To the Northern merchant Pamlico Sound was a “pirates’ nest” that needed immediate attention, and the next chapter shall tell what was done.
CHAPTER V
THE FORT AT HATTERAS INLET TAKEN
AN EXPEDITION PLANNED BY THE NAVY DEPARTMENT THAT RESULTED IN THE FIRST FEDERAL VICTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR—AN AWKWARD LANDING FOLLOWED BY INEFFECTUAL FIRE FROM SHIPS UNDER WAY—ONE FORT TAKEN AND ABANDONED—ANCHORED BEYOND RANGE OF THE FORT AND COMPELLED SURRENDER BY MEANS OF THE BIG PIVOT GUNS—A WEARISOME RACE FROM CHICAMICOMICO TO HATTERAS LIGHTHOUSE WON BY THE FEDERALS—CAPTURE OF ROANOKE ISLAND—ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN MEDAL OF HONOR.
For the work that was to be done in restoring the Federal authority over Hatteras Island and adjacent inland waters a large force was prepared, because no accurate estimate of the Confederate force there was obtainable. To Flag Officer Silas H. Stringham was assigned the command of the expedition. His squadron consisted of the frigate Minnesota, Capt. G. I. Van Brunt; the frigate Wabash, Capt. Samuel Mercer; the Monticello, Capt. John P. Gillis; the Pawnee, Capt. S. C. Rowan, and the Harriet Lane (revenue cutter), Capt. John Faunce. The tug Fanny, under Lieut. Pierce Crosby, went along as a tender, while the transports Adelaide, Capt. H. S. Stellwagen, and Peabody, Capt. R. R. Lowry, carried 860 soldiers under Gen. B. F. Butler. The troops under Butler had orders to return to Fort Monroe as soon as the object of the expedition was attained.
S. H. Stringham
From an engraving by Buttre.
On the afternoon of August 26, 1861, the squadron rounded Cape Hatteras and anchored about three miles above the inlet, where it was proposed to make a landing. Two schooners, with their decks loaded with “heavy iron surf-boats,” had been brought along, and these surf-boats were floated before dark. The next morning the debarkation of General Butler’s force began, and Captain Shuttleworth, of the marines, with enough of his men to raise the whole landing force to 915 men, went along. The Pawnee, the Monticello, and the Harriet Lane steamed close in and opened the attack on the beach by shelling the live-oak and other trees that grew in profusion just beyond the reach of the waves.
When the surf-boats started ashore at 8.45 o’clock in the morning, the other ships of the squadron made a swoop at the forts that could be plainly seen guarding the inlet. The sailing frigate Cumberland had joined the force during the night, and the Wabash took her in tow and followed in the wake of the flagship Minnesota. Meantime the frigate Susquehanna had happened along, and she joined in the procession, the plan of attack being to steam in until within range, fire as the forts were passed, and then steam out to sea and back again over an elliptical route. It was a plan that was followed in several attacks of the kind; but it is condemned by Admiral Porter as “not the best calculated to bring an engagement to a speedy conclusion.” The plan “bothers the enemy’s gunners”—it is safer for the ships—but it also “detracts from the accuracy of the fire on board the vessels.”
