Jan. 21, 1862

Jan. 21, 1862: Two Confederate Navy gunboats steam to Hatteras Inlet to affirm that Goldsborough’s fleet, with Burnside’s army still aboard, is still hung up on the silted-in channel of the inlet. Several of the more shallow-draft ships have crossed the bar and are in Pamlico Sound, but most of the Yankee fleet still rides outside, enduring rough weather while the attempt is made to dredge out the channel.

David L. Day, of the 25^th Massachusetts, aboard a ship in that fleet, writes in his journal: "Jan. 21. The weather still continues in an unsettled state. Although not so rough as it was, it is still too rough to attempt to do much. All the vessels of our fleet are now here, except those that were lost and the schooner with the signal corps. Nothing has been heard from her, and we are beginning to think that she too may be lost. Albert Tucker of company B died this morning, and his body was taken ashore and buried on the beach this afternoon. It is a sad sight to see men die and be buried here on this low, lonely sand-bar.
"He lies on the beach, the cold waters beside.
    And lonely and sad was the death that he died.
No mother mourns o’er him, no fond fair one weeps
    Where far from the land of his fathers he sleeps.
But the mad swelling waves and the wild birds career
    O’er the wet sandy grave of the young volunteer."