Feb. 5, 1862

Feb. 5, 1862: Emmett Cole, of the 8^th Michigan Infantry, stationed the Union base at Port Royal, So. Carolina, writes to his brother Edgar about his thoughts of death: "I was sorry to learn by your letter and Celestia that some of the family were sick. still we must expect to meet with sickness adversity & death. whereever we may be on this wide earth I have made up my mind that it is about as apt to visit us in one place as another and I have further resolved that when death calls for me to take a journey with him from this [?]some world in to some other which I hope is more peacefull. I say I am resolved whereever I may be to go without a murmur. for I have a previous understanding, that I must inevitably follow in the wake of the Millions that have lived before me."

–Pamlico Sound, North Carolina: Goldsborough’s fleet at last is cleared by Gen. Burnside to approach Roanoke Island, after a long wait. David L. Day, a young Union soldier, writes in his journal:

Feb. 5. The clink of the windlass is heard on all the boats, hoisting up their anchors, so here we go for a trip up the sound, probably for Roanoke island. This island holds the Albemarle sound and all that part of North Carolina lying on it, and also Southeast Virginia. It is quite an important point, and we learn is strongly fortified. Our fleet consists of about seventy sail of all kinds and makes an imposing appearance. The gunboats, under command of Commodore Goldsborough, take the advance, the transports and other craft following. After a few hours’ sail, the low, pine-covered shore of the old North state presented itself to view. . . . Here we dropped anchor for the night, the gunboats forming a picket guard, and extending themselves nearly to the light-house. The island can be seen through a glass, and tomorrow I expect we shall get a nearer view.