CHAP.XIII.] AFFAIRS IN NORTH CAROLINA.
I have called out a large force of negroes, at considerable expense to the Government, to complete the fortifications upon which our troops have been so laboriously working. The troops can no longer do this work, and I respectfully request that the Quartermaster-General be directed to furnish to the assistant quartermaster-general of this department, Captain Bloomfield, the funds necessary for the payment of the laborers without delay, as a great many of them are free negroes, who have families, who must starve if they are not paid, and to all I promised prompt payment. There are, perhaps, 1,000 now at work on the Peninsula.
It is hardly necessary for me to say that I wish the sanitary condition of the troops to be as little known as possible, for obvious reasons.
Notwithstanding this state of things, those men who can take the field are in fine spirits, and so keen for an encounter with the enemy that I believe Newport News would be carried, though it is excessively strong, and garrisoned by troops and supported by a naval force more than equal to my own in numbers. I do not think it can be done, however, without a loss of one-half of our men in killed and wounded. It could not be held by us for any length of time if it were taken, as the troops from Fort Monroe in much large force could place themselves in our rear, and the position itself could be shelled by the enemy's ships, both in front and on the left flank. Its temporary possession, therefore would not compensate for the loss necessary in taking it. One of the principal objects of my present operations has been to force the attention of the authorities at Washington to this Peninsula, to prevent further re-enforcements from being drawn from Fort Monroe and its vicinity for the army at Washington to this part of the State. This, I think, has been accomplished, as re-enforcements have arrived both at Fort Monroe and Newport News. I also caused the enemy's telegraphic communications between Old Point and Newport News to be destroyed. This I delayed until the last moment, with the hope of receiving a field machine from Richmond in time to connect it with the enemy's line, and thus ascertain their communications between Old Point and Newport News. As this field telegraph would be of essential use at Williamsburg on the long lines of defense, consisting of detached works, I beg that Dr. Morris, president of the company, may be ordered to furnish me one at that place without delay, accompanied by a skillful operator by sound.
I am, general, very respectfully, &c.,
J. BANKHEAD MAGRUDER, Brigadier-General, Commanding.
Colonel GEORGE DEAS, Adjutant-General C. S. Army.
AUGUST 20, 1861-JANUARY 11, 1862.-Affairs, generally, in North Carolina.
Report of Brigadier General Richard C. S. Army, including operations to March 19, 1862.
EVERETTSVILLE, N. C., October 1, 1862.
On the 19th of August, 1861, being on duty at Wilmington, N. C.,* I received a telegram from the Adjutant-General of the Confederate
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*As commander of the "Southern Department, Coast Defense." See his orders of June 22, 1861, Series IV, Vol. I.
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