Burnside from Rhode
Island was a risk taker, a man who in his youth loved to try his hand
with river boat gamblers. No matter that his childhood teacher was a
Quaker, that his Indiana father was influenced by Quaker teachings, that he was known for kindness and compassion.
'Ol Ambrose could pour it
on, up the ante, send in wave after wave to be shot down, if necessary
-- as he later did when commanding the Union defeat at Fredericksburg, Virginia in December 1862. As he was to do again at "The
Crater" disaster
before Petersburg, Virginia on July 30, 1864.
At New Bern his star was high.
Burnside began implementation of the General Winfield Scott's Anaconda
blockade
strategy,
designed to break Confederate supply lines by planting a Union presence
on Confederate territory, blockading Confederate ports, then squeezing
rail supply lines north to Confederate forces in Virginia. He received
his marching orders after consultation with Scott's successor as
supreme commander, General George McClellan.
Could it be that Burnside learned a bit about amphibious landings from
what General Winfield Scott did back in the Mexican War? Few Civil War
generals could be ignorant of the exploits of the venerable Winfield
Scott.
Burnside was known for his interest in amphibious warfare, for training
his Rhode Island regiments in those skills. True, the 8,000 men
Burnside landed at Slocum Creek were a smaller force than the the
12,000 Scott landed at Veracruz in 1847 for the dusty six months march
to take Mexico City. But the method was similar.
'Ol Winnie put his men ashore south of Veracruz -- to spare them from
bombardment. Then softened up that Mexican coastal fortress by
cannonade from land and naval guns.
Fifteen years later the Federals use similar tactics to take New Bern:
landing at a safe spot, Slocum Creek, some nine miles south of Rebel
defended Fort Thompson. Staying away from enemy guns, until the time
was right.
The Confederate line stretched more than a mile from its left at Fort
Thompson by the Neuse River (north of Thurman) across and to the west
of the Atlantic Carolina Beaufort--New Bern railroad. Rebel General
Lawrence O'Bryan Branch fielded some 4,500 men (Map).
The Confederates dammed a tiny eastern tributary of Brice Creek
to create barrier marshes in front of their positions around their
right flank west of the railroad. Trench fortifications were reinforced
before the battle. But green rebel militia defending the brickyard near
the rail line broke when thousands of bluecoats under Reno's command
attacked north along the west of the tracks.
The 26th North Carolina under Col. Zebulon B. Vance,
later wartime governor of the state, fought a delaying action on the Confederate right before
retreating west across Brice Creek. Part of the area where the 26th did
battle is now occupied by the Taberna golf and residential development. Not
far from the center of the rebel defense, just east of Highway 70, is
the Craven County Fairground, just across from the adult video shop.
Notes Will Gorges
in the "Newsletter of New Bern Historical Society:"
"The majority
of the Confederates had not yet been issued military uniforms and most
were armed with second class muskets, antiquated flintlocks, and
assorted sporting rifles and shotguns.
"The Union troops were armed for the most part with the modern
Springfield rifled muskets and the English Enfield rifles, both of
which utilized the deadly "minie" ball bullet.
"Amidst the roar of
naval cannon bombarding the shore and woods in the direction of the
Confederate line, blowing the tops of trees apart and showering the
troops below with fiery fragments of iron and wood, the early hours of
March 14, 1862, proved to be a fatal test of combat for the Rebel
forces."
The quick Union victory
after only four hours of fighting brought extraordinarily low
casualties. Branch lost an estimated 68 killed, 116 wounded, and 400
captured or missing compared to Burnside's 90 killed, 385 wounded, and
a single man captured.
Check online eyewitness battle accounts, including one by Union
commander Ambrose Burnside.
Retreating Confederates straggled into New Bern, some on hand cranked
railroad handcars, some swimming the Trent River after fighting a
rearguard action across Brice Creek.
Back in New Bern travel with me by kayak "time machine" for my own
blogger's eyewitness view of the Confederate retreat.
Pre-Civil
War
crank
handcar
