Carried Into War
A Soldier's Life
Realities of War
The Home Front
Facing the Grim Reaper
Breaking the Blockade
The Last Campaigns
An Uncertain Future
Acknowledgments
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North Carolina Ironclads
North Carolina Blockade-Runners
Wilmington
At the outset of hostilities, Confederate naval officials realized that lack of both time and other resources prevented them from building a fleet to rival the United States Navy. The development of ironclads seemed a promising way to neutralize the superiority of the Union navy. Officials hoped that ironclads could not only destroy the wooden vessels used in the Federal blockade but also assist in joint naval and ground operations. The CSS Albemarle and the CSS Neuse were North Carolina's most famous ironclads.
CSS Albemarle
We fired about thirty shells at the ram [CSS Albemarle] but they had no effect on her.
Surgeon's Steward Sayers O. Nichols, USS Miami, May 4, 1864
Frustrated with the inability to drive Federal forces from eastern North Carolina with infantry alone, the Confederacy turned to the construction of ironclads. Work on the CSS Albemarle began in a cornfield along the Roanoke River at Edwards Ferry in January 1863. Completed at Halifax, Halifax County, the ship proved instrumental in the capture of Plymouth the following April. Determined to destroy the Albemarle, the United States Navy sent Lieutenant William B. Cushing, who managed to sink the ironclad with a torpedo on the evening of October 27, 1864. Without the protection of the Albemarle, Plymouth was soon in Federal hands again.
James Wallace Cooke
Born in Beaufort, Carteret County, on August 12, 1812, James Wallace Cooke became a midshipman in the United States Navy at the age of thirteen. With the outbreak of war in 1861, Cooke resigned his commission and enlisted in Confederate service. Ordered to North Carolina, he supervised the building of the CSS Albemarle and commanded the vessel during the capture of Plymouth on April 20, 1864. Because of his leadership on the Albemarle, Cooke was promoted to captain on June 10, 1864, and had command of the inland waters of North Carolina until the end of the war.
Benjamin H. Gray
Benjamin H. Gray, a twelve-year-old African American from Bertie County, served as a crew member on the CSS Albemarle during its battles in 1864. His primary job was carrying powder bags from the powder magazine below deck up to the Albemarle's guns. During the war, both the United States and Confederate navies commonly used young boys to carry powder bags. Gray survived the engagements of the Albemarle and returned to Bertie County.
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CSS Neuse
I have sent 435,000 lbs. of old rails to Atlanta and 125,000 lbs. to Richmond and have received and am receiving the plates rolled therefrom. Not one plate has been applied to any other purpose than the Naval Defences of this State, which was the agreement with your Excellency. Every order I have received from the Navy Department evinces its anxiety for the completion of the gunboats in North Carolina and to that Department I am responsible.
—Flag Officer W. F. Lynch, December 4, 1863
Similar to the Albemarle in design, the CSS Neuse was constructed in the hope of driving the Federals out of New Bern and the Pamlico Sound region. Constructed at Whitehall, Wayne County, the ship was launched in May 1863 and taken to Kinston to be outfitted. After numerous delays, the Neuse was completed, but on April 22, 1864, it ran aground when moving down the Neuse River for an attack on New Bern. Freed by rising waters, the ship returned to Kinston, where its crew destroyed it on March 12, 1865, to prevent its capture.
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