Civil War, Gunboats

                                           10-11 FEBRUARY 1862

                      BATTLE OF ELIZABETH CITY (cont. from 8 FEB)

Union forces from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron had driven a Confederate “mosquito fleet” from Roanoke Island, and at 1430 on the afternoon of February 9^th, CDR Stephen C. Rowan pursued.  Rowan weighed anchor in the schooner-rigged sidewheeler USS DELAWARE and rallied UNDERWRITER, COMMODORE PERRY, and MORSE in a van leading 10 smaller gunboats in column.  Upon entering the Albemarle Sound they sighted the smoke of the enemy escaping up the Pasquotank River.  Rowan followed, but nightfall stopped his progress 10 miles below Cobb’s Point, where the Confederates had built a battery on the riverbank.

Shortly after 0800 this morning, Rowan sighted the Confederates, whose gunboats had taken refuge under the four 32-pounders of Fort Cobb.  On the opposite bank, the schooner BLACK WARRIOR was moored, bringing her two 32-pounders to the action as well.  Rowan signaled a dash for the enemy, and the Rebel batteries opened.  Shot and shell pierced the air, many arching over Rowan to strike his following column.  Rowan’s flotilla closed regardless, holding their fire and keeping formation.

The specter of the opening Union cannonade at 600 yards struck panic into the Confederates!  Those serving the shore battery fled after firing only their initial volley.  The few dozen local militia that had shown up sheepishly the day before, broke formation and deserted.  Individual Union gunboats now paired off against Rebel steamers.  USS CERES grappled the Confederate CSS ELLIS and swarmed boarders across.  Rebel skipper, CDR James W. Cooke, ordered his men to abandon ship over the side, while he and a few loyal sailors held up the Yankees with cutlasses.  In a final act, he set ELLIS ablaze, only to the fires extinguished by the onrushing Union sailors.  The gunboat was captured by the Yankees.  Most of the other Rebel crews fired their ships as well and fled overboard.  CSS FANNY, SEA BIRD, and BLACK WARRIOR were burned or scuttled.  BEAUFORT and RALRIGH escaped up the canal to Norfolk.  Had not CSS APPOMATTOX been just two inches too wide, she might have escaped up the canal as well. 

In short order Rowan’s force routed what feeble resistance remained.  Shore parties destroyed Confederate warehouses, war matériel, and several gunboats still under construction.  Two schooners were found to be moored to the city’s wharf, one loaded with furniture and the other with grain.  These were towed into the North River cut and scuttled to block access to the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal.  Having crushed enemy naval strength in the area and secured Union control of North Carolina’s sounds, Rowan turned back for the Fleet.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  17 FEB 24 

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Civil War Naval Chronology 1861-1865.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1961, p. II-20.

“Detailed report of Commander Rowan, U.S. Navy, commanding second division in the sounds of North Carolina.”  IN:  Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol 6, North Atlantic Blockading Squadron from October 29, 1861, to March 8, 1862.”  Washington, DC: GPO, pp. 606-09.

“Report of Lieutenant Chaplin, U.S. Navy, commanding U.S.S. Valley City, transmitting surgeon’s report of casualties.”  IN:  Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol 6, North Atlantic Blockading Squadron from October 29, 1861, to March 8, 1862.”  Washington, DC: GPO, pp. 614-15.

Trotter, William R.  Ironclads and Columbiads:  The Civil War in North Carolina, The Coast.  Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair Pub., 1989, pp. 88-91.

Silverstone, Paul H.  Warships of the Civil War Navies.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1989, pp. 81, .

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  CDR Cooke above would later captain the infamous Confederate ironclad CSS ALBEMARLE on her successful sortie against the Union squadron at Plymouth, North Carolina.  The Union gunboat UNDERWRITER would earn even greater fame later in the war as a platform for raids up North Carolina’s rivers.