Feb. 7-8, 1862 - The Battle Of Roanoke Island

Feb. 7, 1862

The Battle Of Roanoke Island

Roanoke Island and Sound, Dare County, North Carolina

A flotilla of gunboats of the Union Navy drawn from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, commanded by Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough, a separate group of gunboats under Union Army control, and an army division led by Brig. Gen. Ambrose Burnside (Brig. Gen. John G. Foster led the First Brigade, Brig. Gen. Jesse L. Reno the Second, and Brig. Gen. John G. Parke the Third)

vs.

A group of gunboats from the Confederate Navy, the Mosquito Fleet, under Capt. William F. Lynch, and about 2,000 Confederate soldiers commanded locally by Brig. Gen. Henry A. Wise in some forts > Col. Henry M. Shaw surrenders

* Opening phase of the Burnside Expedition, itself a subset of Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan to close Southern ports. [I need to visit  the parts in Annapolis where this (and lots of other stuff) kicks-off from.] Also, some of that flotilla sunk on the way in a couple storms.   

* You know it is early in the war because Reno is the highest ranking officer killed at South Mountain. 

* About equal loses, but Burnsides captured the island and 2,500 Confederates surrendered. A nice Union morale boost after first Bull Run, in addition to the intended benefit of opening up inland port cities, which all get claimed by the Union that summer.  

* So help me, there are other historical markers I missed for "Confederate Channel Obstructions" as well as Forts Bartow and Blanchard. But I may never make it back to that island. 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=11386

Battle of Roanoke Island

At 3 P.M. February 7, 1862, Union forces under Gen. Ambrose Burnside landed at Ashby Harbor (A). By midnight 7,500 Federals were ashore. A Confederate force of 400 men and 3 field-pieces was sent to resist the Federal landing. The Confederates were driven away by gunfire from the Federal fleet in Croatan Sound (B).

The Confederates withdrew north along the only road on the island (C), situated a little to the west of the present State Highway 345 (D), across which a line of breastworks had been constructed at Point E to delay the Federal advance. The Confederates relied on the swamps (F) on each side of the road to protect their flanks. The Confederate right (G) and left (H) flanks were protected by skirmishers.

The Federal 1st Brigade assaulted the Confederates in front, supported by 6 cannon. Federal infantry attempted to advance, but were repulsed by heavy Confederate fire. Troops were ordered into the swamp (F) to crush the Confederate left (H).

At this time Gen. J. L. Reno arrived with four regiments of the Federal 2nd Brigade, which he moved through the swamp against the Confederate right (G). By the time the Federals reached both flanks of the Confederate position, Gen. J. G. Parke, commanding the Federal 3rd Brigade, arrived and made an attack upon the Confederate front. Under pressure from three sides, the Confederates withdrew to the northern end of the island (I).

Additional Confederate forces arrived in time to become involved in the retreat. One hour later the Confederate commander surrendered his entire force, 2,488 men, to Gen. Burnside. Roanoke Island was lost--and with it Confederate control of the North Carolina Sound region.

CONFEDERATE TROOPS ENGAGED: Company B, 8th and Companies B, F, and E, 31st North Carolina Regiments; Companies E and K, 59th, two companies of the 46th, and one company of the 49th Virginia Regiment.

FEDERAL TROOPS ENGAGED: 21st, 23rd, 25th, and 27th Massachusetts Regiments; 9th and 51st New York Regiments; 9th New Jersey Regiment; 10th Connecticut Regiment.

Total number of troops engaged: Federal: over 5,000; Confederate: 400. (Marker Number BB-4.)

Useful map corresponding to those letters 

Photographed by Paul Jordan, June 15, 2009

Sneden, Robert Knox. Map of Roanoke Island showing Rebel forts. [to 1865, 1862] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00069/>.

Meanwhile, at the Outer Banks visitor's center...

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=56925

Burnside Expedition of 1862

Much of coastal North Carolina fell to Union forces in 1862. For the duration of the Civil War Northern troops kept a sizable presence in the area. The peculiar geography of the Outer Banks and the sounds region, a damper to antebellum trade, proved indefensible for the outnumbered and poorly equipped Confederates. Under Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, a Rhode Islander, Union forces swept across the region, rolling up one victory after another.

In August 1861 Confederate Forts Hatteras and Clark on the north side of Hatteras Inlet were overrun following naval bombardment. In October Burnside gained approval for an expedition designed to divert Confederate from tidewater Virginia and disrupt inland supply lines. He assembled a 78-vessel fleet under joint command with Adm. Louis Goldsborough. By February 1, 1862, the last troop transport was “across the swash,” inside Pamlico Sound. Their target was Roanoke Island.

Acting on a tip from an escaped slave, Burnside chose Ashby’s Harbor on the island’s west side for his assault. On February 7 over 7,500 Union troops moved ashore. The next day Confederates led by Brig. Gen. Henry Wise withdrew under fire to the island’s north end. The Federal feet shelled positions in support of the land offensive and Col. Henry M. Shaw surrendered 2,488 men. It was the Union’s first sizable victory in ten months and Burnside briefly was a national hero.

Within weeks Burnside’s lieutenants, Brig. Gens. John G. Foster, Jesse L. Reno, and John G. Parke, extended Union control into the waterways feeding the sounds. Elizabeth City was seized on February 10. Two days later Edenton was in Federal hands and on February 20 Winton was burned. Moving up the Pamlico River, gunboats took Washington on March 20. The single Union defeat took place on April 19 at South Mills, where Confederates repelled Reno’s men, foiling their attempt to demolish the Dismal Swamp Canal locks. The next target was the state’s second largest city, New Bern (1860 pop. 5,432).

On March 12 Burnside and 11,000 troops anchored south of New Bern at Slocum’s Creek. Defending the city were fortifications lining the Neuse River and 4,000 untested Confederates led by Brig. Gen. Lawrence O’B. Branch. The Federals went ashore on March 13 and, the next day, marched north along the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad. Assisted by fire from the flotilla, Union troops broke the center of the Confederate line. The four-hour battle left 90 Union and 68 Confederate soldiers dead. After a full-scale retreat across the Trent River, New Bern was occupied. Many residents had fled in anticipation of the invasion.

The next objective was Fort Macon. Parke organized the assault, marching his men along the rail line from New Bern to Morehead City. Col. Moses J. White defended the fort with 54 cannon. Federals laid siege to the fort in late March, moving their artillery to within 1,500 yards of its walls. Crowds at the docks in Morehead City and Beaufort witnessed the shelling on April 25. The white flag appeared late that day and surrender was arranged on April 26. Access to the deepwater harbor at Beaufort spared the Federals the need to rely on the treacherous inlet at Hatteras.

In July, on orders from President Abraham Lincoln, Burnside moved most of his troops to Virginia to assist in a planned assault on Richmond. Burnside had hoped to rally Union sympathizers within North Carolina and undermine support for the war effort, a dream that went unrealized. The Burnside Expedition spurred Confederate recruiting and steeled the determination of North Carolina’s political and military leaders to assemble an effective fighting force.

*

Roanoke is also the site of the famous Lost Colony play, obviously some indigenous populations, the Birthplace of

America's first English child in 1587, and also some serious Underground Railroad stuff. I saw it, some from a distance. 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=46990

First Light of Freedom

The Freedmen’s Colony of Roanoke Island

—National Underground Railroad - Network To Freedom—

First Light of Freedom

Former slaves give thanks by the creek’s edge

at the sight of the island - 

“If you can cross the

creek to Roanoke Island, you will find ‘safe haven’.”

[rendering of Edwin Forbes' "The Sanctuary"]

The Freedmen’s Colony of Roanoke Island

1862–1867

A year after the Civil War began, Roanoke Island fell to Union Forces. Word spread throughout North Carolina that slaves could find “safe haven” on the Island. By the end of 1862, over a thousand runaway slaves, freed men, women and children found sanctuary here. This colony, precursor to the Freedmen's Bureau, was to serve as a model for other colonies throughout the South. Once again this small island, site of the first English attempt at permanent settlement in the New World, became a land of historic beginnings.

The Freedmen's Colony encompassed unoccupied, unimproved lands from Manteo to the north and west shores, including some of the land today known as Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. A sawmill, hospital, a school for black female teachers, and homes were established. Able-bodied men were offered rations and employment to build a new fort. They also enlisted to form the First and Second North Carolina Regiments. The colony could not remain self-supporting without men and became a refuge for three thousand women, children, aged and infirmed.

Upon the war's end, the federal government discontinued rations and supplies to colonists and returned land to original owners. Reminiscent of early English efforts, the Roanoke Island Freedmen's colony was abandoned in 1867. Many freed people remained and their descendants would become respected local residents. Others settled in communities throughout the region and would become an integral part of eastern North Carolina culture.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=233626

A Civil War Refuge

—Fort Raleigh National Historic Site—

In the 1860s - more than two and a half centuries after the disappearance of the 1587 settlers, a new colony was taking shape on Roanoke Island, one that was home to refugees fleeing the bondage of slavery. The island south and west of here became a haven for enslaved men, women, and children who risked their lives on this journey to freedom. Eventually, a formal colony was established and at its peak was home to over 3,500 freed people. Here they established schools, places of worship, and businesses that provided colonists with educational, spiritual, and economic opportunities.

Why Roanoke Island?

In February of 1862, Union forces gained control of the island and its property after the Confederate defeat in the Battle of Roanoke Island. This victory paired with the Confiscation Acts of 1861 & 1862, placed enslaved people under the protection of the Union Army, who labeled them as contraband to keep them from being returned to their masters.

...no known photographs exist of the Roanoke Freedman's Colony...

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=233628

A Legacy of Freedom

—Fort Raleigh National Historic Site—

Despite dissolving only five years after the first individuals arrived, the Roanoke Freedmen's Colony was one of the first steps in a long struggle for racial equality in the United States. Community members fought for their freedom through enlistment in the military, a strong emphasis on education and literacy, and a continued contribution to the culture and traditions of the Outer Banks. Today, descendants of the colony keep the memories of their ancestors alive through their avid participation in the community and interpretation of the histories of Roanoke's forgotten colonists.

How to Keep a Memory Alive

Although less than 200 years old, the Freedman's colony left few physical remains. Today, we rely on oral and written histories, as well as sources from other Freedmen establishments to imagine what this colony may have looked like.

Artwork, such as the painting to the left by Mona Currie which depicts a family reuniting on island soil, is produced by enthusiasts eager to help visually represent the accomplishments of this pioneering community.

*

There's also reference to the Burnside Expedition on Hatteras at the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=135883

The Burnside Expedition at Hatteras Island

General Burnside's forces captured Roanoke Island on February 8, 1862. In quick succession, thirteen counties and over thirty cities and towns were annexed including: New Bern, Plymouth, Beaufort, Edenton, Elizabeth City and Washington. 

By July of 1862 the Confederate coastal supply line from the Deep South to Virginia was deeply compromised. These events underscored the inability of the Confederacy to set priorities and the failure of the Federal leadership to recognize the full potential of their coastal conquests. The loss of the Outer Banks undermined Southern morale and boosted that of the North. It intensified the secession controversy and the conflict between the Confederate government and North Carolina.

*

Sources:

https://www.nps.gov/fora/learn/historyculture/battleofroanokeisland.htm

https://www.ncpedia.org/roanoke-island-battle

https://nyslibrary.libguides.com/cwillustrations/roanoke