Hatteras, forts at.
In the summer of 1861 the Confederates built two forts on Hatteras Island, off the coast of North Carolina, to guard the entrance to Hatteras Inlet, through which blockade-runners had begun to carry supplies to the Confederates. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, then in command at Fort Monroe, proposed sending a land and naval force against these forts. It was done. An expedition composed of eight transports and war-ships, under the command of Commodore Stringham, and bearing about 900 land-troops, under the command of General Butler, left Hampton Roads for Hatteras Inlet on Aug. 20. On the morning of the 28th the war-ships opened their guns on the forts (Hatteras and Clark). and some of the troops were landed. The warships of the expedition were the Minnesota (flag-ship), Pawnee, Harriet Lane, Monticello, Wabash, Cumberland, and Susquehanna. The condition of the surf made the landing difficult, and only about 300 men got on shore. The forts were under the command of the Confederate Maj. W. S. G. Andrews, and a small Confederate naval force, lying in Pamlico Sound, was in charge of Samuel Barron. An assault by both arms of the service began on the 28th, and was kept up until the next day, when the forts were surrendered. Not one of the Nationals was injured; the Confederates lost twelve or fifteen killed and thirty-five wounded. The number of troops surrendered, including officers, was 715, and with these, 1,000 stands of arms, thirty-one pieces of cannon, vessels with cotton and stores, and considerable gunpowder. The victorious expedition returned to Hampton Roads, when General Wool, who had succeeded General Butler in command there, issued a stirring order, announcing the victory. It was a severe blow to the Confederates, and led to important results. Colonel Hawkins, with [312]Interior of Fort Hatteras. |