The Maine bugle ... campaign; 1-5 Jan. 1894-Oct. 1898 - Maine.gov

34 THE MAINE BUGLE.
The Committee on the Conduct of the War gave the subject
a thorough examination. The testimony covers two hundred
and sixty pages of printed matter, and after mature deUbera-
tion the committee found as follows: "In conclusion, your
committee would say, from all the testimony before them, that
the determination of General Butler not to assault the fort seems
to have been fully justified by all the facts and circumstances
then known or afterwards ascertained."
Whatever may be a just criticism of the distinguished officers
who commanded our forces on land and sea on the first expe-
dition against Fort Fisher ; as to whether a proper co-operation
between army and navy existed ;
whether
the troops that had
been landed in the face of a Confederate division, which threat-
ened to attack them in their rear if they advanced in the direc-
tion of the fort, and although afterwards cut off, as they were
for two days, from the transports and fleet by surf and storm,
whether they should have been ordered to charge during that
night or at early dawn against this immense work, whose ram-
parts were remanned when the firing of the navy ceased, are
questions that have caused some discussion among military and
naval men; but while this is true, there is, however, another
view of this most important movement upon which all minds
seem to agree. I refer, of course, to the fact that the Butler-
Porter expedition constituted a thorough and careful recon-
noissance of the fort and all its approaches. While the navy
had an opportunity to test the strength of the work and the
power of its guns, the troops that had been landed and pushed
by General Ames to a point near the work were enabled not
only to learn the conformation of the ground but to discover,
as will be seen, the weak part, if not the key to the fortification
itself.
General Alfred II. Terry, who had been placed in command
of the army branch of the second expedition after the removal
of General Butler from his command, was an officer of experi-
ence and ability. To him is due the credit of having, from the
outset to the close of the movement, established that harmony
of action between the army and navy which was so necessary