JANUARY 20-29, 1864. - Operations in the District of North Carolina. *

Report of Brigadier General Innis N. Palmer, U. S. Army, commanding district.

HDQRS. ARMY AND DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA,
New Berne, N. C., January 29, 1864.

MAJOR: I have the honor to state, for the information of the commanding general Department of Virginia and North Carolina, that since the departure of General Peck the movements of interest that have taken place in this district are the following:

On the 26th instant I directed a small force of picked cavalry with one howitzer to report to Colonel Jourdan, commanding the Sub-district of Beaufort, for the purpose of co-operating with an infantry force to be selected by him, the whole to be commanded by the colonel in person, in an expedition for the purpose of capturing a force of rebel cavalry in Jones and Onslow Counties. Some vessels were reported as being in New River, loading with turpentine, and an attempt was to be made to get them out and to secure or to destroy them.

Colonel Jourdan has just reported by telegraph from Newport, stating that he had captured a lieutenant and 23 men of the Seventh Confederate Cavalry, with horses, arms, and equipments complete. If possible, I shall direct the prisoners to be forwarded to Fortress Monroe by the Spaulding, now at Morehead City.

General Wessells, commanding Sub-district of the Albemarle, reports on January 23, 1864, that having heard that a considerable quantity of stores had been collected at Harrellsville, Hertford County, he directed Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, One hundred and third Pennsylvania Volunteers, with a detachment of infantry, to proceed to that point, and capture and destroy the property. The expedition left Plymouth on the evening of the 20th instant, and reached the point indicated at 4 o'clock on the following morning without interruption. While securing the property a simultaneous and spirited attack upon the town from different points was made but the enemy was repulsed at all points. General Wessells reports the results of the expedition to have been the destruction of 150,000 or 200,000 pounds of pork, 270 bushels of salt, 10,000 pounds of tobacco, 32 barrels of beef, and other stores; also the capture of some prisoners, horses, mules, &c.

Also on the 27th instant reports that, in order to put a stop to disorders and outrages in Tyrrell County, near Lake Phelps, he directed Captain Cady, Twenty-fourth New York Battery, to proceed to that place with a detachment of mounted men, with instructions to arrest the criminals, if possible and to bring off from the Pettigrew and collins plantations such property as would be of value to the Government. The result of the expedition was the arrest of 5 men who have been employed in a series of robberies; also one of the murderers of the men Tom and York, and two Confederate soldiers together with the capture of about 200 sheep and other property. Full reports will be transmitted as soon as possible.

General Wessells, in a letter of the 27th instant, informs me that

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*Including expeditions to Harrellsville, into Bertie County, into Onslow County, and up the Roanoke River.

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