On the 18th of December, General Foster began his movement back to his base at New Bern. Almost without cavalry, the Confederate forces, now under the chief command of Maj.-Gen. G. W. Smith, could not follow him effectively, and he reached New Bern after suffering a total loss of 591, killed, wounded and captured. There is no record of the losses of the South Carolina brigade at Kinston, or at the railroad bridge in front of Goldsboro. General Clingman reported a loss of 20 killed, 107 wounded, and 18 missing; total, 145. Evans lost over 400 taken prisoners at the bridge at Kinston, and must have met heavier losses than Clingman in his battles on the 13th and 14th. His total loss could not have been less than 600 in killed, wounded and captured, out of a total in front of Kinston of 2,014. General Foster's rapid retreat from the railroad can only be accounted for upon the supposition that he exaggerated the forces sent from Wilmington, Petersburg and Richmond to reinforce Goldsboro. The aggregate of all arms at Goldsboro on the 18th could not have reached 7,000 effectives, and General Foster's army, after its losses on the 13th, 14th and 17th, was fully 10,500 of all arms.
General Evans in his official report mentioned especially the gallant conduct of Adjt. W. P. Du Bose and Capt. M. G. Zeigler, of the Holcombe legion; Capt. S. A. Durham, Twenty-third South Carolina; his personal staff, and Lieutenant-Colonels Mallett and Pool, and Colonels Radcliffe and Baker of the North Carolina troops.
The expedition of General Foster with so large a force, and the reported presence of a large fleet of transports, carrying an army under General Banks, in the waters of Beaufort, made General Whiting, commanding at Wilmington, apprehensive of an attack on that city. Pending the movement of Foster, General Whiting telegraphed to General Beauregard urgently to send troops to his assistance, as Wilmington was protected only by its forts and a small garrison. General Beauregard promptly sent a division of two brigades under Brig.-Gen. S. R. Gist. The first brigade was made up of troops from the First and Second military districts of South Carolina, under command of Col. C. H. Stevens, Twenty-fourth regiment, and the second from the military district of Georgia, commanded by the senior colonel. Three South Carolina light batteries accompanied the division, W. C. Preston's, Waities' and Culpeper's. The South Carolina infantry included the Sixteenth, Colonel McCullough; the Twenty-fourth, Lieutenant-Colonel Capers; Twenty-fifth, Colonel Simonton, and Nelson's battalion. By December 17th, the day of the attack in front of Goldsboro, General Gist's division had arrived in Wilmington, and went into camp. The Twenty-fourth, with Preston's battery, was stationed at the railroad crossing of the Northeast river, 9 miles east of Wilmington, and fortified the position and the roads approaching it.