| Battle of Elizabeth City | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theAmerican Civil War | |||||||
.jpg) USSCommodore Perry's guns, 1864 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States |  Confederate States | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Stephen C. Rowan |  William F. Lynch | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 13gunboats | Land: ~34 men 4artillery pieces Sea: 5 gunboats 1schooner | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 2 steamers damaged 2 killed 7 wounded | 1 steamer sunk 1 armed tug captured 1 steamer scuttled 1 armed tug scuttled 1 schooner scuttled 5 killed 7 wounded 34 captured | ||||||
TheBattle of Elizabeth City of theAmerican Civil War was fought in the immediate aftermath of theBattle of Roanoke Island. It took place on 10 February 1862, on thePasquotank River nearElizabeth City,North Carolina. The participants were vessels of theU.S. Navy'sNorth Atlantic Blockading Squadron, opposed by vessels of theConfederate Navy'sMosquito Fleet; the latter were supported by a shore-based battery of four guns at Cobb's Point (now called Cobb Point), near the southeastern border of the town. The battle was a part of the campaign in North Carolina that was led byMajor GeneralAmbrose E. Burnside and known as theBurnside Expedition. The result was aUnion victory, with Elizabeth City and its nearby waters in their possession, and the Confederate fleet captured, sunk, or dispersed.
At the outset of theAmerican Civil War, theUnion sought to implement itsAnaconda Plan to isolate and defeat theConfederacy. The crucial first step was toblockade the Confederate coast to prevent access to Europe; this was relatively easy, as the pre-war navy was almost entirely from the Union states. The Union then sought to use its naval advantage to advance the rest of the Anaconda Plan by cutting parts of the Confederacy off from one another.[citation needed]
Elizabeth City lies near the mouth of the Pasquotank River, where it flows intoAlbemarle Sound from the north. North of the city is theDismal Swamp Canal. To the east is the southern segment of theAlbemarle and Chesapeake Canal, separated from the Pasquotank River by only a narrow neck of land.[1] Much of the food and forage delivered from North Carolina to southeastern Virginia was transported along these two canals. In particular,Norfolk, Virginia depended upon continued access to the canals for its subsistence. So long as the North Carolina Sounds remained in Confederate hands, Norfolk could be well supplied despite the blockading efforts of the Union Navy at the mouth of theChesapeake Bay.[citation needed]
That changed, however, in early February 1862. In a battle fought on 7–8 February, the joint operation of a Union Army division underMajor GeneralAmbrose E. Burnside and a naval flotilla under Flag OfficerLouis M. Goldsborough capturedRoanoke Island, a position inCroatan Sound that had previously shielded the sounds from Federal encroachment. Earlier, Union ships trying to enforce the blockade on the canals would have had to enterPamlico Sound throughHatteras Inlet, then pass several Confederate batteries on Roanoke Island before they could get into Albemarle Sound. With the elimination of the batteries, however, all that stood in the way of the Union Navy was theMosquito Fleet of the Confederate States Navy.[2]
The first shots of theBurnside Expedition were fired on 7 February 1862, in theBattle of Roanoke Island. On that first day of the two-day battle, a force of 19 Union gunboats bombarded, rather inconclusively, four Rebel forts facing Croatan Sound and eight ships of the Confederate States Navy. The Federal ships were parts of theNorth Atlantic Blockading Squadron, commanded by Flag Officer Goldsborough. The Confederate vessels were drawn from a unit led by Flag OfficerWilliam F. Lynch, termed theMosquito Fleet, intended to serve on Albemarle Sound and nearby waters. Two vessels of the Mosquito Fleet were not present:CSSAppomattox had been sent away to Edenton for supplies and did not return in time for the battle, and schoonerCSSBlack Warrior was left out, presumably because she lacked the mobility that steam power gave the rest of the fleet.[3]
The gunnery duel lasted from noon until sunset. The only significant casualty among the fleets was the loss ofCSSCurlew, holed at the waterline and beached to avoid sinking; when Roanoke Island was surrendered the next day, she was burned in order to keep her out of Federal hands. One other ship was damaged, but not by enemy action:CSSForrest damaged her screw by running on a submerged obstacle, and was thereafter unable to move under her own power. The remainder of the Mosquito Fleet suffered only minimal damage. They had to retire at the end of the day, withForrest in tow, solely because they had nearly run out of ammunition.[4]
Flag Officer Lynch took his fleet toElizabeth City, to resupply and to repairForrest. Failing to find ammunition to replenish his magazines, he sentCommanderThomas T. Hunter, former captain of CSSCurlew, to Norfolk. He later sentCSSRaleigh up the Dismal Swamp Canal for the same purpose. Hunter returned with enough to resupply only two ships; Lynch divided it among all of his remaining serviceable ships.Raleigh, however, was not able to return in time.[5]
No further changes of status affected the Mosquito Fleet. On the eve of battle, Lynch had at his disposal six ships in the water, each with only enough shot and powder to be able to fire ten times.[6] His flagship,Sea Bird, carrying two guns, was a converted sidewheel steamer.[7] Three of his other vessels were former tugs:Appomattox[8] andEllis,[9] each with two guns, andBeaufort,[10] with only one.Fanny,[11] with two guns, had been a transport vessel used by the United States Army until she was captured by Confederate forces near Cape Hatteras. The last vessel,CSS Black Warrior, a schooner that had been pressed into service only four days before the battle, was armed with two 32-pounder guns.[12] In addition to the eleven guns of his fleet, Lynch counted on the four guns of the Cobb's Point battery for support.[13]
The surrender of Roanoke Island on 8 February included all the Rebel forts that had faced on Croatan Sound, so they would no longer be able to prevent passage of Union ships fromPamlico into Albemarle Sound. Flag Officer Goldsborough therefore ordered his gunboats to pursue the Mosquito Fleet and destroy it. Although none of his vessels had been seriously hit in the bombardment of the preceding day, some were damaged enough that he decided not to include them in his order. Fourteen ships remained, however, and they carried a total of 37 guns. Goldsborough himself did not accompany the pursuit; in his stead was CommanderStephen C. Rowan.[14] The fourteen were all, like their Confederate counterparts, converted from civilian vessels in the first days of the war. Rowan's flagshipDelaware,Hetzel,Isaac N. Seymour,John L. Lockwood,Ceres, andGeneral Putnam[15] had all been sidewheel steamers before being acquired by the navy.Shawsheen was also a sidewheel steamer, and like two of her opponents was a former tug. Two other sidewheel vessels,Commodore Perry andMorse, had been ferries. The remaining five ships,Louisiana,Underwriter,Valley City,Whitehead, andHenry Brinker were screw steamers.[16]
If Captain Lynch had known that the Federal fleet faced a shortage of ammunition very much like his own, he perhaps would have altered his tactics, although the outcome would likely have been the same. As it was, Rowan ordered the captains in his fleet to conserve their ammunition. They were told to use ramming and boarding, so far as was possible, to disable or capture the enemy ships.[14]
On 9 February, Rowan's gunboats passed the now-silent guns of Croatan Sound and crossed Albemarle Sound. Darkness fell as they approached Elizabeth City, so they anchored for the night.[17]
Lynch used the time that the Union flotilla was anchored to arrange his own ships for the coming battle. He decided to base his position on the battery of four guns at Cobb's Point, placing schooner CSSBlack Warrior opposite the point, and his five remaining steamships in line across the river a short distance upstream. He took this position because he expected the Union to try to reduce the battery before proceeding, as they had done three days previously in the opening phase of the Battle of Roanoke Island. His final instructions to his captains included the order not to let the ships fall into enemy hands; if all else failed, they should try to escape, or else destroy their vessels.[18]
At dawn on 10 February, Lynch made his first visit to the Cobb's Point battery, to coordinate its defense with his fleet. He found it manned by only seven militiamen and a single civilian. Because the battery was the strong point of his planned defense, he was constrained to order Lieutenant CommanderWilliam Harwar Parker, captain ofCSSBeaufort, to come ashore with most of his crew to man the guns. He left only enough on the ship to take her up the canal. With the additional men, only three of the four guns could be manned. When battle was joined, the militiamen promptly deserted; henceforth, only two guns could be used against the enemy.[6]
The battery turned out to be irrelevant. Because his ammunition was low and his mission was to destroy the Rebel fleet, Rowan ordered his ships to bypass the battery. Parker and his men got off a few wild shots that did no harm, but they found that their guns would not bear once the Federal fleet was upstream. They therefore could only watch as their ships were destroyed by the attacking Federal fleet.[19]
First of the Confederate fleet to be lost was schoonerBlack Warrior. She was fired on by the entire attacking force as they passed the Cobb's Point battery, so her crew abandoned her and set her afire. Likewise,Fanny was run ashore and burned.[20] A boarding party fromCeres capturedCSSEllis in hand-to-hand combat. Her captain would have blown upEllis but a coal heaver discovered the charges and revealed them to the boarding party.CSSSea Bird attempted to escape, but was run down and sunk byCommodore Perry.CSSBeaufort andAppomattox made good their escape into the Dismal Swamp Canal. There,Appomattox was found to be 2 in (5.1 cm) too wide to pass through a lock, so she was burned. CSSForrest, on the stocks to repair the damaged screw she had sustained on 8 February, was burned, along with an unnamed and uncompleted gunboat. CSSRaleigh was still at Norfolk, so she was not harmed.[21] She andBeaufort were the only vessels in the Mosquito Fleet to escape either capture or destruction.
Casualties were modest. The attacking Federal fleet lost two men killed and seven wounded, while the Rebels lost in all four killed, six wounded, and 34 captured.[22]
Quarter Gunner John Davis was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on board theValley City during the engagement.[23][24]
When they learned of the destruction of their fleet and the surrender of the Cobb's Point battery, Confederate troops retreating from Roanoke Island set fires in Elizabeth City, acting under orders fromBrigadier GeneralHenry A. Wise to destroy the town. About two blocks had been consumed when sailors from the Union flotilla arrived and were able to save the rest.[25]
The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal was blocked near its entrance at the North River. The retreating Rebels started the obstruction. It was completed by the victorious Federal forces, acting under the orders of Flag Officer Goldsborough.[26]
The town ofEdenton was taken without bloodshed on 12 February by four of Commander Cowan's gunboats. Two schooners were captured and another destroyed, and eight cannon were seized.[27] More generally, there was no longer a Confederate presence on Albemarle Sound. It remained so for most of the rest of the war; the only significant challenge to Union dominance was the short-lived experiment ofCSSAlbemarle in the summer of 1864.
Although Norfolk was not attacked, it was isolated and increasingly worthless to the Confederate Army. In May, the city was abandoned.
Confederate:
CSSSea Bird, sidewheel steamer, flagship
CSSFanny, tug boat
CSSAppomattox, tug boat
CSSEllis, tug boat
CSSBeaufort, tug boat
CSSBlack Warrior, schooner
Union:
USSDelaware, sidewheel steamer, flagship
USSHetzel, sidewheel steamer
USSIsaac N. Seymour, sidewheel steamer
USSJohn L. Lockwood, sidewheel steamer
USSCeres, sidewheel steamer
USSShawsheen, sidewheel steamer
USSCommodore Perry, sidewheel steamer
USSMorse, sidewheel steamer
USSLouisiana, screw steamer
USSUnderwriter, screw steamer
USSValley City, screw steamer
USSWhitehead, screw steamer
USSHenry Brinker, screw steamer
Abbreviations used in these notes:
| 1861 | |
|---|---|
| 1862 | |
| 1863 | |
| 1864 | |
| 1865 | |
| Units | |
| Places | |
36°16′27″N76°08′32″W / 36.2742°N 76.1421°W /36.2742; -76.1421
