Colonel Bennett, on landing, immediately demanded the surrender of the city, which was formally yielded by the mayor, Charles Macbeth, who asked protection for the firemen, who were being impressed by the retreating rebels, who had fired the city in several places. Colonel Bennett promptly promised the assistance of his troops, to save the city from conflagration. His first step was to rescue the arsenal, which the rebels had prepared for blowing up.
The firemen got out their apparatus, and devoted themselves to the extinguishment of the fires now raging with violence at various points in the city. They were aided by the Union troops, who now began to arrive in numbers, and, after a long struggle, the flames were checked, but not until many buildings had been destroyed. A large quantity of cotton, probably two thousand bales, was destroyed, together with a considerable amount of supplies.
The worst feature of the conflagration had, however, occurred in the morning—being the blowing up of the Northeastern railroad depot. In this building a quantity of cartridges and kegs of powder had been stored by the rebels, and, as they had not time to remove it, they left it unprotected. A number of men, women, and children had collected to watch the burning of a quantity of cotton in the railroad yard, which the rebels had fired, and, during the conflagration, a number of boys, while running about the depot, had discovered the powder. Without realizing the danger they incurred, they began to take up handfuls of loose powder and cartridges, and bear them from the depot to the mass of burning cotton, on which they flung them, enjoying the dangerous amusement of watching the flashes of the powder and the strange effects on the cotton, as it was blown hither and thither. A spark ignited the powder in the train, there was a leaping, running line of fire along the ground, and then an explosion that shook the city to its very foundations. The building was, in a second, a whirling mass of ruins, in a tremendous volume of flame and smoke. The cause of the terrific explosion soon became known, and a rush was made for the scene of the catastrophe. Such a sight is rarely witnessed. The building was in ruins, and from the burning mass arose the agonizing cries of the wounded, to whom little or no assistance could be rendered by the paralyzed spectators. Over one hundred and fifty are said to have been charred in that fiery furnace, and a hundred men were wounded more or less by the explosion or were burned by the fire.
From the depot the fire spread rapidly, and, communicating with the adjoining buildings, threatened destruction to that part of the town. Four squares, embraced in the area bounded by Chapel, Alexander, Charlotte, and Washington streets, were consumed before the conflagration was subdued. Everything in the houses was destroyed with them. Another fire on Meeting street, near the Court House, destroyed five buildings. This was set on fire by the rebels, with a view of burning Hibernian Hall and the Mills House. It did not succeed, although it destroyed the five buildings alluded to. One or two other fires also occurred, destroying several buildings each. A large number of smaller conflagrations occurred, burning government storehouses, &c.
A large quantity of rebel property and material of war was captured at Charleston. The city was immediately put under martial law, and, in a very short time, under the energetic administration of General Gilmore, was restored to order, and, to some extent, favored with the blessings of peace. The poor people here were found to be in a very destitute and mournful condition; but they were speedily relieved by the United States authorities.
GENERAL SCHOFIELD’S MARCH TO GOLDSBORO’.
BATTLES OF KINSTON, N. C.
March 7–10, 1865.
While General Sherman was marching from Fayetteville toward Goldsboro’, General Schofield was approaching the same point, from the direction of Newbern and Wilmington. The rebels, under Hoke, attempted to dispute his passage, however, and made a stand near Kinston. Skirmishing began between the armies on the 7th of March, which resulted in the rebels being driven, by Colonel Classen’s command, to their intrenchments at Jackson’s Mills, four miles east of Kinston. General Cox was in command of the National forces, under supervision of General Schofield, whose headquarters were at Newbern; but General Schofield was in the field in person, during most of the time of these Kinston battles.
On the morning of the 8th, the enemy made a sudden charge upon the left wing of the Union line, and captured the Fifteenth Connecticut and the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts. The men, however, fought with great bravery, and only yielded to overpowering numbers, when their ammunition was exhausted. Lieutenant-Colonel Bartholomew and Major Osborne, commanding the regiments above mentioned, were captured by the rebels.
To partially compensate for these losses, Colonel Savage, of the Twelfth New York cavalry, afterwards made a detour toward the rear of the enemy with a portion of his command, capturing between fifty and one hundred rebels. The same afternoon, also, an attack was made upon the Union right, occupied by the First division, commanded by General Innes N. Palmer; but it was repulsed without difficulty and without serious loss of life.