Battle of Washington, North Carolina | |||||||
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Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
Union forces attempted to set fire to Havens Warehouse (above) but it survived the war. [1] | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States (Union) | CSA (Confederacy) | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
John G. Foster | Daniel H. Hill | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
XVIII Corps Washington Garrison | Hill's division | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
6 regiments artillery units 12,000 [4] | 1 Division 9000 [5] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
40 | 60 |
The Battle of Washington took place from March 30 to April 19, 1863, in Beaufort County, North Carolina. It was part of the Confederate Tidewater operations conducted by Lieutenant General James Longstreet during the American Civil War. This battle is sometimes referred to as the siege of Little Washington. [6]
After the culmination of Burnside's North Carolina Expedition little attention had been given to North Carolina by the Confederate Army. In December 1862 a Union expedition from New Bern destroyed the railroad bridge at Goldsborough, N.C. along the vital Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. This expedition caused only temporary damage to the railroad, but did prompt Confederate authorities to devote more attention to the situation along the coast of Virginia and North Carolina. [7]
Following the Confederate victory at Fredericksburg, General Robert E. Lee felt confident enough to dispatch a large portion of his army to deal with Union occupation forces along the coast. The whole force was put under the command of Lieutenant General James Longstreet. While Longstreet personally operated against Suffolk, Majoe General D. H. Hill led a column which moved against Federal garrisons at New Bern and Washington, North Carolina.
Major General John G. Foster, commanding the Department of North Carolina, was responsible for the overall defense of the Union garrisons along the North Carolina coast. After Hill's attack against New Bern failed, Foster arrived in Washington to take personal command of the garrison.
Foster, a West Point trained Army engineer, put his skills to good use improving the town's defenses as well as employing the use of three gunboats in the defense. By March 30, the town was ringed with fortifications, and Brigadier General Richard B. Garnett's brigade began the investment of Washington. Meanwhile, Hill established batteries as well as river obstructions along the Tar River to impede reinforcements. He also posted two brigades south of Washington to guard for any relief efforts coming overland from New Bern. [8] The Confederates sent a message to Foster demanding surrender. Foster replied saying "If the Confederates want Washington, come and get it." Despite this defiance, Foster lacked the strength to dislodge the besiegers, and Hill was under orders to avoid an assault at the risk of sustaining heavy casualties. Thus, the engagement devolved into one of artillery, and even so the Confederates limited their fire to conserve their ammunition. In time both sides were running low on supplies, and conditions grew miserable in the rain and mud. Despite the lack of progress against Washington, Hill was accomplishing a vital objective in the form of foraging parties so long as the Federals were pinned down.
A Federal relief column under Brigadier General Henry Prince sailed up the Tar River. Once Prince saw the Rebel batteries, he simply turned the transports around. A second effort under Brigadier General Francis Barretto Spinola moved overland from New Bern. Spinola was defeated along Blount's Creek and returned to New Bern. Foster decided that he would escape Washington and personally lead the relief effort leaving his chief of staff, Brigadier General Edward E. Potter, in command at Washington. On April 13, the USS Escort braved the Confederate batteries and made its way into Washington. The Escort delivered supplies and reinforcements in the form of a Rhode Island regiment. It was aboard this ship on April 15 that Foster made his escape. The ship was badly damaged and the pilot mortally wounded, but Foster made it out.
About the same time Foster made an escape, Hill was faced with numerous reasons that ultimately led to his withdrawal: the completion of his foraging efforts, Union supplies reaching the Federal garrison, and finally a message arrived from Longstreet requesting reinforcements for an assault on Suffolk. Hill broke off the siege on April 15 and began to withdraw Garnett's brigade fronting Washington's defenses. [9]
Meanwhile, Foster had made it back to New Bern and immediately began organizing a relief effort. He ordered General Prince to march along the railroad towards Kinston to hold off Confederates in the vicinity of Goldsborough, while Foster personally led a second column north from New Bern towards Blount's Creek where General Spinola had earlier been turned back. On April 18, Foster ordered Spinola to drive the Confederates from their road block at Swift Creek guarding the direct road from Washington to New Bern. At the same time, General Henry M. Naglee attacked the Confederate rear guard near Washington capturing several prisoners and a regimental battle flag. On April 19 Foster returned to the Washington defenses [10] and by April 20 the Confederates had completely withdrawn from the area.
Apart from raids conducted by Foster and Potter, North Carolina remained relatively quiet until 1864 when Robert E. Lee was able to spare troops for another operation against Federal control posts on along the coast.
James Longstreet was a Confederate general who served during the American Civil War and was the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse". He served under Lee as a corps commander for most of the battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Eastern Theater, and briefly with Braxton Bragg in the Army of Tennessee in the Western Theater.
The Battle of New Bern was fought on March 14, 1862, near the city of New Bern, North Carolina, as part of the Burnside Expedition of the American Civil War. The US Army's Coast Division, led by Brigadier General Ambrose Burnside and accompanied by armed vessels from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, were opposed by an undermanned and badly trained Confederate force of North Carolina soldiers and militia led by Brigadier General Lawrence O'B. Branch. Although the defenders fought behind breastworks that had been set up before the battle, their line had a weak spot in its center that was exploited by the attacking Federal soldiers. When the center of the line was penetrated, many of the militia broke, forcing a general retreat of the entire Confederate force. General Branch was unable to regain control of his troops until they had retreated to Kinston, more than 30 miles away. New Bern came under Federal control, and remained so for the rest of the war.
The Battle of Glendale, also known as the Battle of Frayser's Farm, Frazier's Farm, Nelson's Farm, Charles City Crossroads, New Market Road, or Riddell's Shop, took place on June 30, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, on the sixth day of the Seven Days Battles of the American Civil War.
The Battle of Goldsborough Bridge took place on December 17, 1862, in Wayne County, North Carolina, as part of the Union expedition to Goldsborough, North Carolina, during the American Civil War.
The Battle of Fort Anderson, also known as the Battle of Deep Gully, took place March 13–15, 1863, in Craven County, North Carolina, as part of Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's Tidewater operations during the American Civil War.
The Battle of Bean's Station was fought in Grainger County, Tennessee, during the Knoxville campaign of the American Civil War. The action saw Confederate forces commanded by Lieutenant General James Longstreet attack Union Army cavalry led by Brigadier General James M. Shackelford. After a clash that lasted until nightfall, Longstreet's troops compelled the Federals to retreat. Two cavalry columns that were intended to envelop Shackelford's force were unable to cut off the Union cavalry, though one of the columns captured 25 Federal wagons. On December 15, Shackelford was joined by some Union infantry southwest of Bean's Station where they skirmished with the Confederates before withdrawing again.
The Third Battle of Petersburg, also known as the Breakthrough at Petersburg or the Fall of Petersburg, was fought on April 2, 1865, south and southwest Virginia in the area of Petersburg, Virginia, at the end of the 292-day Richmond–Petersburg Campaign and in the beginning stage of the Appomattox Campaign near the conclusion of the American Civil War. The Union Army under the overall command of General-in-Chief Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, launched an assault on General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's Petersburg, Virginia, trenches and fortifications after the Union victory at the Battle of Five Forks on April 1, 1865. As a result of that battle the Confederate right flank and rear were exposed. The remaining supply lines were cut and the Confederate defenders were reduced by over 10,000 men killed, wounded, taken prisoner or in flight.
The siege of Knoxville saw Lieutenant General James Longstreet's Confederate forces besiege the Union garrison of Knoxville, Tennessee, led by Major General Ambrose Burnside. When Major General William T. Sherman approached Knoxville with an overwhelming Union force, Longstreet ended the siege on December 4 and withdrew northeast. The siege was part of the Knoxville campaign of the American Civil War.
The Battle of Cumberland Church was fought on April 7, 1865, between the Union Army's II Corps of the Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the Appomattox Campaign of the American Civil War.
John Gray Foster was an American soldier. A career military officer in the United States Army and a Union general during the American Civil War, he served in North and South Carolina during the war. A reconstruction era expert in underwater demolition, he wrote a treatise on the subject in 1869. He continued with the Army after the war, using his expertise as assistant to the Chief Engineer in Washington, DC and at a post on Lake Erie.
The Knoxville campaign was a series of American Civil War battles and maneuvers in East Tennessee during the fall of 1863 designed to secure control of the city of Knoxville and with it the railroad that linked the Confederacy east and west, and position the First Corps under Longstreet for return to the Army of Northern Virginia. Union Army forces under Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside occupied Knoxville, Tennessee, and Confederate States Army forces under Lt. Gen. James Longstreet were detached from Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee at Chattanooga to prevent Burnside's reinforcement of the besieged Federal forces there. Ultimately, Longstreet's Siege of Knoxville ended when Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman led elements of the Army of the Tennessee and other troops to Burnside's relief after Union troops had broken the Confederate siege of Chattanooga. Although Longstreet was one of Gen. Robert E. Lee's best corps commanders in the East in the Army of Northern Virginia, he was unsuccessful in his attempt to penetrate the Knoxville defenses and take the city.
The Second Battle of Charleston Harbor, also known as the Siege of Charleston Harbor, the Siege of Fort Wagner, or the Battle of Morris Island, took place during the American Civil War in the late summer of 1863 between a combined U.S. Army/Navy force and the Confederate defenses of Charleston, South Carolina.
The siege of Suffolk, also known as the Battle of Suffolk, took place from April 11 to May 4, 1863, near Suffolk, Virginia during the American Civil War.
Charles Adam Heckman (1822-1896) was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He fought in many of the early battles in North Carolina and later served in the Army of the James during the siege of Petersburg.
Burnside's North Carolina Expedition was a series of engagements fought along the North Carolina Coast between February and June 1862. The expedition was part of Winfield Scott's overall Anaconda Plan, which aimed at closing blockade-running ports inside the Outer Banks. The amphibious operation was carried out primarily by New England and North Carolina troops under Brig. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside and assisted by the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron under Captain Louis M. Goldsborough.
The Battle of New Bern was fought during the American Civil War from February 1–3, 1864. The battle resulted in the failure of Confederate forces trying to recapture the coastal town of New Bern which had been lost to the Union Army in 1862.
Edward Elmer Potter was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War. Potter was primarily associated with operations conducted in North Carolina throughout the war.
The 3rd Massachusetts Volunteer Militia Regiment was a peacetime regiment of infantry that was activated for federal service in the Union Army for two separate tours during the American Civil War. The regiment consisted of companies from Plymouth and Bristol Counties.
The 5th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia was a peacetime infantry regiment that was activated for federal service in the Union army for three separate tours during the American Civil War. In the years immediately preceding the war and during its first term of service, the regiment consisted primarily of companies from Essex County as well as Boston and Charlestown.
The 44th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a regiment of infantry that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Its nucleus was the 4th Battalion Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, known as the "New England Guards". An old state militia unit dating back to the Revolution, the 4th Battalion was called upon to serve garrison duty at Fort Independence shortly after the beginning of the Civil War. After President Abraham Lincoln's August 1862 call for 300,000 men to serve for nine months the 4th Battalion was given permission to recruit to a full regiment and to muster into federal service.