Elizabeth City, NC

N.C. and the Southside: Elizabeth City

February 10, 1862

Elizabeth City sits on the confluence of the Pasquotank River and the Albemarle Sound near the outlet of the Dismal Swamp Canal. Gen. Ambrose Burnside had been given the task of shutting down the sound to Confederate shipping as part of Anaconda, the Union Blockade and opened his campaign by seizing Roanoke Island in a two day battle on February 7-8, 1862.

The capture of Roanoke opened the gates for the Union to Elizabeth City. The cities defenses rested on the Confederate Navy vessels known as the Mosquito Fleet. Two of the small fleets boats were absent for the battle leaving the Confederates even more outgunned. The Confederates tried to augment their defense by deploying a battery of four guns on Cobb Point.

Nothing went right for the Confederates, the shore battery was undermanned and the Confederate Commander, Captain Lynch had to strip the CSS Beaufort of most of its crew to man the guns. Even with the addition of the Beaufort’s crew the Cobb Point Battery only had enough men to man three of the four guns, which probably didn’t matter much because all of Lynch’s guns were woefully short of ammunition and the shore battery was no exception.

With the opening shots of the battle the original battery crew fled leaving the Beaufort’s sailors to fend for themselves, reducing the battery to two effective guns. To add insult to injury the Union ships sailed right past the point without a glance and the guns could not be brought to bear on the ships as the battle moved out of range.

The battle continued all afternoon until evening when the surviving Confederate vessels tried to flee, only the Beaufort escaped by fleeing up the canal into the Dismal Swamp. Most of the rest of the Confederate ships were destroyed by their crew to escape capture. This left only three ships to the Mosquito Flee, the two that didn’t participate in the battle and the Beaufort; of course the Beaufort lost most of its crew when the Union captured the battery at Cobb point.

The Confederate commander on shore Brig. Gen. Henry Wise ordered Elizabeth City burned. The Confederates set numerous fires as they fled but arriving Union troops put the fires out saving all but two blocks of the town.