"Tuesday evening a flag of truce was sent to Fort Williams, demanding the surrender of the enemy. The flag was taken by Colonel Deering and another officer; and General Wessels, the Yankee commander, refused to treat with them, but requested a conference with the General commanding. At the interview which ensued the Yankee commander said to General Hoke, that if he surrendered he would be sacrificed by his Government, and, he feared, would be retired from the service. "Then," replied General Hoke, "I understand that you are fighting for your commission and for no other cause. If such is your reply, I have only to compel your surrender, which I will do if I have to fight to the last man." The general assault followed Wednesday morning. It was made by all our forces. As our troops came within range of the enemy's artillery, they suffered very severely, as the ground in front had been surveyed and was staked off with target posts for artillery practice. Latham's battery had been placed just by one of the targets, and was shelled with such skill by the enemy that all his horses had been killed. The accounts of his casualties are deplorable, and we trust they may be reduced by the more exact statements, which will be officially given."
From the Examiner, April 30th:
"The Capture of Plymouth in the North. The news of the fall of Plymouth had reached the North. Of course, after their several days of felicitation that "the fort would surely hold out," this news was sudden and unwelcome to them. The Tribune announces it under this imposing head, in very large capitals: Surrender of Plymouth. General Wessels and one thousand five hundred men prisoners. Our loss one hundred and fifty killed. The rebel loss one thousand and seven hundred killed. North Carolina troops taken out and shot after surrendering. All negroes in uniform also murdered.
It is positively affirmed that the rebels in taking possession of Plymouth, ordered out the North Carolina (Union) troops, who formed part of the garrison, and shot them; and that all negroes found in uniform were murdered. We presume the account is correct, and it only proves that what was supposed to be an exceptional barbarity at Fort Pillow, has been adopted as the deliberate policy of the rebels. As the issue is to be made it must be met."
From the Examiner, May 3d:
(Extract from a letter on the Victory of Plymouth, dated Plymouth, N.C., April 24, 1864.)
* * * "During Monday night Hoke's and Kemper's brigades slept on their arms in the position they had gained. Before day break next morning three regiments of Ransom's brigade and Col. Branch's artillery were ordered to support them, and Ransom, with two regiments and artillery, was again ordered to the right to make a demonstration. At light the enemy opened a heavy artillery fire upon our position, to which we replied, also turning their own guns from the captured fort upon them. General Hoke, after making a more thorough reconnoissance on Tuesday morning, did not attack on the left, hence returned Ransom's regiments to him on the right. About midday he determined to send Ransom's brigade, with artillery, to the right, Coneby's bridge a distance of four or five miles, to make a simultaneous demonstration with him, while he would attack from his position on the left with his and Kemper's brigades. Ransom reached the bridge about dark, threw forward his skirmishers, who found the enemy in strong position on the opposite side, and the bridge destroyed. Finding the enemy were in the rifle pits and stubbornly refusing to yield the position, three pieces of artillery, under. Captain Blount, were advanced to within three hundred yards of the bridge and the enemy were soon dislodged. Our sharpshooters again advanced and the enemy re-appeared when some gallant fellow of the 24th N.C. regiment plunged into the creek, brought back a skiff, and immediately a party of select men were put over in it, and ordered, at all hazards to drive the enemy. The pontoons were hurried to the front, one placed in the creek, which ferried over three or four companies that followed, deployed as skirmishers, and the enemy fled, abandoning a position of vital importance to them. The pontoons were soon laid, and the infantry consisting of the 24th N.C., Col. Clark; 25th Alabama, Col. Rutledge; 56th N.C., Col. Faison; 35th N.C., Col. Jones; and (of Clingman's brigade) the 8th N.C., Col. Murchison, passed rapidly over and deployed into line at about a mile from the enemy's outposts, the right flank resting on the Roanoke, and the left on Coneby Creek. The artillery commanded by Col. Branch, did not cross, as the enemy could easily hear the crossing, and would shell furiously at the least noise. About twelve o'clock the troops were all in position, and were ordered to sleep on their arms and rest for the heavy work just ahead of them. The night was perfectly calm and cloudless, with the full moon shedding its soothing beams upon the sleeping veterans as they lay upon the bare ground, covered with their blankets in groups of two or three for warmth, as the air was sharp and piercing, seeming not even to dream of the morning's carnage. The field officers in rear of their regiments paced to and fro unable to rest from the heavy responsibilities that were crowding upon them. Along the line of the skirmishers commanded by "the fighting Quartermaster Durham" and the gallant Applewhite, the quick blaze of the rifle, like fire-flies at night, was the only relief from the dead calm that prevailed around, as the enemy's heavy guns, however, were belching forth shell and spherical case, firing with great accuracy. When Generals Hoke and Ransom separated, it was understood that as soon as the latter was in position, he would signalize the fact by a rocket, when General Hoke, with his and Kemper's brigades, would attack on the left, and Ransom on the right, would make an attack or a demonstration, as he thought best. After making a reconnoissance, Ransom at one o'clock in the morning (Wednesday), dispatched General Hoke that he was in position, but would defer all movements until the dawn of day, when he would not demonstrate, but attack, and intended to carry the place by assault, asking from General Hoke his simultaneous co-operation. He called together his field officers, communicated to them his purpose and plans, and by his confidence, coolness, and resource seemed to inspire them thoroughly with his own self-reliance. As a ruse, he determined to place his artillery in the rear of his infantry, and thereby cause the enemy to overshoot our lines, which proved a complete success. The moon had just gone down and the gray streaks of the morning were faintly visible in the east, when the signal rocket went up, and the line of skirmishers were ordered to advance, which they did handsomely, driving in the enemy easily. The infantry now moved forward, and the artillery, consisting of Blount's, Marshall's, and Lee's batteries, under Colonel Branch, dashed forward at a full gallop into position, and opened immediately upon the town and forts at about twelve hundred yards. The enemy had by this time concentrated a most terrific fire from their siege guns and field pieces. Just at this time General Hoke opened, with his artillery under Majors Mosely and Reid, a very rapid and tremendous fire, and his infantry sent up yell after yell as if charging. Ransom caught up the sound, and rising in his stirrups, from the head and right of the line, in a clear and ringing voice, gave the command, "Charge, boys, and the place is yours," and such a charge and yell no one who ever saw or heard it can ever forget. It baffles description. It was as the wildest gust of the tornado as it prostrates the forest, or the mad fire as it dashes through the prairies, it was a thunder bolt. The hail of shot, shell, canister, grape, and Minnie balls were not only unheeded but seemed unheard. The infantry and artillery fell thick and fast, but immediately the gaps were closed. In ten minutes the two outer forts, with eight guns, were captured, our infantry scaling their parapets, and the infantry within one hundred and fifty yards of the forts, horses, and limbers blown up and cannoneers shot down, and yet those remaining stood to their guns without shelter, confident of victory, and to avenge their dead. The whole command of officers and men, infantry and artillery, seemed enthused with the inspiration of certain victory. Several hundred prisoners were captured in these forts, which were immediately sent to the rear, and now began the contest for the town more than a half a mile in length, the enemy's infantry slowly retiring and stubbornly resisting our advance, Fort Williams dealing out grape and spherical case; their field pieces at the farther extremities of the broad straight streets raking them with a murderous fire; their infantry in the houses and cellars and behind fences, delivering galling charges of Minnie shot, but all of no avail. Our men were confident, aroused, and irresistible. They pressed on steadily, without halt or hesitation, tearing down fences, hedges, and every obstacle that they met, capturing the enemy at every step. Soon they were in a rout, and our infantry pressed through the town and waved their battle flags over the fortifications in front to General Hoke's forces, who could scarcely believe that so much could be accomplished in so short a time. * * Ransom's charge has not been surpassed at any time; his military genius comprehended the situation, and he was master of it. He determined upon his charge, knowing what pluck and dash could accomplish, and satisfied it was the only point of attack. With twenty-two hundred muskets and nine pieces of artillery, he charged the enemy's work which they regarded unassailable and carried them without a halt. His loss, which reached five hundred in thirty minutes, shows how sanguinary was the work." (Signed R.)
From the Richmond Dispatch, April 30th:
The Fall of Plymouth. A Specimen of Yankee Lying. A Sympathetic order for General Wessels. Negro Soldiers Butchered. "The Philadelphia Inquirer contains the official and other announcements of the fall of Plymouth. The butchery of the negro troops is news here, though if General Hoke had butchered the whole garrison in the assault, after a refusal to surrender, it would have been perfectly proper under the laws of war. It will be seen that the loss of the Confederates is put down at fifteen hundred!! The following is a telegram dated Fortress Monroe, the 24th instant: The gallant garrison at Plymouth, after a desperate struggle with the rebel foe, who besieged them by land and water, with an infinitely superior force, were compelled to surrender, but not until they had slaughtered hundreds of the enemy in their attempts to storm the forts. The fight commenced late on Sunday afternoon, and continued until half-past ten on Wednesday morning, when the surrender was made. Our men fought with the ferocity of tigers, and they would never have yielded had there been anything like an equality of forces. But the rebels outnumbered them nearly ten to one. When the attack first was made the Confederates were twelve thousand strong, and afterwards received eight thousand more as reinforcements. Aided as they were by their powerful ram and gunboats, it is not at all surprising that they succeeded in capturing the Town of Plymouth."