midnight
There they both remained as long as the fight continued , and their dinner consisted of a sandwich and a cup of coffee , which the cabin steward brought up to them at noon . The first object of the bombardment was accomplished about five o'clock that afternoon , when a heavy smoke was rolling over Fort Bartow , caused by the burning of the barracks , which had been set on fire by a shell from the fleet , the defiant roar of its guns being almost silenced , and its flaunting banner sent to the dust by the shooting away of the staff that sustained it , and the enemy , all along the line , had been driven so far back that the transports could come up with the troops . It was at this juncture that the services of Mr. Daniel 's black boy , Tom , came into play . He piloted General Burnside 's launches and lighters into Ashby 's Harbor , and , by midnight , ten thousand soldiers were landed in readiness for the real battle , which was to begin on the following morning . By this time the Confederates must have been satisfied that they were going to be whipped . Commodore Lynch knew that he had had all the fighting he wanted ; for he retreated round Wier 's Point , and was never seen afterward until Captain Rowan , with a portion of the Union fleet , hunted him up , and finished him at Elizabeth City . The battle was over shortly after dark -LRB- although the firing was kept up at intervals during the night -RRB- , and the leading boats dropped back to allow others to take their places .