March 30, 1863 - Siege of Washington

March 30, 1863 - April 19, 1863

Siege of Washington (AKA The Siege of Little Washington; AKA the Battle of Washington; but NOT the "Defense of Washington," which is a smaller event in 1862)

Beaufort County, NC

Major General John G. Foster leading a Union garrison of 6 regiments (technically part of the XVIII Corps)> Brigadier General Richard B. Garnett >  Brigadier General Henry Prince sailed up the Tar River for relief

vs.

General D. H. Hill's Division 

* Not to be confused with "the Burning of Washington," which could refer to either the British in 1812 or here again in 1864 

* This is a Confederate initiative: Longstreet trying the Tidewater region out for much-needed supplies - and to distract US troops. He delegates to D. H. Hill for Washington.  

* 'The Confederates sent a message to Foster demanding surrender. Foster replied saying "If the Confederates want Washington, come and get it."'

* Nobody told me about the "the Battle of Blount’s Creek" - damnit! This page covers it. I'm not going back. 

* "The scars of the Civil War are still visible. Look off to the west and you will see the remains of the Union Army's ship, Picket, jutting from where it blew up on September 6th, 1862. Walking down Main St. you will view the view houses with dates of construction in the 1850's, '60's and '70's, testimony to the fact that the town was burnt by Union troops during their evacuation after the fall of Plymouth, NC. Even more startling are the two houses on Water Street which were built in 1780 and 1795. They stood through the fires and barrages of the war, having cannon balls imbedded in their walls, a bequest of the shelling of the town by the Rebel troops located on the southern shore of the Pamplico River."

* Also, yes- let's talk about the earlier USS Picket incident while here (though I did not see anything jutting out of the water, the error may have been my haste) 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=70502

Siege of Washington

March 30 - April 20, 1863

To protect Confederate supply lines and to gather much-need provisions in eastern North Carolina, Gen. Daniel H. Hill planned demonstrations against Union-occupied New Bern and Washington in March 1863. He acted under orders from Gen. James Longstreet, whom Gen. Robert E. Lee had appointed commander of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. After Hill’s expedition to New Bern ended with no result, he marched to Washington and, on March 30, besieged the town and its Federal garrison. Union forces had held Washington since March 20, 1862, just five days after it captured New Bern.

The Confederates occupied Fort Hill, located five miles down the Pamlico River, and kept Washington from being reinforced with holding a small armada of Federal warships at bay. Action across the river at Rodman’s Quarter stayed lively as the town was bombarded and the Confederate cannons dueled with the gunboats Commodore Hull, Louisiana, Eagle, and Ceres. Gen. Francis B. Spinola and his 8,000 troops tried to take Fort Hill from the Confederate forces but was repulsed on April 9 at the Battle of Blount’s Creek.

Union reinforcements ended the siege on April 20, as Lee recalled Hill to Virginia. Supplies had been obtained, the Federals at Washington and New Bern had been kept occupied, and soon the Battle of Gettysburg would await both sides.

(lower left) Rebel batteries and the National defenses during the siege of Washington, N.C.

(upper right) “Shelling of rebel batteries in the woods opposite Washington, N.C. April 16, 1863.” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, May 16, 1863

(lower right) “Siege of Washington, N.C. — Effect of two shells, fired at the same, on a rebel cotton battery, opposite Washington , N.C. April 12, 1863.” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, May 16, 1863

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=226312

Siege of Washington

Town seized by Union troops, Mar. 1862. Efforts to recapture it failed in 1862 & 1863. Union army withdrew in Apr. 1864.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=114466

African Americans Defend Washington

Prior to formation of 1st N.C. Colored Volunteers, about 100 black men were armed to aid Union forces during the siege of Washington in 1863.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=276393

A River Runs Through It

The Underground Railroad in Washington, N.C.

— 1790 - 1862 —

Mural depicting an abolitionist working on a wharf in Washington, NC providing secret clues for the freedom seekers. This area was a well-known escape route on the Underground Railroad for the enslaved.

Mural commissioned in May 2022

Artist: Colleen Knight

Thank you to

Rebecca Clark, Arts of the Pamlico and Leesa Jones, Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum

 

Erected 2022 by The Historic Port of Washington.

 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64899

USS Picket

Battle of Washington

During the summer of 1862, Union forces firmly controlled eastern North Carolina, with garrisons stationed at Plymouth, Washington, New Bern and elsewhere. Federal detachments raided the countryside at will, while Confederate authorities struck back with raids of their own. One such action occurred here at Washington on September 6, when Confederate Maj. Stephen D. Pool led 1,000 infantry, cavalry, and artillery against the 1,200-man garrison. Concealed by early morning fog, Pool and his men slipped past Federal pickets and into town. Once the shooting started, sleepy Union soldiers stumbled into the streets and began a confused, uncoordinated defense. Eventually the haze lifted enough for two Federal gunboats, Picket and Louisiana, to shell the Confederates. Suddenly, Picket's magazine exploded, killing Capt. Sylvester Nicoll and nineteen crewmen and wounding six others.

The Confederates cheered, "Washington is ours!" Soon, however Federal reinforcements arrived to turn the tide. Col. Edward E. Potter, 1st Regiment North Carolina Union Volunteers, was leading five cavalry companies and an artillery battery from Washington to Plymouth when he heard the sound of gunfire. He turned his detachment around and, after more than two hours of hard fighting, drove the Confederates from Washington. Confederate casualties were 31 killed, 30 wounded, and 24 taken prisoner, while the Federals lost 26 killed, 55 wounded, and 12 captured.

*

Might as well see some dead Confederates while visiting Washington. It was weird how all the memorials in Oakdale Cemetery refer to an earlier 1862 incident in Washington, that the other markers gloss over. I'm sticking with the "Siege" as the many focus. 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=276375

To our

Confederate Dead

1861 - 1865.

Erected 1888.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=276374

Defense of Washington Memorial

Erected May 10, 1905 by Washington Gray Chapter Children of the Confederacy, organized in 1897 by Margaret Arthur Call. To the memory of 17 soldiers killed in defense of Washington Sept. 6, 1862.

 

Erected 1905 by Washington Gray Chapter, Children of the Confederacy.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=76917

Oakdale Cemetery

To Our Confederate Dead

After the Civil War, women’s associations throughout the South sought to gather the Confederate dead from battlefield burial sites and reinter the remains in proper cemeteries, while Confederate monuments were erected in courthouse squares and other public places. A monument titled “To Our Confederate Dead” was unveiled on Confederate Memorial Day, May 10, 1888, at Washington’s Monument Park (then located at the corner of Water and Monumental Streets). Exactly ten years later, the memorial was relocated to Oakdale Cemetery. The monument was dedicated to “The Private Soldier” and modeled after Capt. Thomas M. Allen, Co. E, (Southern Guards), 4th North Carolina Infantry. Allen, captured at Gettysburg, Pa., in July 1863, was among 600 officers transferred from Fort Delaware to Morris Island, S.C., in August 1864, to be confined in front of the Union batteries during the siege of Charleston. Allen and most of the offices eventually were returned to Fort Delaware and released after the war, becoming known as the “Immortal 600.”

On January 17, 1897, here in Oakdale Cemetery, the Ladies Memorial Association of Beaufort County reburied 17 Confederates killed during the September 6, 1862, Battle of Washington. [ The WHEN battle of Washington?!] The Children of the Confederacy dedicated the monument at the cemetery’s southwest entrance on May 10, 1905. On May 10, 1975, the Confederate cannon was placed in memory of Edmond Hoyt Harding by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The Pamlico Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy has conducted annual Memorial Day celebrations from 1883 to the present. The old veterans marched from Washington to the monument until the last one, J.D. Paul, died in 1938.

(captions)

(left) Wilson T. Farrow served in Co. H, 33rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment as 1st Lt. He is buried in Oakdale Cemetery.

(right) Reverend Nathaniel Harding enlisted on August 20, 1864, at age 17 as a private in Co. I, 67th Regiment N.C. Troops, also known as Co. I, Whitford’s Battalion N.C., Partisan Rangers. According to his family, while serving near Plymouth, N.C., he fell in a creek while weighted down with equipment and was pulled to safety by a Union officer who took him under his wing. After the war, Harding was educated at the Episcopal Academy, Cheshire, Conn., and Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. He became a deacon in 1873 and a priest in 1875. From 1873 until his death in 1917, he spent his ministry a St. Peter’s Episcopal Church here in Washington. He is buried in Oakdale Cemetery.

*

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64759

The town was burned and shelled by evacuating United States troops in April, 1864.

*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Washington

Dedicated to the memory of Edmund Hoyt Harding

Erected 1972 by Pamlico Chapter #43, United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Oakdale Cemetery

To Our Confederate Dead