Albemarle Sound

In May 1864, off the coast of North Carolina, Union and Confederate naval forces clashed in the American Civil War engagement known as the Battle of Albemarle Sound. Eight Union gunboats faced off against a trio of Confederate warships, one of them an ironclad. Nightfall brought the fighting to a close before either side could claim victory.

Background

During April 1864, Confederate forces, assisted by the ironclad CSS Albemarle, compelled the Union garrison at Plymouth to surrender. Buoyed by this victory, Robert Hoke, who led a Confederate Army in North Carolina, set his sights on New Bern, a city that had remained under Union control since early 1862, hoping to wrest it back. Once again Hoke planned to rely on Albemarle for his assault, the same vessel whose presence had proven so decisive during the fighting at Plymouth.

Battle

In early May 1864, Captain James W. Cooke took Albemarle out of Plymouth, accompanied by the captured steamer Bombshell and the transport Cotton Plant, heading south in the direction of New Bern. At the mouth of Albemarle Sound his small squadron encountered a Union fleet under Captain Melancton Smith. That fleet included the double-ender gunboats Mattabesett, Sassacus, Wyalusing and Miami, the converted ferryboat Commodore Hull, and the vessels Ceres, Whitehead and Isaac N. Seymour.

As soon as the Confederate vessels came into view, Mattabesett, Sassacus, Whitehead and Wyalusing formed themselves into a line of battle, with Miami, Commodore Hull and Ceres standing by in support. It was Albemarle that fired the opening shots, wounding six sailors serving one of Mattabesett's pair of 100-pounder Parrott rifles. Almost at once, Mattabesett, Whitehead and Wyalusing answered with their own guns. The ironclad then tried to drive her ram into Mattabesett, but the sidewheeler managed to swing clear of her armored bow. Sassacus came up right behind her and let loose a broadside of solid nine-inch and 100-pound shot, none of which could pierce Albemarle's casemate. Bombshell, offering a much less protected target, was struck through by every heavy round in that broadside and gave up the fight. Cotton Plant meanwhile pulled back up the Roanoke, leaving Albemarle to face the Union ships by herself.

Even with more vessels at his disposal, Smith found he could inflict little harm on the lone Confederate ironclad, whose sides simply turned a

Aftermath

The clash on the water ended in a draw, though what unfolded afterward proved far more consequential. Albemarle managed to hold off a numerically superior force, yet the damage it sustained during the engagement kept it confined to port for months afterward, and this sidelined it from Hoke's intended attack on New Bern. Rather than waiting, Hoke pressed forward with his campaign without the ironclad's support. Nothing came of the effort, and he was soon called back to Virginia to help hold Petersburg and Richmond against Union pressure. Far more decisive were the events of October, when William B. Cushing carried out a naval raid and set off a torpedo under Albemarle's hull, destroying it. With Hoke's troops withdrawn and Albemarle gone, the way was cleared for Union forces to reclaim both Plymouth and Washington, North Carolina.