March 25, 1862
Federal Occupation of Beaufort
Beaufort, NC
* "Federal forces occupied Beaufort, NC, on March 25, 1862, as part of the Burnside Expedition to control the Atlantic coast, finding the town abandoned by Confederate troops. The strategic port remained under Union control for the rest of the war, serving as a vital coaling station and supply base for the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron"
* They have been fighting over the lighthouse and deep-water port here since at least the Revolution.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=225892 |
To the memory of the
Confederate Dead
of Carteret County,
1861-1865
Erected by
The Daughters of
Confederacy
Fort Macon Chapter
Beaufort, N.C. 1926
"Not even time can destroy heroism."
Erected 1926 by The Daughters of the Confederacy, Fort Macon Chapter, Beaufort, N.C.
The Daughters make their own facts. And, I'm no big city lawyer, but it seems to me that if the public really wanted this monument in their public sphere then Beaufort wouldn't need to protect it from them with security measures. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer states where these monuments to failure have been moved to battlefields or museums. Still, I'm glad I made it just before nightfall to this quaint seaside town, where I spent the night.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=77029 |
Beaufort
Union Occupation
and Confederate Spies
Before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, local citizens formed the Beaufort Harbor Guards. These Confederate sympathizers, led by Capt. Josiah Pender, occupied Fort Mason when the sole guard, U.S. Army Ordnance Sgt. William Alexander, quietly surrendered.
During the siege of Fort Macon (Mar. 23-Apr. 25, 1862), Union signalman on the porch of the Atlantic Hotel directed the Federal artillery in the dunes so that the shells fell accurately on the fort. Afterward, the hotel served U.S. forces as Hammond Hospital until the war ended, then it reopened as the Atlantic Hotel. The Sisters of Mercy, Roman Catholic nuns from New York, cared for the wounded and sick of Beaufort between July 1862 and May 1863.
Josiah Fisher Bell, whose house stands on the grounds of the Beaufort Historic Site, served as a Confederate secret agent and helped coordinate the movement of Southern troops into and out of the area. In April 1864, he planned and executed a mission to destroy the Cape Lookout lighthouse. His group succeeded in destroying one lighthouse and severely damaging the other.
The Old Burying Ground here contains the burial markers of both Confederate and Union soldiers as well as the graves of slaves and free blacks. Broad Street (to the north) became a major center for black refugees, and the area was known as Union City. During the Federal occupation of Beaufort, the deep-water port became an important coaling and repair station for the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
(sidebar)
Beaufort, N.C.-Beaufort is an important place in North Carolina, periodically threatened by the rebels, who fret and fume over our possession of their sea coast. Our sketch gives a view of Beaufort, from Morehead city.
Beaufort was, in other days, a port of entry. It is the capital of Carteret county, and stands as the mouth of Newport river, a few miles from the sea. The harbor is considered the best in the state and is defended by Fort Macon, and gallantly taken by our forces.
(center) Josiah Fisher Bell
(upper right) Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, April 28, 1862. View of Fort Macon and Beaufort Harbor.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=77031 |
Deeded to town, 1731, by Nathanael Taylor. Capt. Otway Burns of the War of 1812, Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers are buried here.
Erected 1965 by Archives and Highway Departments. (Marker Number C-43.)
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| "General Burnside's Headquarters 1862" |
*
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=213139 |
USS Monitor: America's First Ironclad
Monitor National Marine Sanctuary
— USS Monitor Trail —
Launched on Jan. 30, 1862, at the Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, N.Y., the USS Monitor made history as the Union Navy’s first ironclad warship. It fought the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia in the first-ever clash between two ironclads at the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9 — an encounter that signaled the start of a new era of naval warfare. The Monitor’s short but historic career came to an end on Dec. 31, 1862, when it sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras, N.C., with the loss of 16 sailors.
In 1975, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) designated the USS Monitor’s wreck site as the nation’s first national marine sanctuary. Over the years, NOAA and partners have undertaken several recovery operations and retrieved artifacts for conservation. When U.S. Navy divers recovered the ship’s iconic gun turret in 2002, archaeologists discovered the remains of two sailors inside.
Discovery of the USS Monitor In August 1973, John G. Newton of the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C., led an interdisciplinary team of distinguished scientists — Harold “Doc” Edgerton, Robert Sheridan and Gordon Watts — in search of the USS Monitor. Aboard the Duke University Research Vessel Eastward, they used an innovative combination of Edgerton’s new side-scan sonar, remotely operated still and video cameras, a magnetometer, and a predecessor of modern GPS technology to hunt for the lost ironclad over an area covering 96 square miles of seafloor. The survey located 22 shipwrecks, only two of which resembled the Monitor. One of these was ruled out after three days. After months of intensive research, the team announced their findings on March 7, 1974: the second wreck, resting in 230 feet of water about 16 miles off Cape Hatteras, N.C., was indeed the USS Monitor.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=213133 |
John G. Newton
Oceanographer
Resident of Beaufort and marine superintendent at Duke University Marine Laboratory, he led the successful search for the ironclad U.S.S. Monitor.
Progenitor of modern warships, the Monitor fought C.S.S. Virginia in the first battle between armored vessels, March 9, 1862, at Hampton Roads, VA. The Monitor sank in a storm 16 miles off Cape Hatteras on Dec. 31, 1862 while under tow to occupied Beaufort.
Aboard the Duke University research vessel Eastward, Mr. Newton led a party of distinguished scientists — Harold “Doc” Edgerton, Robert Sheridan and Gordan Watts — in location the remains of the Monitor in August 1973. The scientific party was assisted by Fred Kelly, Eric Nelson, Dorothy Nicholson and many others.
The Monitor search area covered 96 square miles and marked one of the first applications of side-scan sonar to underwater archeology. In 1975, the national oceanic and Atmospheric Administration designated The Monitor Site as the nation’s first marine sanctuary.
Dedicated on the one hundred and fortieth anniversary of the Battle of the Ironclads March 9, 2002.
John G. Newton
1932—1984
Oceanographer
U.S.S. Monitor Discovery 1973
And though they soul sail leagues and leagues beyond — still, leagues beyond those leagues, there is more sea. Dante Rosetti
Sources / Suggested Reading:
https://history.appstate.edu/sites/history.appstate.edu/files/jsharticle.pdf
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