The Battle of Albemarle Sound was an inconclusive naval battle fought in May 1864 along the coast of North Carolina during the American Civil War.[1] Three Confederate warships, including an ironclad, engaged eight Uniongunboats. The action ended indecisively due to the sunset.[2]
In April 1864, a Confederate Army, with the aid of the CSS Albemarle, forced the surrender of the Union garrison at Plymouth. Robert Hoke, commander of a Confederate Army in North Carolina, encouraged by his success at Plymouth attempted to retake New Bern which had been in Union control since early in 1862. For his proposed attack on New Bern Hoke again turned to the aid of Albemarle, which had been a decisive factor in the Battle of Plymouth.
Battle
A map of the battle
James W. Cooke, commander of Albemarle sailed out of Plymouth in early May 1864, along with the captured steamer CSS Bombshell and the transport CSS Cotton Plant. Steaming south toward New Bern, Cooke ran into a Union fleet at the mouth of Albemarle Sound, commanded by Captain Melancton Smith. This fleet consisted of the double-ender gunboats USS Mattabasett, USS Sassacus, USS Wyalusing and USS Miami, the converted ferryboat USS Commodore Hull, USS Ceres, USS Whitehead and USS Isaac N. Seymour.[3] When the Confederate ships were spotted, Mattabasett, Sassucus, Whitehead and Wyalusing immediately formed a line of battle supported by Miami, Commodore Hull and Ceres. Albemarle opened fire first, wounding six men working one of Mattabesett's two 100-pounder Parrott rifles. Mattabesset, Whitehead and Wyalusing opened fire almost simultaneously. Albemarle then attempted to ram Mattabesett, but the sidewheeler managed to round the ironclad's armored bow. She was closely followed by Sassacus, which then fired a broadside of solid 9in (229mm) and 100-pound shot, all of which bounced off Albemarle's casemate armor. However, Bombshell, being a softer target, was hulled by each heavy shot from Sassucus's broadside and surrendered.[4]Cotton Plant withdrew back up the Roanoke, and Albemarle continued the fight alone.[3]
Smith, despite an advantage in numbers, could do little damage to the single Confederate ship. Shots glanced off Albemarle's sides. Lieutenant CommanderFrancis Asbury Roe of Sassucus, seeing Albemarle at a range of about 400 yards (370m), decided to ram. The Union ship struck the Confederate ironclad full and square, broadside-on, shattering the timbers of her own bow, twisting off her own bronze ram in the process, and jamming both ships together. With Sassucus's hull almost touching the end of the ram's Brooke rifle, Albemarle's gun crew quickly fired two point-blank rifled shells, one of them puncturing Sassucus's boilers; though live steam was roaring through the ship, she was able to break away and drift out of range. Sassacus by now was too damaged to function and drifted down river. Miami first tried to use her spar torpedo and then to tangle the Confederate ram's screw propellers and rudder with a seine net, but neither ploy succeeded.
Mattabasett and Wyalusing continued to engage the ram for three hours, until the action was halted by darkness.[3] More than 500 shells were fired at Albemarle during the battle; with visible battle damage to her smokestack and other areas on the ironclad, she steamed back up the Roanoke. The Commodore Hull and Ceres moved to the river's mouth to try and keep the Albemarle from re-entering the sound.[3]
The battle itself was a standoff, but the events that followed had more decisive results. Albemarle had held its own against greater numbers but the damages caused the during the battle had forced the ship into port for the next several months, preventing it from being used in General Hoke's planned assault on New Bern. Hoke went ahead with his campaign even without Albemarle. He achieved nothing before being recalled to Virginia to help defend Petersburg and Richmond. The events in October had a greater impact on the situation when William B. Cushing led a naval raid and detonated a torpedo beneath the Albermarle's hull. The removal of Hoke's force and the destruction of Albemarle allowed both Plymouth and Washington, North Carolina, to fall back into Union hands
CSS Albemarle was a steam-powered ironclad gunboat ram of the Confederate Navy, named for an estuary in North Carolina which was named for General George Monck, the first Duke of Albemarle and one of the original Carolina Lords Proprietor.
CSS Bombshell — believed to have been an Erie Canal steamer — was a U.S. Army transport. Bombshell was sunk by the Confederate batteries in Albemarle Sound, North Carolina on April 18, 1864. She was raised by the Confederate forces and taken into the Confederate States Navy under the command of Lieutenant Albert Gallatin Hudgins, CSN. Bombshell was captured at the Battle of Albemarle Sound by USS Mattabesett and USS Sassacus on May 5, 1864 and sent to New York City.
The first USS Miami was a side-wheel steamer, double-ender gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
Charles Williamson Flusser was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
CSSCotton Plant, sometimes referred to as Cotton Planter, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1860 and reportedly carried troops in the Pamlico River as early as September 1861. She sailed with CSS Albemarle when that ironclad ram attacked Union forces at Plymouth, North Carolina, sank USS Southfield and drove off USS Miami, USS Ceres and USS Whitehead on April 18–19, 1864. On May 5, 1864 she steamed as convoy to Albemarle from the Roanoke River en route to the Alligator River. The convoy was engaged by ships of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in the Battle of Albemarle Sound, but both the ram and Cotton Plant with several launches in tow escaped into the Roanoke River.
USS Southfield was a double-ended, sidewheel steam gunboat of the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was sunk in action against the Confederate ironclad ram CSS Albemarle during the Battle of Plymouth (1864).
USS Ceres (1856) was a small 150 long tons (150 t) steamboat acquired by the Union Navy during the beginning of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat and used in the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.
USSMattabesett, sometimes spelled Mattabeset, a schooner-rigged, wooden hulled, double-ended sidewheel gunboat, was built by A. & G. T. Sampson, Boston, Massachusetts, and named for the Mattabesset River in Connecticut. Mattabesett was delivered to the New York Navy Yard on January 18, 1864, and commissioned April 7, 1864, Commander John C. Febiger in command.
The first USSSassacus, a wooden, double-ended, side-wheel steamer, was launched on 23 December 1862 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, sponsored by Miss Wilhelmina G. Lambert. Sassacus was commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 5 October 1863, Lieutenant Commander Francis A. Roe in command.
USS Wyalusing was a double-ended, side-wheel gunboat that served in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for the borough of Wyalusing in Bradford County, Pennsylvania.
USSWhitehead, a screw steamer built in 1861 at New Brunswick, New Jersey, served as a gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
Alexander S. Crawford was a sailor in the United States Navy who served in the American Civil War. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the war.
USS Commodore Hull (1862) was a ferryboat acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat and assigned to the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.
The Battle of Elizabeth City of the American Civil War was fought in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Roanoke Island. It took place on 10 February 1862, on the Pasquotank River near Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The participants were vessels of the U.S. Navy's North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, opposed by vessels of the Confederate Navy's Mosquito Fleet; the latter were supported by a shore-based battery of four guns at Cobb's Point, near the southeastern border of the town. The battle was a part of the campaign in North Carolina that was led by Major General Ambrose E. Burnside and known as the Burnside Expedition. The result was a Union victory, with Elizabeth City and its nearby waters in their possession, and the Confederate fleet captured, sunk, or dispersed.
The Battle of Plymouth was an engagement during the American Civil War that was fought from April 17 through April 20, 1864, in Washington County, North Carolina.
USS Bazely (1863) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy in a tugboat/patrol boat role in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
USS Shamrock (1863) was a large seaworthy steamer with powerful guns, acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
CSS Neuse was a steam-powered ironclad ram of the Confederate States Navy that served in the latter part the American Civil War and was eventually scuttled to avoid capture by rapidly advancing Union Army forces. In the early 1960s, she produced approximately 15,000 artifacts from her raised lower hull, the largest number ever found on a recovered Confederate vessel. The remains of her lower hull and a selection of her artifacts are on exhibit in Kinston, North Carolina at the CSS Neuse Interpretive Center State Historic Site, which belongs to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. The ironclad is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
John Carson Febiger was a rear admiral of the United States Navy who served with the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
The Capture of Plymouth was a battle of the American Civil War, fought in October 1864. Following the sinking of CSS Albemarle during a commando raid led by Lieutenant William B. Cushing, Union naval forces attacked Plymouth, North Carolina, which was defended by Confederate artillery. After three days of fighting, the Confederates retreated from the area, allowing the Union navy to land men and occupy the town.
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United States 
Confederate States 
Melancton Smith 
James W. Cooke 
