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North Carolina Outer Banks: Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound
The Civil War was fought in many places across the southern landscape, but perhaps no
region held as much importance to the Union's Anaconda Plan as eastern North Carolina. Control of the sounds and rivers of North Carolina
was vital to cutting off the Confederacy's southern supply routes to Virginia.
The Outer Banks are a 100-mile (160-km) long string of
narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina. They cover approximately half the northern North Carolina
coastline, separating the Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound from the Atlantic Ocean. (Also see Torpedo Alley.)
The Outer Banks
are a series of islands: from north to south — Bodie Island, Roanoke Island, Hatteras Island, and Ocracoke Island. The
northern part of the Outer Banks, from Oregon Inlet northward, is usually considered part of the North American mainland,
although it is technically separated by the Intracoastal Waterway, which passes through the Great Dismal Swamp occupying
much of the mainland west of the Outer Banks.
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| Courtesy Microsoft MapPoint |
On the
Outer Banks, first settlers were fishermen or wreckers. Known the world-over as the Graveyard of the Atlantic, the waters
off the Outer Banks are littered with the bones of thousands of ships that have met their fate. Many Outer banks' home
were built from the lumber salvaged from shipwrecks.
No large-scale battles were fought in the Albemarle Sound,
but dozens of small strategic battles were waged for control of the region. The first strategic move on the region arrived
with General Ambrose Burnside's Union expedition, a.k.a. Burnside's North Carolina Expedition, to capture Hatteras Inlet in late 1861. After a brief sea and land battle, the two Confederate forts that controlled inlet access fell into Union hands.
From there, Burnside quickly advanced up Pamlico Sound and captured Roanoke Island. Now, Burnside had a base of operations from which to conduct a systematic conquest of the northeastern and central part
of the coast.
Although Roanoke Island
was the site of one of the largest battles in the state, today there is no physical evidence of the fight. The fall of Roanoke Island, however, is remembered for another notable reason: it became a haven for escaped
and freed slaves who sought the protection of the occupying Union army. By 1863, nearly 3,000 freedman had settled on the
island and established the first Freedman's Colony of the war.
The Wilmington & Weldon Railroad ran between Wilmington, NC, and Richmond and soon became one of the most important supply routes for the Confederacy. Thus,
Burnside launched a series assaults up the Albemarle Sound in an attempt to capture the line and control the waterways. The undersupplied
Confederates defended the towns as best they could with a motley collection of armed boats called the "mosquito fleet." Elizabeth City was first to fall, then Edenton with barely a shot fired. The Federals then occupied
Plymouth, during the Operations against Plymouth, which cinched their control of the Albemarle Sound.
Plymouth changed
hands several times during the war and was the focal point of much of the fighting in the Albemarle
region. The Confederates had succeeded in building a formidable ironclad, the CSS Albemarle, which prevented Union ships from capturing the town via the Roanoke River. Finally, on
October 27th, 1864, in one of the most daring maneuvers of the war, Federal soldiers slipped over to the CSS Albemarle under
cover of night, planted an explosive using an improvised torpedo boat, and sent the ironclad to the bottom of the river.
However, Union forays up the Chowan and Roanoke
Rivers were not as successful, thanks to heavy defensive positions such as Fort Branch, which commanded the Roanoke River above Williamston from
a high bluff. The Wilmington-Weldon Railroad remained in operation until the end of the war.
Meanwhile, federal troops from recently captured New Bern launched an attack on Washington in March 1862, which they
captured after a fiery fight. The town remained in federal hands despite several attempts at recapture by the Confederates.
Finally, in April 1864, the Confederates launched a final attack which was successful--but only after departing Union troops
burned most of the town.
Perhaps the most historically valuable Civil
War site is located in 300 feet of water off Caper Hatteras; that is where the crew of the USS Monitor met their fate
on a stormy New Year's Eve in 1862. For 100 years, her resting place remained a mystery. Then, in 1973, a Duke
University research team located her lying upside down on the sandy bottom 190 miles
southeast of Cape Hatteras.
The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Sources: Historic Albemarle Tour, Inc., historicalbemarletour.org;
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; North Carolina Office of Archives and History; Geology.com; Diary of
Gen. Winfield Scott.
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.
Advance to:
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 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: The
Civil War on the Outer Banks: A History of the Late Rebellion Along the Coast of North Carolina from Carteret to Currituck
With Comments on Prewar Conditions and an Account of (Hardcover: 243 pages). Description: The ports at Beaufort, Wilmington, New Bern and Ocracoke, part of the Outer Banks (a chain of barrier islands that
sweeps down the North Carolina coast from the Virginia Capes to Oregon Inlet), were strategically vital for the import
of war materiel and the export of cash producing crops. From official records, contemporary newspaper accounts, personal journals
of the soldiers, and many unpublished manuscripts and memoirs, this is a full
accounting of the Civil War along the North Carolina 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: American Civil
War Fortifications (1): Coastal brick and stone forts (Fortress). Description: The 50 years before the American Civil War saw a boom in the construction of coastal forts
in the United States of America. These
stone and brick forts stretched from New England to the Florida Keys, and as far as the Mississippi River.
At the start of the war some were located in the secessionist states, and many fell into Confederate hands. Although a handful
of key sites remained in Union hands throughout the war, the remainder had to be won back through bombardment or assault.
This book examines the design, construction and operational history of those fortifications, such as Fort
Sumter, Fort Morgan
and Fort Pulaski,
which played a crucial part in the course of the Civil War.
North Carolina Outer Banks: Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound, List of North Carolina Forts Batteries
Battles Battlefields Civil War Maps, North Carolina Coast American Civil War History Facts Details
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