seven in the morning
Two of them were laid in the engine-room , covered with the flag in defense of which they had given up their lives , and four others were wounded . The sight was nothing to those that his rebel cousin , Rodney , the Partisan , had often witnessed on the field of battle ; but it was enough to show Marcy Gray that there was a terrible reality in war . The next day was the army 's . The battle began at seven in the morning ; and although the gunboats , Captain Benton 's among the rest , did the work they were expected to do and succeeded in passing the obstructions shortly after noon , the heaviest of the fighting was done by the soldiers . The Confederate flag went down before the sun did , and twenty-five hundred prisoners , forty heavy guns , and three thousand stand of small arms fell into the hands of the victors . The Confederate fleet endeavored to escape by running up the Pasquotank river to Elizabeth City , Commodore Lynch thinking no doubt that he would there find re-enforcements , which could easily have been sent from Portsmouth ; but if they were there they did not do him any good , for Captain Rowan followed him into the river the next day , and destroyed his entire squadron with the exception of one boat which was captured and transferred to the Union fleet . After demolishing a portion of the Dismal Swamp canal , Captain Rowan went to Edenton , Winton , and Plymouth , all of which were captured without resistance that amounted to anything , and garrisoned by troops from Burnside 's army .