CSS Neuse

N.C. and the Southside: CSS Neuse

March 11, 1865

1961 to Present

Alexander O’Briant wrote this on March 18, 1864, while in camp near Wilmington, NC I believe he was speaking of the CSS Neuse when he wrote it. Launched in November 1863, the Neuse sailed in April 1864, a month after Alexander’s visit, as part of a force under Comdr. R. F. Pinkney, CSN. She only got as far as Kinston where she grounded and remained stuck fast for the better part of a month. In March 1865 the Neuse was burned by the Confederates to escape capture by the advancing Union Army under Sherman.

Start in here to see the Neuse.

The CSS Neuse was sunk by her crew to prevent her capture by advancing Union forces in the last days of the Civil War. Packing the bow with power they blew a twenty foot hole in the port side of the ship sinking her bow first into the mud on the bottom of the Neuse River. There she remained until three men decided to try and raise her as a tourist attracting in 1961. These men were not experts in historical preservation. They did not concern themselves documentation or preservation.

Chainsaw damage.

They tried all manner of schemes to get the ship out of the mud, including removing the metal plates and tossing them in the river. But the Neuse is a huge object and the wood was thoroughly waterlogged so it sat stuck in the mud. In 1963 as their money began to run out the trio used chainsaws to chop the hull into sections and drug them out independently. Once they got the pieces on shore they had no plan to restore and preserve the structure and no money to even protect it from the weather. Resting down in the mud, on the bottom of the river, the wood was protected from oxygen and didn't decay; but once everything hit the air, decay became a real problem.

In 1964 the State stepped in and assumed responsibility for the Neuse. Now the ship rests in a large warehouse and is still continuing to rot. Plans have been made for a large museum and hermetically sealed display that would preserve the relic. The problem is, of course, money. They have the property and some buildings that can be converted to a museum but it’s the cost of the display and the move itself that would bust the bank.