The target of this amphibious force was so well-kept a secret that the troops did not know their destination until the armada cleared Hampton Roads and entered the Atlantic. On the night of January 11, 1862, the expedition set sail from Fortress Monroe, Virginia, where Bumside had completed final preparations. Few of them were in a seaworthy condition."5 Yet all of the ships seemingly had one important thing in common: they all drew less than eight feet of water, which was the reported high-tide depth across the bar at Hatteras Inlet, the entrance to the sound where Roanoke Island lay. Goldsborough, was an almost indescribable collection of eighty ships, mounting a total of 108 guns.4 Twenty of the vessels were light-draft gunboats the other sixty, in the opinion of one Federal soldier, formed "a motley array of sea-going craft" that included "steam and sailing crafts, canal boats, ferry boats, coasting schooners and some passenger steamers. This armada, under the command of Commodore Louis N. Parke-described by Bumside as "three of my most trusted friends."3 However, what attracted the most attention at the Annapolis staging area was the fleet of ships then being readied for the expedition. 321 322CIVIL WAR HISTORY mately consisted of fifteen thousand men, organized in three brigades under John G. 2 Shelby Foote, The Civil War (New York, 1958-), I, 230. Jones (ed.), The Journal of Catherine Devereux Edmonston, 1860-1866 (Mebane, N.C., n.d.), p. Late in October, with the permission of both Lincoln and McClellan, Burnside began amassing troops at Annapolis. Yet, an expedition to Roanoke Island was well within Burnside's limited ability and he performed competently in this, his first independent command. This stout and affable Rhode Islander is largely remembered for the disaster at Fredericksburg. The man most responsible for the idea was a thirty-seven-year-old brigadier, Ambrose E. Lastly, this Federal success with an unparalleled and unique amphibious force aroused "the immediate apprehension of every rebel posted within gunshot of salt water."2 It was in September, 1861, that Federal authorities first discussed plans for a thrust against Roanoke Island. Even worse, its fall opened the entire North Carolina coast and inland areas to assault it afforded Federal forces a second front for operations against Virginia it provided a direct backdoor entrance for a move on the vital port of Norfolk and it gave the Union's Atlantic blockading fleet a strategic base for operations against the Confederacy's European lifelines. Included with its surrender were 2,675 men, 32 cannon, and 3,000 stand of small arms-men and weapons the Confederacy could ill afford to lose. Its fall on February 8, 1862, marked the first major mihtary setback suffered by the South. The entire Confederacy came to mourn the loss of this inconspicuous little island close to the coast of North Carolina. I fairly burst into tears as I read it."1 Mrs. Catherine Edmondston, confided in her diary: "Tonight's mail brought the news of the fall of Roanoke Island. On February 10, 1862, a North Carolina matron, Mrs. THE ROANOKE ISLAND EXPEDITION: Observations of a Massachusetts Soldier Edited by James I. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:
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