CSS Albemarle was a steam-powered casemate ironclad 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.
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).
John Newland Maffitt was an officer in the Confederate States Navy who was nicknamed the "Prince of Privateers" due to his success as a blockade runner and commerce raider in the U.S. Civil War.
USS Ceres was a small 150-long-ton (152 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.
The first USS Sassacus, a wooden, double-ended, side-wheel steamer, was launched on 23 December 1862 by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard 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.
The first USS Seminole was a steam sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
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.
The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading.
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 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 Albemarle Sound was an inconclusive naval battle fought in May 1864 along the coast of North Carolina during the American Civil War. Three Confederate warships, including an ironclad, engaged eight Union gunboats. The action ended indecisively due to the sunset.
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 Otsego was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
USS Shamrock 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.
John Carson Febiger was a rear admiral of the United States Navy who served with the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
Throughout the American Civil War, blockade runners were seagoing steam ships that were used to get through the Union blockade that extended some 3,500 miles (5,600 km) along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines and the lower Mississippi River. The Confederate states were largely without industrial capability and could not provide the quantity of arms and other supplies needed to fight against the industrial North. To meet this need blockade runners were built in Scotland and England and were used to import the guns, ordnance and other supplies that the Confederacy desperately needed, in exchange for cotton that the British textile industry needed greatly. To penetrate the blockade, these relatively lightweight shallow draft ships, mostly built in British shipyards and specially designed for speed, but not suited for transporting large quantities of cotton, had to cruise undetected, usually at night, through the Union blockade. The typical blockade runners were privately owned vessels often operating with a letter of marque issued by the Confederate States of America. If spotted, the blockade runners would attempt to outmaneuver or simply outrun any Union ships on blockade patrol, often successfully.
United States