Diary of Private William S. White, June 8, 1861

MY FIRST FIGHT.

My gun, Fourth Detachment, Third Company, was ordered off to meet a party of the Yankees who had been committing daily depredations upon the inhabitants of Elizabeth City county. We were supported by thirty First North Carolina Infantrymen and twenty cavalrymen, making in all some sixty-five men. After marching five or six miles we came upon them, and immediately opened with our twelve-pounder howitzer, but the Yankees concluded not to fight and fled precipitately. We captured one prisoner, and he was wounded by an old Peninsula scout, whose name was Ben Phillips, commonly known amongst our soldiers as "Uncle Ben."

It is my impression that this was the first cannon shot fired at land forces in Virginia, and also that this was the first prisoner captured. His name was Mooney, and he belonged to the Second Regiment New York Zouaves.

Soon after we left another gun belonging to my company was sent out to reënforce us, and taking another road it came upon the Yankees before either party were aware of it. The Yankees, as before, made a hasty retreat, and our men captured another prisoner. Nobody hurt on our side.

SOURCE: William S. White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 95-6

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: February 3, 1864

The following dispatch indicates the prestige of success for the year 1864, and it is probable it will be followed by a succession of successes, for the administration at Washington will find, this year, constant antagonisms everywhere, in the North as well as in the South, and in the army there will be opposing parties—Republicans and Democrats. On the part of the South, we have experienced the great agony of 1863, and have become so familiar with horrors that we shall fight with a fearful desperation. But the dispatch:

“Glorious news! The whole Yankee force, about 150, are our prisoners, and their gun-boat 'Smith Briggs,' destroyed.

“No one hurt on our side. Four Yankees killed and two or three wounded.

“The prisoners are now at Broad Water. Send down a train for them to-morrow.”

We learn that this Yankee force was commissioned to destroy a large factory at Smithfield, in Isle of Wight County. We do not know the size or composition of our command which achieved the results noticed above, but understand that it contained two companies of the Thirty-first North Carolina Regiment.

Congress has not yet finally acted, on the Tax bill, nor on the new Conscription bill.

The Secretary of War said to-day that he would not allow the increased pay to any of his civil officers who were young and able to bear arms—and this after urging Congress to increase their compensation. It will be very hard on some who are refugees, having families dependent on them. Others, who board, must be forced into the army (the design), for their expenses per month will be some fifty per cent, more than their income.

The weather is clear but colder.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 141-2