Mike Parker: Bell diary recounts POW’s experiences
When Angie Reid and Karen Nethercutt approached me with a proposal to reread and correct errors in Lt. Alonzo Etheridge Bell’s diary, I had mixed emotions. I felt flattered they believed I could manage this task. I had misgivings I could complete what others had already attempted. Still, I took on the charge with excitement and trepidation.
The project’s focus was a diary kept by Lt. Bell, who became a prisoner of war after the Battle of Hatteras in August 1861. He remained a prisoner of war for five months until he was exchanged and made his way home in January 1862.
Angie and Karen provided copies of scans of the original pages of the diary, but since Lt. Bell wrote on both sides of the pages of his journal, some of the pages were hard to read because writing on one side had bled through to the other.
I was grateful that much of the transcribing had already been done by Angie, Karen, and other members of their chapter of the Greenville UDC chapter. They tasked me with making sure the transcription was accurate. They had identified some questionable readings done by earlier transcribers. Angie and Karen wanted to provide this diary in its most accurate form. I tried to honor their desire.
Reading the handwriting of those from the mid-19th century is always challenging. Reading that writing from scans is even tougher. As I read through Lt. Bell’s diary, the task became less about the transcription, even though accuracy was essential, and more about the compelling story that unfolds in his observations as a prisoner of war.
I saw his emotions swing between hope and despair as his incarceration continued into the bitter northern winter. He and his fellow prisoners endured deprivations in clothing, bedding, food, and medical care. Lieut. Bell observed many of his fellow prisoners pulled into a loss of morality.
On August 27, 1861, the Union fleet arrived just off Cape Hatteras late in the afternoon. Early on the morning of August 28, Federal troops boarded small boats to establish a beachhead on the cape. Federal gunboats began bombarding Fort Clark, one of the two Confederate forts on Cape Hatteras. Fort Clark did not return fire because the Confederate guns lacked the range to reach the ships off Cape Hatteras.
Because of the heavy seas, only 318 of the 880 Federal troops attempted a landing. Those who made the landing discovered the landing soaked their gunpowder and left them without supplies. When the Federals came into range, the Confederates began an artillery barrage. Soon, the Confederates at Fort Clark had used up all their ammunition, so they spiked the guns and retreated to Fort Hatteras.
Throughout the night, the exhausted Confederates at Fort Hatteras received reinforcements from nearby posts. Commodore Samuel Barron, commander of coastal defenses in Virginia and North Carolina, arrived at the fort during the night. At dawn, the Union fleet steamed in again and anchored just beyond the range of Confederate guns.
However, the Federals were close enough to use their superior weapons to pound Fort Hatteras. By 11:00 a.m., the Confederates realized their situation was hopeless. Before they could spike their guns and withdraw, a federal shot hit the powder magazine and ignited it. Barron’s officers and men surrendered and became prisoners of war.
Bell’s account of his life as a prisoner of war illustrates an odd combination of kindness and deprivation, hope and despair, and his constant longing for home. These pages also bear testimony to Bell’s desire to maintain his dignity and character amid trying circumstances. Sadly, his words also share the record of other prisoners of war who became nearly animalized by their experiences.
You can obtain a copy of Lt. Bell’s diary in the CSS Neuse Museum’s bookstore. You can also order the book in paperback or Kindle formats from Amazon.com. Proceeds from the book help support the CSS Neuse Museum.
Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.
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