January 29, 1862: Ambrose Burnside to George B. McClellan

Slowly and painfully, the Burnside Expedition continued to drag itself across the bar at Hatteras Inlet.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA,
Hatteras Inlet, January 29, 1862.

Major General GEORGE B. McCLELLAN,
Commanding U. S. Army, Washington:

GENERAL: Since my last report on the 26th instant we have been incessantly engaged in getting our vessels over the bar into the sound. They have all had to be lightened of their cargo in order to bring them to the necessary draught for crossing. This has necessarily consumed much time, owing to the limited means for towing and discharging. We have, however, at anchor in the sound this morning transportation for twelve regiments.

All the necessary arrangements for a considerable movement having been made, I shall, in conjunction with Commodore Goldsborough, at once make an advance upon Roanoke Island. These arrangements have all been made in the best spirit and we have received much valuable assistance from the commodore's vessel. Of the eight tug boats ordered from Baltimore only one has arrived; the other seven are still at Old Point Comfort, afraid to go out to sea. The want of these boats has been a most serious hindrance to our progress. I have never undertaken a work that has presented so many obstacles.

Since our last dispatch four water schooners have come in, affording us much relief. We look for others daily. The inclosed list of vessels will show you our strength now at anchor in the sound.

The health of the troops has been and still is very good, considering their long confinement on shipboard, and the men are all eager for a forward movement, I have landed at this point, and shall leave in charge of General Williams the Eighty-ninth New York, Sixth New Hampshire, Eleventh Connecticut Regiments, with the Rhode Island Battery. I find I cannot use so many men to advantage upon the island, and these regiments, under the care of General Williams, will be ready and accessible at all times.

In my last I made mention of Colonel Hawkins in a way that may convey to you a wrong impression.

The pilots were engaged for service in the harbor and in the sound, but failed to fulfill their contract, either from unwillingness or incompetency, and we have suffered much for want of experienced men in towing the vessels.

I neglected to mention in my last dispatch a painful occurrence that happened on the 15th during a heavy blow. A boat containing Colonel Allen and Surgeon Weller, of the Ninth New Jersey Regiment, with a boat's crew, was upset in the breakers while returning from this ship to his own vessel, he having come on board to report the arrival of his command. The colonel and surgeon were both drowned. Their bodies were recovered and will be sent home by the Suwanee to-day.

The bark John Trucks, with Fifty-third Regiment New York Volunteers, Colonel L. J. D'Epineuil, arrived here after a long passage, but owing to the great draught of the vessel and the consequent impossibility to bring her over the bar and the difficulty of landing her troops she was ordered back to Fort Monroe on the 26th to report to General Wool.

The brigadier-generals have all been incessant in their labors, and the best of feeling pervades the whole command, both among officers and men. The weather for the last two or three days has been bright and clear, and everything evinces a much more cheerful aspect than at the time of my last dispatch.