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Burnside's North Carolina Expedition [February-June 1862]
"The enterprise of running the blockade and importing army supplies
from abroad has proven a complete success." Governor Zebulon Baird Vance, November 1863
| Fort Huger on Roanoke Island |
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Burnside's North Carolina Expedition,
commonly referred to as the Burnside Expedition, was an objective in Union General Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan, and consisted of a series of battles along the North Carolina coast. In
January 1862, an amphibious expedition under the command of Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside was dispatched to the North Carolina
coast to deprive the Confederacy of its vital blockade-running ports. Hatteras Inlet, during the Blockade of the Carolina Coast, had been seized by Maj. Gen. Ben Butler in 1861. Now, Burnside was sent to take Roanoke Island, capture
the town of New Bern, move against Fort Macon, and proceed against the railroad at Kinston and Goldsboro. Despite the handicap of adverse weather, the first three
objectives of the expedition were successively achieved. The last objective, however, would have to wait.
(Map reflects Burnside's
initial route and thrust to Roanoke Island, which was the first of a series of battles in the Burnside Expedition.)
(Courtesy of Clark's North Carolina Regiments)
During late January 1862,
a Federal land-sea expedition assembled at Hatteras Inlet (see Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries: A History) to take Roanoke Island
and capture control of the North Carolina Sound region. The force was under the joint command of General Ambrose Burnside
and navy Flag-Officer Louis Goldsborough. After several delays due to bad weather, the Union fleet, consisting of numerous
troop transports and more than 20 war vessels, arrived at the southern end of Roanoke Island.
The Battle of Roanoke Island was the initial battle in the Burnside Expedition.
The Confederate “mosquito
fleet” of small, shallow draft boats attempted to lure Federal ships into the dangerous unmarked and obstructed channel.
On February 7, 1862, Federal
ships began a bombardment of the three Confederate earthen forts (Fort Bartow, Fort
Blanchard, and Fort Huger)
on the west side of Roanoke Island. Fort
Huger was the northernmost and largest of the forts with twelve guns
mounted in its sand parapets. The forts were designed to protect the mainland from Federal invasion and to complement obstructions
placed in the channel. Forts Huger and Blanchard were not actively engaged in the Battle of Roanoke Island and were ineffective
in the battle because the Union fleet maintained a safe distance relative to the range of the cannons placed at those forts.
Bartow, however, was actively engaged in the Battle of Roanoke Island.
The first shot of the battle
was fired from Fort Bartow’s guns on February 7, 1862,
and the fort subsequently was bombarded by the Federal fleet for seven hours. The fort returned fire but with little effect.
The Confederate fleet, under the command of Captain W. F. Lynch, waited to engage the Federals behind a line of obstructions
placed in Croatan Sound to retard the Federal advance. The line of obstructions in the channel consisted of 16 sunken ships
and pilings, which were meant to damage the undersides of ships passing through the waters However, the Confederates, after
a sharp engagement which was ended only by darkness, were forced to retire due to lack of ammunition.
FORT BARTOW: The southernmost Confederate defense.
It was one of three Confederate earthen forts on the west side of Roanoke Island (the others were Fort Huger and Fort Blanchard)
and it fort mounted nine guns. Of the three forts, Bartow was the only one actively engaged in the Battle of Roanoke Island.
FORT
BLANCHARD: Constructed in the fall of 1861 of reinforced sand, Fort Blanchard was the smallest of the three
and mounted four guns. The fort saw no action during the Battle of Roanoke Island as its guns were out of range of the main
Federal operations. Fort Blanchard
was surrendered on February 8, 1862.
FORT HUGER: Principal Confederate
fort on Roanoke Island. It mounted twelve guns and was surrendered Feb. 8, 1862.
FORT FORREST:
A small mainland Confederate fortification on the western side of Croatan Sound, Fort
Forrest consisted of two shorebound barges equipped with seven 32 pound
cannon. The position was directly opposite Fort Blanchard
on Roanoke Island and its construction amounted to an attempt to block passage through the
channel by Union gun boats. Fort Forrest
was destroyed by Federal forces during the Battle of Roanoke Island on February 8, 1862.
On February 8, 1862, the Federal
fleet again bombarded various positions on Roanoke Island including Fort Blanchard and Fort Forrest in support of General Burnside’s land offensive. After the Union victory
on the afternoon of February 8, a detachment of Federal ships under the command of Commodore S. C. Rowan was sent into Albemarle Sound in pursuit of the Confederate fleet. As a consequence, Union forces were in control
of most of the inland waters of northeastern North Carolina.
Burnside's North Carolina Expedition [February-June 1862]
Related Studies:
North Carolina Coast and the American Civil War
Recommended
Reading: Ironclads and Columbiads:
The Coast (The Civil War in North Carolina)
(456 pages). Description: Ironclads
and Columbiads covers some of the most important battles and campaigns in the state. In January 1862, Union forces
began in earnest to occupy crucial points on the North Carolina
coast. Within six months, Union army and naval forces effectively controlled coastal North Carolina
from the Virginia line south to present-day Morehead
City. Union setbacks in Virginia, however, led to the withdrawal of many
federal soldiers from North Carolina, leaving only enough Union troops to hold a few coastal strongholds—the vital ports
and railroad junctions. The South during the Civil War, moreover, hotly contested the North’s ability to maintain its
grip on these key coastal strongholds.
Recommended
Reading: The Civil War in North Carolina. Description:
Numerous battles and skirmishes were fought in North Carolina
during the Civil War, and the campaigns and battles themselves were crucial in the grand strategy of the conflict and involved
some of the most famous generals of the war. John Barrett presents the complete story of military engagements across the state,
including the classical pitched battle of Bentonville--involving Generals Joe Johnston and William Sherman--the siege of Fort Fisher, the amphibious
campaigns on the coast, and cavalry sweeps such as General George Stoneman's Raid.
Recommended
Reading: The
Civil War in Coastal North Carolina (175 pages) (North Carolina Division of Archives and History). Description: From the drama of blockade-running to graphic descriptions of battles on the state's islands and sounds,
this book portrays the explosive events that took place in North Carolina's coastal region during the Civil War.
Topics discussed include the strategic importance of coastal North Carolina,
Federal occupation of coastal areas, blockade-running, and the impact of war on civilians along the Tar Heel coast.
Recommended
Reading: Storm over Carolina: The Confederate Navy's Struggle for Eastern
North Carolina. Description: The struggle for control of the eastern waters of North Carolina
during the War Between the States was a bitter, painful, and sometimes humiliating one for the Confederate navy. No better
example exists of the classic adage, "Too little, too late." Burdened by the lack of adequate warships, construction
facilities, and even ammunition, the South's naval arm fought bravely and even recklessly to stem the tide of the Federal
invasion of North Carolina from the raging Atlantic. Storm Over Carolina is the account of the Southern navy's struggle in North Carolina waters and it is a saga of crushing defeats interspersed with moments of
brilliant and even spectacular victories. It is also the story of dogged Southern determination and incredible perseverance
in the face of overwhelming odds. Continued below...
For most of
the Civil War, the navigable portions of the Roanoke, Tar, Neuse, Chowan, and Pasquotank rivers were
occupied by Federal forces. The Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, as well as most of the coastal towns and counties, were also
under Union control. With the building of the river ironclads, the Confederate navy at last could strike a telling blow against
the invaders, but they were slowly overtaken by events elsewhere. With the war grinding to a close, the last Confederate vessel
in North Carolina waters was destroyed. William T. Sherman
was approaching from the south, Wilmington was lost, and the
Confederacy reeled as if from a mortal blow. For the Confederate navy, and even more so for the besieged citizens of eastern
North Carolina, these were stormy days indeed. Storm Over Carolina describes their story, their struggle, their history.
Recommended
Reading: The Civil War in the Carolinas (Hardcover). Description: Dan Morrill relates the experience of two quite different states bound together in the defense of the
Confederacy, using letters, diaries, memoirs, and reports. He shows how the innovative
operations of the Union army and navy along the coast and in the bays and rivers of the Carolinas
affected the general course of the war as well as the daily lives of all Carolinians. He demonstrates the "total war" for
North Carolina's vital coastal railroads and ports. In
the latter part of the war, he describes how Sherman's operation
cut out the heart of the last stronghold of the South. Continued below...
The author
offers fascinating sketches of major and minor personalities, including the new president and state governors, Generals Lee,
Beauregard, Pickett, Sherman, D.H. Hill, and Joseph E. Johnston. Rebels and abolitionists, pacifists and unionists, slaves
and freed men and women, all influential, all placed in their context with clear-eyed precision. If he were wielding a needle
instead of a pen, his tapestry would offer us a complete picture of a people at war. Midwest Book Review: The Civil War in the Carolinas by civil war expert and historian
Dan Morrill (History Department, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Director of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historical
Society) is a dramatically presented and extensively researched survey and analysis of the impact the American Civil War had
upon the states of North Carolina and South Carolina, and the people who called these states their home. A meticulous, scholarly,
and thoroughly engaging examination of the details of history and the sweeping change that the war wrought for everyone, The
Civil War In The Carolinas is a welcome and informative addition to American Civil War Studies reference collections.
References: John G. Barrett, The
Civil War in North Carolina (1963); John Stephen Carbone, The Civil War in Coastal North Carolina (2001); Lorenzo Traver, Burnside Expedition in North
Carolina: Battles of Roanoke Island and Elizabeth
City (1880); Richard Allen Sauers, The Burnside Expedition in North Carolina (1996); North Carolina Office of Archives and History;
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
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