THE FORT AT HATTERAS INLET TAKEN
AN EXPEDITION PLANNED BY THE NAVY DEPARTMENT THAT RESULTED IN
THE FIRST FEDERAL VICTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR--AN AWKWARD LANDING
FOLLOWED BY INEFFECTUAL FIRE FROM SHIPS UNDER WAY--ONE FORT TAKEN
AND ABANDONED--ANCHORED BEYOND RANGE OF THE FORT AND COMPELLED
SURRENDER BY MEANS OF THE BIG PIVOT GUNS--A WEARISOME RACE FROM
CHICAMICOMICO TO HATTERAS LIGHTHOUSE WON BY THE FEDERALS--CAPTURE
OF ROANOKE ISLAND--ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN MEDAL OF HONOR.
For the work that was to be done in restoring the Federal authority
over Hatteras Island and adjacent inland waters a large force was
prepared, because no accurate estimate of the Confederate force there
was obtainable. To Flag Officer Silas H. Stringham was assigned the
command of the expedition. His squadron consisted of the frigate
_Minnesota_, Capt. G. I. Van Brunt; the frigate _Wabash_, Capt. Samuel
Mercer; the _Monticello_, Capt. John P. Gillis; the _Pawnee_, Capt.
S. C. Rowan, and the _Harriet Lane_ (revenue cutter), Capt. John
Faunce. The tug _Fanny_, under Lieut. Pierce Crosby, went along as a
tender, while the transports _Adelaide_, Capt. H. S. Stellwagen, and
_Peabody_, Capt. R. R. Lowry, carried 860 soldiers under Gen. B. F.
Butler. The troops under Butler had orders to return to Fort Monroe as
soon as the object of the expedition was attained.
[Illustration: S. H. Stringham
_From an engraving by Buttre._]
On the afternoon of August 26, 1861, the squadron rounded Cape Hatteras
and anchored about three miles above the inlet, where it was proposed
to make a landing. Two schooners, with their decks loaded with “heavy
iron surf-boats,” had been brought along, and these surf-boats were
floated before dark. The next morning the debarkation of General
Butler’s force began, and Captain Shuttleworth, of the marines, with
enough of his men to raise the whole landing force to 915 men, went
along. The _Pawnee_, the _Monticello_, and the _Harriet Lane_ steamed
close in and opened the attack on the beach by shelling the live-oak
and other trees that grew in profusion just beyond the reach of the
waves.
When the surf-boats started ashore at 8.45 o’clock in the morning, the
other ships of the squadron made a swoop at the forts that could be
plainly seen guarding the inlet. The sailing frigate _Cumberland_ had
joined the force during the night, and the _Wabash_ took her in tow and
followed in the wake of the flagship _Minnesota_. Meantime the frigate
_Susquehanna_ had happened along, and she joined in the procession,
the plan of attack being to steam in until within range, fire as the
forts were passed, and then steam out to sea and back again over an
elliptical route. It was a plan that was followed in several attacks
of the kind; but it is condemned by Admiral Porter as “not the best
calculated to bring an engagement to a speedy conclusion.” The plan
“bothers the enemy’s gunners”--it is safer for the ships--but it also
“detracts from the accuracy of the fire on board the vessels.”
[Illustration: B. F. Butler.
_From a photograph._]
A small earthwork called Fort Clark was the first one met. It had no
bomb-proof, and it mounted five guns. The ships opened fire on this
fort long before they were within range, and the fort replied. Both
sides sowed the water with shot and shells; but the Confederates soon
ceased to waste their ammunition, and when the ships got within range,
their fire proved so hot that the fort was abandoned.
Meantime the troops had reached the surf in their boats, and for a
pleasant day they found it a right vigorous surf. There was very little
difficulty in getting the boats to the sand; they were so large that
a gale would scarcely have swamped them; but the moment they touched
bottom forward, the waves caught them under the floating stern, slewed
them around broadside on, and hove them up hard and fast. In vain the
soldiers and sailors and marines tugged and pried and swore. In all
420 men, with two howitzers, were placed on the beach, and not another
armed man could they land. And what made matters worse was the fact
that they had neither provisions nor supplies of any kind, and their
ammunition (it was the day of paper cartridges) was in great part wet
by the surf. It was a fortunate thing that the Confederates were kept
busy in Fort Hatteras about that time.
[Illustration: Bombardment and Capture of the Forts at Hatteras Inlet,
N. C.
_From a lithograph published by Currier & Ives._]
However, the Confederates having abandoned Fort Clark, the Federal
troops were marched to it, and at 2 o’clock in the afternoon the Union
flag was hoisted above it.
Meantime the fire of Fort Hatteras had been “smothered by the fire of
the frigates,” and the Confederate flag had disappeared. Seeing this,
the frigates ceased firing at 12.30 o’clock, on the supposition that
the Confederates were willing to surrender. But when, at 4 o’clock in
the afternoon, the _Monticello_ was ordered to go in through the inlet
and take a look at the small fleet of Confederate vessels inside the
inner bar, the Confederate fort opened fire on her. The _Wabash_ was at
this time towing the _Cumberland_ to a safe anchorage off shore, but
the _Minnesota_, _Susquehanna_, _Pawnee_, and _Harriet Lane_ returned
the fire with vigor until sunset. But the fire was, “for the most part,
ineffective, from too great a distance,” as Ammen says. The fact is,
there was nothing reckless in the attack.
At sundown the Union troops abandoned Fort Clark and camped up the
beach, where the smaller steamers could protect them. They had had a
hungry day of it, but food was sent ashore at night. Then, as the night
wore away, the troops threw up a sand battery facing the sound, and
from this threw some shells at the Confederate vessels, “which seems to
have materially disconcerted the enemy,” and prevented the landing of
reinforcements for the fort.
The next morning the _Susquehanna_ led the way in to attack Fort
Hatteras, and the _Minnesota_, the _Wabash_, and the _Cumberland_
followed, and all came to anchor “in excellent position and commenced
firing with effect.” That is to say, the position was excellent because
the ships were entirely beyond the range of the fort, while their
pivot guns, fifteen in number, were throwing every shell fired into
the Confederate works. The fire began at 8 o’clock in the morning. The
bomb-proof in the fort was seriously damaged, and at 11 o’clock it was
set on fire by a shell that dropped through a ventilator. The magazine
being in great peril, the Confederates hoisted a white flag at 11.10
o’clock. This was on August 28, 1861; and that was not only the first
victory that the navy of the nation had gained, but it was the first
victory that any Union force had gained in this war for the defence of
the nation’s life. The Union force did not lose a man. The Confederates
lost two killed and thirteen wounded of which we are certain. It is
asserted that the losses were greater.
Flag Officer Samuel Barron, of the Confederate navy, who had charge of
a small fleet of armed boats on the sound; Major W. S. G. Andrews,
commanding the forts, and 615 men and officers were captured. The two
forts contained together twenty-five guns, every one of which came from
the Norfolk Navy Yard, as did also 1,000 muskets and a quantity of
ordnance stores found in the fort.
[Illustration: Eight-inch Mortar Captured at Hatteras.]
This point was thereafter held by the Union forces throughout the war.
To show the value of this victory, we may quote the report of General
Butler. He said:
“From there the whole coast of Virginia and North Carolina, from
Norfolk to Cape Lookout, is within our reach by light draught vessels,
which cannot possibly live at sea during the winter months. From it
offensive operations may be made upon the whole coast of North Carolina
to Bogue Inlet, extending many miles inland to Washington, Newbern, and
Beaufort. In the language of the chief-engineer of the rebels, Colonel
Thompson, in an official report, ‘it is the key of Albemarle.’ In my
judgment, it is a station second in importance only to Fortress Monroe
on this coast. As a depot for coaling and supplies for the blockading
squadron it is invaluable. As a harbor for our coasting trade, or inlet
from the winter storms or from pirates, it is of the first importance.”
A fort at Ocracoke Inlet was abandoned by the Confederates when those
at Hatteras fell.
[Illustration: L. M. Goldsborough
_From an engraving by Buttre._]
Meantime the Twentieth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, under Colonel
Brown, of the Hatteras Island garrison, got into serious trouble.
The regiment had gone to a small settlement at the north end of the
island--Chicamicomico by name--twenty-five miles north of Cape Hatteras
lighthouse. Just what purpose they were to serve there is not now
apparent; but the Confederates, who had fortified Roanoke Island,
came with a superior force to cut them off from communication with
the forces at the inlet, and there was a most fatiguing race down the
beach. The Union force won, the Confederates being driven off by the
Union steamer _Monticello_, Capt. D. L. Braine.
Following this, in 1862, came the expedition under Flag Officer L. M.
Goldsborough and Gen. A. E. Burnside against Roanoke Island. The force
left Hampton Roads on January 11th. There was a long delay at Hatteras
Inlet bar, but on Friday morning, February 7th, they were facing the
Confederate forts on the north end of Roanoke Island, and a squadron
of Confederate ships, which their commander, Commodore W. F. Lynch,
described as “two old side-wheel steamers, and six propellers--the
former possessing some speed; the latter slow in their movements, and
one of them frequently disabling its shaft.”
[Illustration: Stephen C. Rowan.
_From a photograph._]
The Union steamers were, in fact, no better. Both fleets were wholly
unarmored, but the guns on both sides were good for that day, and
therein lies the one point worth noting. The Union fleet on one side
and the Confederate forts and fleet on the other fought for six hours
at one stretch at easy range. One Union ship reports firing 181 shells,
and probably those that made no report of the matter (there were
nineteen in all) did as well, but only one ship--a Confederate--was
sunk, and she was able to run away to a fort before going down. After
two days the Confederate forts surrendered, and the Confederate ships
fled to Elizabeth City.
Commander S. C. Rowan, with a part of the Union fleet, pursued and
destroyed or captured them all save one that passed through the canal
to Norfolk. The conflict at Elizabeth City is especially notable,
because the deed of a heroic gunner led Congress to pass an act
creating a Union naval medal. Says Lossing:
“An extraordinary example of heroism was exhibited during this
engagement by John Davis, a Finlander, who was a gunner’s mate on board
the _Valley City_. A shell entered that vessel, and, exploding in the
magazine, set fire to some wood-work. Davis was there, and, seeing the
imminent danger to the vessel and all on board, because of an open
barrel of gunpowder from which he had been serving, he seated
himself upon it, and so remained until the flames were extinguished.
For this brave act the Secretary of the Navy rewarded him with the
appointment of acting-gunner in the navy (March 11, 1862), by which his
salary was raised from $300 to $1,000 a year. Admiring citizens of New
York raised and presented to him $1,100. The Secretary of the Navy, by
authority of an act of Congress, approved December 21, 1861, presented
him with a _Medal of Honor_, on which are inscribed the following
words: ‘Personal Valor, John Davis, Gunner’s Mate, U.S.S. _Valley
City_, Albemarle Sound, February 10, 1862.’ Such medals were afterward
presented to a considerable number of gallant men in subordinate
stations, for acts of special bravery ‘before the enemy.’ Davis was the
first recipient.”
[Illustration: Attack on Roanoke Island--Landing of the Troops.
_From an engraving of the painting by Chappel._]
[Illustration: Landing of Troops on Roanoke Island.
_From an engraving by Perine of a drawing by Momberger._]