At 3 P.M. February 7, 1862, Union forces under Gen. Ambrose Burnside landed at Ashby Harbor, and by midnight 7,500 Federals were ashore. A Confederate force of 400 men and 3 field-pieces sent to resist the landing was driven away by gunfire from the Federal fleet in Croatan Sound. The Confederates withdrew north along the island’s only road to a line of breastworks constructed to delay the Federal advance, relying on swamps on each side of the road to protect their flanks while skirmishers covered both right and left. The Federal 1st Brigade assaulted the Confederate front with support from 6 cannon, but its infantry advance was repulsed by heavy Confederate fire. Federal troops were then ordered into the swamp to crush the Confederate left, and Gen. J. L. Reno arrived with four regiments of the Federal 2nd Brigade, moving them through the swamp against the Confederate right. By the time Federal forces had reached both flanks of the Confederate position, Gen. J. G. Parke and the Federal 3rd Brigade arrived and attacked the front. Pressed from three sides, the Confederates withdrew to the northern end of the island. Additional Confederate forces arrived in time to become involved in the retreat, but one hour later the Confederate commander surrendered his entire force of 2,488 men to Gen. Burnside. Roanoke Island was lost, and with it Confederate control of the North Carolina Sound region.