nemy
still close by at Roanoke Island and Washington, we could only supply
immediate needs. We were marched out of town that evening.

Nearly all the loss was in Ransom's Brigade, which numbered about six
hundred killed and wounded. The Fifty-sixth lost ninety men. Company
F--John Webb, shot through the breast; Peter Price, through the lungs;
Hosea Gladden, in bowels, and died; Anderson Nolan, Allen Cogdall, Adney
Cogdall and William Chitwood were all severely wounded; Thomas Cabiness
and several others wounded. Dr. Lieut. V. J. Palmer was very seriously
wounded by having back of thigh cut with piece of shell.

After resting until the 25th of April, we struck out for Washington, N. C.
Thirty-five miles march brought us there on the 27th at 10 a. m. The
enemy's pickets were driven in and we skirmished around there and were
shelled from gunboats until morning of the 29th, when the town was
evacuated. Leaving the Sixth Regiment of Hoke's Brigade to garrison it, we
moved via Greenville and Snow Hill, crossing Neuse River below Kinston on
a pontoon bridge that we carried with us, on to New Bern, crossing Trent
River on our pontoon, and going down south side of Trent River, struck the
Beaufort railroad, capturing a cavalry picket post of seventy-five men. We
laid siege to New Bern and were soon under heavy shelling from the Yankee
gunboats. Barton's Virginia Brigade had joined us below Kinston.

After reconnoitering and getting into position twenty-four hours for
attack, General Hoke got orders at noon, 7th of May, 1864, to hasten to
the relief of Petersburg, Va., that General Butler had landed at City
Point with a force of forty thousand, while General Grant was pressing
General Lee with overwhelming force through the Wilderness battles.
Raising the siege of New Bern, we marched back to Kinston, arriving there
the 9th at 8 a. m., where we found trains ready to transport us to
Virginia. At 1 p. m. we arrived where Butler's cavalry had cut the
railroad between Weldon and Petersburg and were burning bridges and depots
and tearing up the road to cut us off. We (Ransom's Brigade) followed
close after them all that evening until after midnight, when they left the
railroad after tearing up and destroying twenty miles of the road. Here we
rested until 8 a. m., May 10th, when trains came out from Petersburg after
us. Boarding the cars with loaded guns, we arrived in Petersburg at 11 a.
m. As soon as our train rolled in we could hear