In January 1864, after General Robert E. Lee proposed that a bold party descend the Neuse River by night to capture Federal gunboats and support General George Pickett’s planned assault on Union-held New Bern from Kinston, a Confederate Navy raiding party under CSN Commander John Taylor Wood left Kinston on January 31 and rowed to New Bern. Wood, a nephew of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and grandson of former U.S. President Zachary Taylor, had previously led other cutting-out expeditions that captured and burned Federal ships. His handpicked force included 250 to 300 men, 35 officers, 25 marines, and 14 boats. At New Bern, the Confederates found the USS Underwriter, a side-wheel steamer 186 feet long armed with two 8-inch shell guns, a 30-pound gun, and a 12-pound howitzer, and one of the largest Federal gunboats in North Carolina waters, with extensive service in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Wood split his force into two divisions, one led by himself and the other by Lieutenant Benjamin P. Loyall. At 2:30 a.m. on February 2, 1864, the Confederates boarded the Underwriter and, after 10 minutes of brutal hand-to-hand fighting, captured it. Unable to move the vessel because its coals were banked, and under fire from Union Fort Stevenson on the south bank and Fort Anderson on the north bank of the Neuse River, Wood ordered the ship burned and his raiders back to their launches. He then sent Lt. Francis Hoge aboard again to ensure the fire had taken hold, after which the Confederates escaped upriver to Kinston. At 4:30 a.m., the Underwriter exploded. Confederate losses were five killed, 15 wounded, and four missing, and the raiders captured 26 Union prisoners; Federal losses were approximately nine killed and 20 wounded. Later, Loyall was promoted to command the ironclad CSS Neuse, Hoge became its executive officer, James Wickes of the expedition died 16 days later aboard the submarine H.L. Hunley after it sank the USS Housatonic in the Union blockade of Charleston, S.C., and the wreckage of the Underwriter remained in the Neuse River, where its location was pinpointed in 1964.