Meantime the Twentieth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, under Colonel Brown, of the Hatteras Island garrison, got into serious trouble. The regiment had gone to a small settlement at the north end of the island—Chicamicomico by name—twenty-five miles north of Cape Hatteras lighthouse. Just what purpose they were to serve there is not now apparent; but the Confederates, who had fortified Roanoke Island, came with a superior force to cut them off from communication with the forces at the inlet, and there was a most fatiguing race down the beach. The Union force won, the Confederates being driven off by the Union steamer Monticello, Capt. D. L. Braine.
Following this, in 1862, came the expedition under Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborough and Gen. A. E. Burnside against Roanoke Island. The force left Hampton Roads on January 11th. There was a long delay at Hatteras Inlet bar, but on Friday morning, February 7th, they were facing the Confederate forts on the north end of Roanoke Island, and a squadron of Confederate ships, which their commander, Commodore W. F. Lynch, described as “two old side-wheel steamers, and six propellers—the former possessing some speed; the latter slow in their movements, and one of them frequently disabling its shaft.”
Stephen C. Rowan.
From a photograph.
The Union steamers were, in fact, no better. Both fleets were wholly unarmored, but the guns on both sides were good for that day, and therein lies the one point worth noting. The Union fleet on one side and the Confederate forts and fleet on the other fought for six hours at one stretch at easy range. One Union ship reports firing 181 shells, and probably those that made no report of the matter (there were nineteen in all) did as well, but only one ship—a Confederate—was sunk, and she was able to run away to a fort before going down. After two days the Confederate forts surrendered, and the Confederate ships fled to Elizabeth City.
Commander S. C. Rowan, with a part of the Union fleet, pursued and destroyed or captured them all save one that passed through the canal to Norfolk. The conflict at Elizabeth City is especially notable, because the deed of a heroic gunner led Congress to pass an act creating a Union naval medal. Says Lossing:
“An extraordinary example of heroism was exhibited during this engagement by John Davis, a Finlander, who was a gunner’s mate on board the Valley City. A shell entered that vessel, and, exploding in the magazine, set fire to some wood-work. Davis was there, and, seeing the imminent danger to the vessel and all on board, because of an open barrel of gunpowder from which he had been serving, he seated himself upon it, and so remained until the flames were extinguished. For this brave act the Secretary of the Navy rewarded him with the appointment of acting-gunner in the navy (March 11, 1862), by which his salary was raised from $300 to $1,000 a year. Admiring citizens of New York raised and presented to him $1,100. The Secretary of the Navy, by authority of an act of Congress, approved December 21, 1861, presented him with a Medal of Honor, on which are inscribed the following words: ‘Personal Valor, John Davis, Gunner’s Mate, U.S.S. Valley City, Albemarle Sound, February 10, 1862.’ Such medals were afterward presented to a considerable number of gallant men in subordinate stations, for acts of special bravery ‘before the enemy.’ Davis was the first recipient.”
Attack on Roanoke Island—Landing of the Troops.