Le

departed, with his remaining men, to join Major Anderson at Fort Sumter, where he shared all the perils of the bombardment until it was evacuated on the fifteenth

day of April, 1861.

M

JOHN G. FOSTER.

AJOR-GENERAL JOHN G. FOSTER was born in Whitefield, NewHampshire, May twenty-seventh, 1823, his father being Major Perley Foster, who took part in the battle of Plattsburgh, on Lake Champlain, in 1812, while his grandfather was one of the first to join the side of liberty in the Revolu tion of 1776. Thus, John G. Foster was allied by blood to the valor and patriotism of the country.

In 1842, he entered the Military Academy at West-Point, where he graduated in June, 1846, standing number four in his class. The following month he was brevetted Second Lieutenant of engineers, and, in January, 1847, he was attached to a company of sappers and miners, despatched with General Scott to Mexico. There he greatly distinguished himself in all the battles of that campaign. On the twentieth of August, 1847, he was made First Lieutenant for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco. At Molino del Rey, in 1848, he was leading a division of a storming party in the ter rible assault on Casa Mata, when he was severely wounded. Two thirds of the entire command were cut down, and Lieutenant Foster narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Mexicans by the timely charge of Cadwalader. For his bravery on this occasion he was brevetted a Captain, with his commission dating from September eighth, 1847.

After the campaign of Mexico, Captain Foster was ordered to Baltimore, and thence on duty in the Coast Survey Office, Washington. In April, 1854, he was made a full First Lieutenant of engineers, and, during that year, was Assistant Professor of Engineering at the Military Academy. In 1859, he was appointed Engineer in charge of the forts in Charleston harbor and vicinity, and on the first of July, 1860, was made a full Captain.

At the commencement of the rebellion, Captain Foster was on duty at Fort Moultrie, then under command of Major (now General) Anderson, and when that place was abandoned, on December twenty-sixth, 1860, Captain Foster remained behind to spike the guns, burn the carriages, and destroy the flag-staff. He then departed, with his remaining men, to join Major Anderson at Fort Sumter, where he shared all the perils of the bombardment until it was evacuated on the fifteenth day of April, 1861.

Immediately after this, he was appointed to superintend the construction of fortifications at Sandy Hook, but was soon ordered into active service in the army of the Potomac. In August, 1861, the President made him a Brigadier-General, and in December he was attached to General Burnside's expedition. On the eleventh of January, 1862, this expedition left Fortress Monroe, and arrived at Hatteras, N. C., on the seventeenth. Three weeks afterward, Roanoke Island was captured by the combined military and naval forces of the United States, and here General Foster greatly distinguished himself.

On the fourteenth of March, Newbern was attacked by the forces under General Burnside, who ordered General Foster to advance up the main road, toward the enemy's left. An abandoned breastwork was discovered in the fortifications, and this was at once taken possession of. Other advantages were promptly seized, and the enemy's batteries taken one after the other, the last and most formidable, where the rebels had concentrated their whole strength, by a gallant bayonetcharge. The rebels then fled across the Trent River, destroying the bridges behind them, and succeeded in making their escape in the direction of Goldsborough. General Foster took possession of the town, and the Union victory was complete.

On the fourteenth of April, Fort Macon, after a heavy bombardment, was taken; and when, in the latter part of July, General Burnside was ordered to the support of General McClellan, General Foster was left in command of the Department of North-Carolina, with the rank of Major-General, his commission dating from the eighteenth of July, 1862.

On the thirty-first of October, General Foster left Newbern, on an expedition through the eastern counties of North-Carolina, and by his prompt movements was instrumental in saving the town and forces at Plymouth from destruction, the enemy, hearing of his advance, having made a precipitate retreat, and abandoning the attack they had contemplated.

In December, 1862, General Foster marched against Kinston, N. C. Не left Newbern on the thirteenth, and encountered the rebels at Southwest Creek. After a short engagement, he compelled them to retire, and, on the following day, defeated them again at Kinston, capturing the place. On the sixteenth, he moved on toward Whitehall, and, after a three hours' fight, the rebels fell back upon Goldsborough, whither our forces promptly followed, and gave them another defeat. Orders were then given to burn the railroad bridge and destroy the track at that place, and this being effectually done, the expedition returned to Newbern. Four hundred and ninety-six prisoners and nine pieces of artillery were taken, with a loss on our side of ninety killed, four hundred and seventy-eight wounded, and nine missing.

On March fourteenth, 1863, the rebel General Pettigrew, with a large force of infantry and artillery, made a demonstration on Newbern, but he was com