CHAPTER L

BEAUFORT.--ACTION OF PORT ROYAL FERRY

General Stevens occupies Beaufort, the Newport of the South--Abandoned by white population--Sacked by negroes; their ignorance, habits, condition--Faint attack on the pickets--General Stevens advances across Port Royal Island--Pickets outer side, throwing enemy on the defensive--Enemy close the Coosaw River--General Stevens's plan to dislodge them authorized--Reinforcement by two regiments and gunboats--Flatboats assembled in a hidden creek--Troops embark at midnight, cross Coosaw, and effect landing--March in echelon toward Port Royal Ferry--The action--The enemy's hasty retreat--The Ferry occupied--The forts destroyed--Troops bivouac for the night--Cross the ferry and march to Beaufort in triumph--Thanked in general orders for the victory of Port Royal Ferry 353