Battle of Roanoke Island Fort Maps Pictures History American Civil War Coasts North Carolina Expedition
Defense Confederate Forts Battery Artillery Atlantic Ocean Union Navy Ship Blockade Harbor
Roanoke Island North Carolina Civil War
Other Names: Fort Huger
Location: Dare County
Campaign: Burnside's North Carolina Expedition (February-June 1862)
Date(s): February 7-8, 1862
Principal Commanders: Brig. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside [US]; Brig.
Gen. Henry Wise [CS]
Forces Engaged: 10,500 total (US 7,500; CS 3,000)
Estimated Casualties: 2,907 total (US 37K/214W/13M; CS 23K/58W/62M/2,500
Captured)
| Fort Huger on Roanoke Island: Historical Marker |

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Description: On February 7, Brig. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside landed
7,500 men on the southwestern side of Roanoke Island in an amphibious operation launched from Fort Monroe. The next morning,
supported by gunboats, the Federals assaulted the Confederate forts on the narrow waist of the island, driving back and out-maneuvering
Brig. Gen. Henry Wise’s outnumbered command. After losing less than 100 men, the Confederate commander on the field,
Col. H. M. Shaw, surrendered about 2,500 soldiers and 32 guns. Burnside had secured an important outpost on the Atlantic Coast,
tightening the blockade. Roanoke Island was a strategic objective in Gen. Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan.
By late spring 1862, Union soldiers occupied Hatteras Inlet and controlled the towns of Plymouth, Washington and New Bern. The loss of most of the North Carolina coast and coastal waterways was a blow both to Confederate morale and the young
nation's ability to supply its armies in the field. But aside from a few raids from those bases, the Union forces didn't
advance until Sherman entered North Carolina in March-April 1865, in what is commonly referred to as Sherman's March.
Result(s): Union victory
The Civil War Storms Roanoke Island
| Battle of Roanoke Island |

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The Outer Banks of North Carolina were the setting for important conflicts during the Civil War. Union victories
at Hatteras Inlet and Roanoke Island early in the war placed the area under Federal control and extended their blockade of the
southern coast.
The federal campaign began on August 27, 1861, with an amphibious assault
by Commodore Silas Stringham and General Benjamin Butler on two small and lightly defended forts at Cape Hatteras. The Confederate
government had placed a higher priority on the conflicts in Virginia, and thus had made little effort to outfit and maintain
these forts. The poorly-trained and poorly-equipped Confederate militia and recruits manning them were also plagued by thirst
and mosquitoes. The Federals took both forts in less than 48 hours, and not one Union soldier was killed. The entire Pamlico Sound north to Roanoke Island was now open to Union activity, and for the Confederates the great highway linking coastal
shipping to the rivers of interior North Carolina was beginning to close.
A few months later, the Union assembled another fleet, this time for an attack
on Roanoke Island. Since the fall of the Hatteras forts, the Richmond government had done little to strengthen the defense
of Roanoke Island. There were three small earthen forts on the island, with a fourth position west of the island across Croatan
Sound (north of the current Manns Harbor Bridge). Because the Confederate general staff was expecting a Union attack from
the north, most of their artillery pieces were pointed in that direction and could not be turned to face an attack from the
south- Pamlico Sound. Due to the Confederate government's commitment to the defense of Richmond, only 1400 soldiers were made
available to hold the strategically important island.
After struggling south from Annapolis, Maryland, through a series of winter
storms, Union General Ambrose Burnside led a fleet of 67 ships and 13,000 men through Hatteras Inlet and dropped anchor off
the western shore of Roanoke Island on February 5, 1862. He landed 4000 soldiers at Ashby Harbor and after slogging through
the swamps assaulted the Confederates' makeshift position near today's intersection of U.S. 64 and N.C. 345. On Croatan Sound,
the South's five-vessel "Mosquito Fleet" harried the Union ships as best it could, but it was badly battered and quickly driven
north out of range.
The island's inexperienced defenders fought tenaciously behind their earthen
fortifications but were eventually outflanked and overwhelmed by Burnside's veterans. Few on either side were killed, and
the Union forces eventually captured the entire Southern defense contingent.
The "Mosquito Fleet" temporarily escaped to the north, but was destroyed a
few days later in a battle near Elizabeth City. The Union now controlled North Carolina's sounds and access to the state's
interior shipping routes. It was a devastating loss. The Federal campaigns on the Outer Banks helped accomplish President
Lincoln's goal of a blockade of the Confederacy's coastline, and helped foster cooperation and coordination between the Union's
Army and Navy. Today, only one of the Confederate defensive sites is accessible to visitors. Remnants of the ramparts near
the U.S. 64-N.C. 345 intersection can be seen and parking is available about 100 yards south of the intersection.
The three island forts, either worn down over the years or washed away into
Croatan Sound, are commemorated by historic plaques and street names throughout Roanoke Island.
Civil War Naval Map of Roanoke Island
Paintings Harper's New Monthly Magazine December 1865, Vol.
32, Issue 187, p. 575. Pictures

Sources: National Park Service; Fort Raleigh National Historic Site; Official
Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; New Bern Historical Society; North Carolina Civil War Tourism Council, Inc; North Carolina Museum of History.
Recommend Reading: American
Civil War Ironclads and Rams
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