As part of his grand strategy for defeating the Confederacy, Major General George B. McClellan,
commander-in-chief of the Union Army of the Potomac, arranged for a number of expeditions
to harass the fringes of the Southern states that would force the Confederacy to send troops
to confront these expeditions, thus weakening the main field army in Virginia and making
it easier for McClellan to attack Richmond in his planned Peninsula Campaign set to start
in the spring of 1862.
One such expedition was placed under the command of Brigadier General Ambrose Everett Burnside,
a West Point graduate who had remained in the U.S. Army until 1852, when he resigned
and created an arms company that manufactured his own invention, the Burnside carbine.
The company went bankrupt, after which McClellan offered his friend a position with the railroad
company he worked for.
On July 21st, 1861, Burnside - as a colonel in Irvin McDowell’s army - commanded a brigade
during the Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas, after which, in spite of a lackluster performance
at Matthews Hill, Burnside was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and was training
troops in the Washington, D.C. area when Major General McClellan tasked him with preparing
an expedition.
General McClellan instructed Burnside that his troops, which assembled at Annapolis,
Maryland during the late fall and winter of 1861, would be sent to Hatteras Inlet in the
Outer Banks of North Carolina, where the Federals had established a base in August, 1861.
From there, Burnside was instructed to attack and capture Roanoke Island, where the Confederates
had a fortified base.
Burnside was then to attack the city of New Bern, then move to occupy Beaufort harbor
and capture Fort Macon.
Once these objectives had been accomplished, Burnside would be in a position to advance
inland toward strategic railroads that supplied the Confederate forces in Virginia.
Throughout the fall and winter of 1861, Brigadier General Burnside assembles a force which he
brands the “Coast Division of the U.S. Army”, comprised of 15,000 soldiers, accompanied
by an Army-led flotilla of wooden gunboats and supply ships.
Cooperating with General Burnside were vessels of the U.S. Navy’s North Atlantic Blockading
Squadron, under the command of Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough.
The Coast Division leaves Annapolis in early January, 1862, only to encounter two severe
northeaster cyclones that strike the coast and cause severe damage to many ships.
In spite of the weather, the Coast Division manages to get across the sandbars at Hatteras
Inlet and moves to attack Roanoke Island.
The resulting engagement on February 7th - 8th, 1862 - the Battle of Roanoke Island - ends
in a major Union victory.
Burnside’s men capture the island and almost 2,500 Southerners.
Union naval vessels pursue the Confederate Navy’s retreating North Carolina Squadron
and destroys it at the Battle of Elizabeth City on February 10th.
With the Yankees in control of much of the state’s inland sounds, Governor Henry T.
Clarke pesters the Confederate Government for reinforcements.
However, few are forthcoming because the high command believes that Burnside will attack
the port of Norfolk, Virginia, from the south.
The Confederates thus concentrate troops to defend the strategically-important port city
rather than reinforce the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
The Confederate commander in North Carolina, Brigadier General Richard C. Gatlin, feels
that Burnside will move next against New Bern, the state’s second- largest city with a
population of almost 5,000 people.
Some officers believe that Burnside will attack the port of Wilmington instead of New Bern,
so the available troops are divided between the two cities.
The city of New Bern is situated where the Trent and Neuse Rivers converge, and serves
as the headquarters of the District of the Pamlico, commanded by Brigadier General Lawrence
O’Bryan Branch.
Earthwork forts had been constructed in 1861 on the west bank of the Neuse River to repel
any Union Navy warships that might steam up the river, and after Branch took command,
his men - assisted by conscripted slaves - worked to strengthen and expand the city’s defenses.
Thirteen miles below New Bern is Slocum’s Creek, a likely landing point for the Yankees.
A couple miles north of this creek, Branch’s men erect the Croatan breastworks - named
after nearby Croatan Sound - a line of defenses which would force the Federals into a frontal
assault because an impassable swamp protects the western end of this line.
Five miles north of the Croatan works is a four-gun fort called Fort Dixie.
A mile north of Fort Dixie is the main Confederate line of defensive earthworks.
Fort Thompson, mounting 14 cannon, anchors this line, which runs a mile west to the Atlantic
& North Carolina Railroad.
Beyond the railroad, the flat terrain gives way to small hills with swampy bogs in between.
Two smaller forts guard the river in the four miles between Fort Thompson and New Bern itself.
Brigadier General Burnside leaves Roanoke Island on March 11th with around 11,000 troops
in his Coast Division.
Captain Stephen C. Rowan brings thirteen Union Navy gunboats to protect the troopships and
bombard the enemy defenses.
The Union soldiers disembark from their vessels on the morning of March 13th at Slocum’s
Creek.
In spite of warnings from civilians who watched the Union ships steam up the Neuse River,
Brigadier General Branch is not quick enough to send troops to man the Croatan line, which
is quickly occupied by Burnside’s men without resistance.
Branch abandons Fort Dixie and concentrates his men behind the Fort Thompson line as the
Yankees march toward New Bern, delayed by rain that lasts much of the day and turns
the dirt roads to mud.
Branch has around 4,000 soldiers to oppose Burnside.
Aware that the Federals are heading toward New Bern, troops from Wilmington and from
points in South Carolina are sent to reinforce Branch’s men, but they do not arrive in
time for the coming battle.
From left to right, commencing at the river, the Confederate line consists of Fort Thompson,
then the 27th, 37th, 7th, and 35th North Carolina Infantry Regiments, with a militia battalion
posted at the railroad.
Two companies of heavy artillery are armed as infantry and stationed with the infantry
behind the breastworks.
Another artillery company is in the process of placing two cannons on the railroad itself
even as the engagement begins the next day.
Ten cannon from two light artillery batteries add their firepower to the infantry.
West of the railroad, the 26th North Carolina is instructed to erect small forts on the
hillocks sticking out of the swampy terrain.
This regiment is reinforced by two cannon, two companies of cavalry, and an independent
infantry company.
Branch has one regiment - the 33rd North Carolina - held in reserve, along with most of the
2nd North Carolina Cavalry.
Brigadier General Burnside’s troops from his Coast Division are divided into three
brigades, respectively led by Brigadier Generals John G. Foster, Jesse L. Reno, and John G.
Parke.
Well aware of the Confederate defenses, as Northern sympathizers in New Bern are in communication
with the Federals, General Burnside decides to deploy Foster’s First Brigade - consisting
of the 23rd, 24th, 25th, and 27th Massachusetts and 10th Connecticut - to launch a frontal
attack on the Confederate line.
Brigadier General Jesse Reno’s Second Brigade, comprised of the 21st Massachusetts, 9th New
Jersey, 51st New York, and 51st Pennsylvania, is to move up along the railroad and attempt
to outflank the Rebel line at the railroad itself.
Brigadier General Parke’s Third Brigade, made up of the 4th and 5th Rhode Island and
8th and 11th Connecticut, are to be held in reserve and used as needed.
Eight light cannon from the Army transports accompany the troops and are ordered to support
Foster’s attack.
The first shots of the Battle of New Bern are fired around 7:30 AM on March 14th, 1862,
when Foster’s troops emerge from the woods in front of the Confederate line and open
fire with a concentrated volley.
As the morning fog wanes, Captain Rowan’s warships add their firepower to the fight,
but remain downstream from Fort Thompson, wary of rows of sharpened stakes in the river
that had been placed there to prevent enemy ships from moving upstream.
Brigadier General Branch’s men return fire; the heavy volume of musketry and cannon prevents
General Foster’s men from making any headway as both sides settle down to firing at one
another in a steady stream.
Meanwhile, Brigadier General Reno’s troops advance along the railroad.
The 21st Massachusetts, in the lead, fires a levelled volley on the artillery company
trying to place their two cannon on the rail line and drives them off.
The 21st Massachusetts then fires another heavy volley on the militia battalion, which
panicks and flees from the battlefield, followed by elements of the 35th North Carolina.
The remainder of the 35th North Carolina, reinforced by part of the 37th North Carolina,
drives the 21st Massachusetts back with a counter-volley.
As General Reno personally surveys the situation and decides to bring the rest of his brigade
forward, men from the 26th North Carolina spot the general and open fire.
Surprised, Reno orders the rest of his brigade to deploy in the swampy woods west of the
railroad to confront the Confederates there.
As Reno’s men face the 26th North Carolina, Branch sends forward his reserve regiment
- the 33rd North Carolina - to reinforce by the 26th North Carolina and plug the gap in
the line made when the militia retreated.
By the time the 33rd North Carolina had moved forward, Brigadier General Parke’s Third
Brigade moved up along the railroad.
The 11th Connecticut is sent forward to reinforce Foster’s stalled attack, but Parke’s remaining
three regiments move forward and exploit the confusion caused by the initial attack of
the 21st Massachusetts.
Against light opposition, Parke’s men break into the center of the Confederate line and
force Branch, who had already sent his reserve regiment forward, to order a general retreat.
As the Confederate fire slackens, Foster’s regiments surge forward and occupy the line
of breastworks as the enemy retreats.
Beyond the railroad, the 26th and 33rd North Carolina Infantry Regiments do not receive
the order to retreat and are almost completely cut off before their officers are able to
realize the situation and order a retreat.
Also sensing the absence of organized resistance, Captain Rowan orders his ship captains to
force their way through the river obstacles and make their way upstream towards New Bern.
Suffering no significant damage as they ram their way through the river spikes, Rowan’s
ships head upriver toward New Bern.
Individual ships drop out of the race and land sailors to take possession of the abandoned
Confederate river forts, while some vessels reach New Bern and land detachments of sailors
to assist citizens in putting out fires that had been set by retreating troops to burn
military stores in the city.
Brigadier General Branch intends to rally his troops to protect New Bern, but the rapid
pace of the naval vessels forces him to retreat inland to Kinston.
Confederate casualties for the Battle of New Bern total 68 killed, 116 wounded, and 425
captured or missing, for a total of 609 losses.
Only two cannon are saved, and the soldiers lose all their equipment and their camps.
Burnside’s Coast Division had suffered a loss of 90 killed, 385 wounded, and a single
man captured, for a total of 476 Union casualties.
Burnside has just captured North Carolina’s second-largest city, which the Union will
occupy for the rest of the war.
Because of its location, Union-occupied New Bern will always pose a threat to the railroads
further inland, forcing the Confederacy to leave a number of troops to defend the state
against any sudden Union advance inland.