[CIVIL WAR]. [THE SIEGE AND BURNING OF WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA]. Washington, N.C., April 28-30, 1864.

4to broadside (250 x 196 mm). Typed document, printed recto only, docketed in pencil on verso, Morehead City, Cartaret County, 21 May 1864. (Some toning, a few tiny holes or separations along creases.) Provenance: Levi Stubbs (signature verso).

A CONTEMPORANEOUS ACCOUNT OF AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE OF PLYMOUTH AND THE SIEGE OF WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

Plymouth, North Carolina, which had been held by the Union, fell to rebel troops on April 20th, following a successful river campaign by the rebels. The gunboat CSS Albemarle encountered the USS Southfield and the USS Miami, sinking the former and sending the latter into retreat. ("The town of Plymouth--twenty-eight miles from here--was attacked by the rebels who sent an iron clad down the Roanoke river...In losing the town we also lost two vessels of the navy").

The troops gathered in nearby Washington, NC were forced to retreat after the rebels seized the town on April 27: "This town is to be evacuated in a few hours. The troops are getting upon the boats as fast as possible." On Friday, the 29th, the author writes: "The rebels did not come to town last night. Nearly all the troops are gone, and the town, of late so lively, is growing as quiet as a graveyard. A few citizens alone remain." Later on April 30, the author writes: "The evacuation of the town has been accomplished in the most peaceable manner." According to rebel reports, though, fires broke out across the town as the last of the troops prepared to board ships, destroying much of the settlement.

Property from the Collection of Dr. Brant Mittler