Pictorial history of the war for the Union, volume 2 (of 2)

The last, and indeed the most important movement of the year in North Carolina, was made on the above date. General Foster sent a force consisting of the Third New York cavalry, and a squadron of the Twelfth, and one company of a North Carolina regiment, under command of Brigadier-General Edward E. Potter, to destroy the railroad bridge at Rocky Mount. This bridge, which was three hundred and fifty feet in length, was completely demolished. Besides this valuable bridge, a cotton mill filled with cotton; a flour mill, containing one thousand barrels of flour, and large quantities of hard bread; a machine shop, filled with shells, gunpowder, and munitions of war; a large depot, with all its offices and outbuildings; an engine and a train of cars; a wagon train of twenty-five wagons, filled with stores and munitions; an armory and machine shop, with all the machinery and materials, and eight hundred bales of cotton, were destroyed in the same expedition. Further on, at Tarboro’, on Tar river, two steamboats, and a large iron-clad, in process of construction, were destroyed; and a saw mill, a train of cars, one hundred bales of cotton, and a very large quantity of subsistence and ordinary stores were destroyed, and about one hundred prisoners, and three hundred head of horses and mules, captured. The expedition was followed on its return to Newbern by about three hundred negroes. During the entire time from its leaving Newbern till its return, the force was engaged in constant skirmishing with the enemy, particularly on the return, the rebels making every effort to impede their way, but being in every instance compelled to retire, frequently with loss. The Union loss in killed, wounded and missing, did not exceed twenty-five men. For the next few months the Department of North Carolina was transferred from General Foster, and united with that of Virginia, under General Dix, who was subsequently transferred to the Department of the East, when General Foster was reinstated in his former position. Later in the year General Foster was transferred to the command of the Department of the Ohio, and General B. F. Butler was placed in the vacant position, as commander of the combined armies of the Departments of Southern Virginia and North Carolina.