This handwritten copy of Morrow's report is located in the Morrow/Boniface collection at the U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Capt. T. E. Ellsworth
A. A. G
Captain,
I have the honor to submit the following report in relation to the late expedition to Port Royal, opposite Port Conway & on the opposite bank of the Rappahannock commanded by me.
The 24th Michigan Volunteers, 500 strong, and the 14th Brooklyn Volunteers 300 strong with one section from Battery B 4th U.S. Artillery, commanded by Lieut. James Stewart constituted the the troops under my command. There accompanied the expedition eighteen wagons & five ambulances the former being used to transport the material for the boats and forage for the animals, & the latter to transport the such men as from any cause might be unable to keep up with the column.
The troops left camp about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of Wednesday, the 22nd inst. Owing to the late rains the roads in many places were very bad, [obliging??] for tedious and difficult in some instances to drag the wagons through the mud. The distance from Division Headquarters to Port Conway was variously estimated by the citizens of the country from sixteen to nineteen miles. The road lead to the left of the Kingsley's Court House. When we had gone about half the distance I halted the troops for some forty minutes in which to make coffee. This was the only halt of any length of time that was made during the march, the the troops evidently preferring to keep in motion to making long stops. Without any accident we reached Port Conway at 10 o'clock at night & bivouaced behind a little rise of ground a quarter of a mile in the rear of the village The persons composing the expedition had been directed not to kindle fires or make unnecessary noise and (in an instant) of the manner in which my orders were obeyed & may be remarked on pressure, although we were within a few hundred yards of them was not known to our cavalry pickets on duty in the town, and they were pretty astonished the next morning when in the early dawn the troops & train made their appearances in the streets. I gave orders to have the troops ready to march at 3 1/2 o'clock and a little after that time we were on the move. The wagons were soon unloaded & the men under the direction of Sergeant French of the Engineer Corps, proceeded at once to put the boats together. This was a slow operation. The men were totally unacquainted with the work of putting together the various pieces of frame work , and except when French was present to give directions the work proceeded. After the framework of eighteen boats was put together it was found that there was not rope enough to brace more than twelve of them. Of course the time consumed in putting together the other six boats was lost. I had at the time sufficient insight - have made a slip & put these boats together with raw hides but I preferred expedition & used the boats I had already.
It had begun raining a little after midnight on the 23rd & at six O'clock in the morning it rained very hard. It was also foggy & nothing could be distinctly discerned on the opposite bank. I had thrown upon the river bank with orders to keep themselves under cover a party of thirty men under Lieut. Hutton of the 24th Michigan to watch the opposite shore & report anything of importance. Just before the boats were ready Lt. O'Connell, I think noted that a regiment of infantry was drawn up in line of battle on the opposite bank. This subsequently proved to be a mistake, but it seems to illustrate the state of the atmosphere through which it was possible for a cool officer to discern the difference between a line of palisades and a regiment of soldiers. And it was with the help of a good field glass corrected the statement of the officer. Indeed the moving fog created such an illusion to the eyes that he palisades seemed to move like men in line of battle.
It was about one hundred and fifty yard from the place where the boats were put together to the river & the boats were transported upon the shoulders of the men to the water's edge. All the boats were launched & the first boat loaded the opposite shore at a few minutes of six o'clock. Before this, however, a few citizens were seen about the town but it is evident that no fears of our crossing were entertained by either the citizens or the soldiers of the place. This is shown by the fact that after our men had landed & loped up the bank beyond the firing line of the enemy's rifle pits the cavalry & infantry were just getting out of the place. The troops about 300 in number were divided into parties & sent in all directions through the village, capturing a rebel mail, three persons attached to the the rebel military service with several citizens, a number of horses and mules. A train of seven wagons was moving rapidly out but was stopped. Such of the horses as were worth anything taken & the others were left. Little or no injury was or could be inflicted on these wagons for the want of axes. Everything was too wet to burn. I tried that subsequently on the other wagons & it turned out to be impossible to make them burn. The horses and mules were brought down to the river and swam across after the boats. Two wagons going out on a different route from that taken by the train just spoken of were taken. & with the help of a couple of axes found in the town the wheels and bodies were completely destroyed. The chains attached were brought over & the single and double trees were brought down and thrown into the river. We found in the wagons a quantity of bran and wheat, which of course we destroyed.
The enemy occupied the town with cavalry a force variously estimated by the natives of the place from 75 to 200 all the accounts agreed that a considerable force of infantry being a part of the command of Jackson was encamped from three to five miles in the rear of the town or a little to the right of it. From all the information available I was led to believe that we had completely surprised the village & that we would not be allowed to long remain in peaceful possession of it. I therefore withdrew my forces to this side of the river and at 9 1/2 o'clock the teams were re-loaded & we were on our way back.
The rebel force which retired from the town as we entered it did not make any hostile demonstrations but our troops fired a few random shots at them, killing or wounding as I am informed one of their horsemen. No accident whatever occurred to our party - the men were in the best of spirits and behaved in an orderly, soldierly manner. It was not dreamed by any of us that our crossing would me unmolested, but on the contrary it was confidently expected that we should have been fired upon by infantry absent from the continuous rifle pits which runs along the brow of the slope leading to the river. had posted our field pieces in a position to sweep the plateau of ground to the right of the village. Before all our men left the town the enemy made their appearance in force some distance behind it. After we had left Port Conway & marched a distance of six or eight miles I was overtaken by a lieutenant from Col. Lagler commanding the cavalry that the rebels were in larger force with cavalry & infantry at Port Royal & were making much demonstration & lead him to believe they could attempt to cross. The men were worn out in the fatigue & I had allowed the field pieces to precede us so I decided it prudent for the sake of the men not to retrace our steps. Besides this the roads were in a horrible condition, & the streams about impassible. In one instance every team in the train had to drive across a stream which at ordinary seasons would be called a mere [brook] but which was now a raging torrent. A wagon with six mules attached was swept the channel for some distance & at one time it seemed quite probable we should loose the entire team. Through the exertions of the men the mules were cut out of the harness and literally dragged ashore, but we were compelled temporarily to leave the wagon it is within a few hundred yards of a picket station where I left orders to guard it until such times as it can be sent for. This was the only accident which occurred during the expedition. At Seven O'clock last evening the troops returned to their several camps, having been absent twenty nine hours.
The rebel fortifications in & about Port Royal consisted of continuous lines of rifle pits. One of these runs along the crest of the slope which leads to the river to the right of town - another of somewhat more formidable proportions runs along the west edge of the town & is intended to protect the space between the town & the stream which empties itself into the Rappahannock a few hundred yards above. Col. Flanigan, 24th Michigan reported still other works more formidable than these I have named on the south of the place. What works may be a short distance out I did not ascertain. The country in the rear of Port Royal presents the same peculiarities which it does in the rear of Fredericksburg. A comparatively level plain of a breadth two or three miles extends back from the river to a range of hills.
The troops which crossed in the first boats were commanded by Lieut. Col. Flanigan to whom much credit is due for the successful manner in which he performed his duty. Great credit is also due t Col. Fowler, 14 Brooklyn Regt. for his great energy in doing all he could to promote the success of the enterprise. The troops behaved admirably not only in crossing the river but in enduring the fatigue of a long march over the worst possible roads & through inclement weather.
I take occasion in this context to return my thanks to Mr. Jerry, Reporter of the New York Herald, who rendered me much assistance in the capacity of aide. Through his kindness I was permitted to leave with the troops the night before the expedition while Mr Gray and myself hastened to Port Conway. I thus got an idea of the terrain before the troops arrived -- I returned with the expedition lead them directly to this place I had selected for bivouac. I will furnish an inventory of property captured as soon as it can be collected.
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