rockyhock Creek he was attached by 200 Federal Cavalry from Gatesville, and a body of marines, which had been landed from a gunboat in the river: A fierce engagement followed, but the Federals, terrorstricken by the "Rebel yell," which was here used for the first time, fell back into the adjacent swamps. A relief expedition was hastily formed by the Confederates on the other side of the river, and Col. Brown and his men were taken across the Chowan at midnight in safety.

But Col. Brown was not to be foiled and discouraged by this failure, for in about three weeks he again crossed the river and attacked the Buffaloes at Wingfield at daybreak, approaching the place by what is known as the "Yellow Hammer Road." It was a thick foggy morning, not a gunboat was in the river, and he charged the enemy's camp, crossing the open field with a rush, en masse, and captured it: A number of buffaloes and negroes fled to the swamp, while others escaped in small boats to Plymouth, then in the hands of the Federals. Twenty-two of the buffaloes, finding their escape cut off, took refuge in the large blockhouse, their cannon was fired twice by a man named Byrum., but the aim was poor and no casualties resulted. One Federal soldier was killed, and buried in the family graveyard. Col. Brown, having no artillery, did not attempt to capture the blockhouse. General Foster, in the meantime, learning of the engagement, came up with three gunboats, and under their protection the twenty-two remaining buffaloes were taken on board, and he steamed away: Col. Brown burned the residence, and destroyed the forts to prevent their return, and then withdrew his troops. He thus delivered the country from the depredation of the Buffaloes. This happened about the First of April, 1863. The outline of these fortifications are as distinct today as when they were first erected. I append the following from the Naval War Records, Vol. VIII: Report of Acting Master French. U. S. Navy, commanding U. S. S. Whitehead, regarding the duties performed by that vessel from October 1st to 15th, 1862.

In obedience to your order relative to the employ of this steamer under my command from the 1st to the 15th instant, I respectfully submit the following report in detail:

On the 1st, left my anchorage off Wingfield (Chowan River) and proceeded down in search of boats, stopping at intervals and sending an armed crew on shore, where I found and destroyed several; returned to my anchorage at 10 A. M. At 1 P. M., I took one officer and armed crew in search of a noted rebel, but did not succeed in finding him at home. I captured and destroyed four boats. At 4:30 I returned on board.

On 2d and 3d, took part in expedition up river under your command, a report of which has already been given you.

On 4th, left my anchorage off Wingfield and proceeded down river; fired two shots at a boat, which brought her alongside, containing three fishermen; paroled the men, destroying their boat. Chased another boat on shore; sent on shore and destroyed her, together with an army wagon; returned to anchorage at 5:30 received two deserters from the rebel Army on board; administered to them the oath of allegiance, and enlisted them in the home guard stationed here.

On 6th, cruised up and down river and returned to anchorage. At 8 P. M. got underway and proceeded down; anchored; at 9:30 took armed crew on shore and proceeded to the house of a rebel about 3 miles inland; surrounded it, capturing him and a rebel soldier; also a small quantity of goods destined for Colerain; sent a detachment to the house of Mr. Felton; captured him, but found no goods. I subseqently paroled him.

On the 7th, learning that a quantity of goods, horses, contrabands, etc., were being sent to Empire (Emperor ) Landing for the purpose of crossing, I got underway at 6 P. M., and went down; arrived there at 9 and 'went on shore with armed crew; proceeded inland about 2 miles to the house of Smith, a notorious smuggler, where I met a detachment of the company stationed at Wingfield, by this hoping to cut off their retreat. but regret that the information came too late, they all having got over the river with the exception of two mules and cart; these I captured and sent to camp. Smith was not to be found. On the 9th I proceeded up river near the mouth of the Blackwater, destroyed several boats, and returned to anchorage at 8:30 P. M. From this date to 15th nothing occurred worthy of note. Total number of boats captured and destroyed, 16.