HD The Civil War @ Hampton Roads

the explosion at the end of a long quarrel between the north and the south it is however a time where we decide really what kind of nation we're going to become and so many of these great events will occur here in hampton roads the first mass destruction of civilian property the first use of technology the first land battle and the first steps towards ending slavery all these events combined to prove that hampton roads was one of the most strategic areas during the civil war and helped to transform from a war of limited purpose into a war of freedom please join with me as we explore and experience the civil war in hampton roads 1861. major funding for this program was provided by the city of newport news where you can discover the ocean the ships the wars and the history of america and by the virginia war museum foundation dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of our nation's military heritage additional funding was provided by riverside health system improving health and saving lives and the mariners museum preserving an american icon the uss monitor this program was also made possible by generous support from these donors for a complete list of production funders visit whro.org this program has also been made possible by contributions to public television from viewers like you thank you when abraham lincoln is elected president of the united states in november of 1860 this sets in motion a series of events that's going to result in seven deep south states leaving the union and by february of 1861 they organized the confederate states of america however this crisis will come to a head in charleston harbor when on april 12 1861 the confederates will bombard fort sumter into submission [Music] in warwick county today's newport news the citizens will come here to warwick courthouse and on the morning of april 17th they say that since virginia will not leave the union they will do so themselves organizing what they call the warwick-free state however governor john lecher then says that virginia refuses to be used to coerce sister southern states and virginia leaves the union southern patriots were determined to capture all federal property that existed in the commonwealth of virginia the leader in the movement to seize these federal properties was former governor henry a wise the powder alone at fort norfolk and additional amount of powder over at the naval base was another precious item because the confederacy had extremely capacity to manufacture powder gosport navy yard was virtually across the river from where i am today standing on top of the parapet of fort norfolk behind me you see those modern ships imagine 1861 there would have been 14 obsolete warships laying in the harbor running down along the key of gosport navy yard including ships like the venerable united states the 140 gun pennsylvania and the 42 gun steam screw frigate the merrimack gospel navy yard was commanded by charles stewart mccauley a 67 year old 55-year veteran of the united states navy he is very indecisive he is probably not at the top of his game and he's got a lot of folks around him who are probably going to head south as they say he is not sure what to do he's told to get the ships there ready to um to leave because they're they're pretty sure it's going to fall into the hands of confederates but he's also told to not upset the virginians virginians occupied fort norfolk and with it they have captured 300 000 pounds of gunpowder they have sunk obstructions in the river and a vigilant committee had thronged outside the gate screaming for the yard surrender getting well secretary of the navy has already sent benjamin franklin isherwood down to get the merrimack ready to see however mccauley refuses to let the ship leave the harbor and it was finally the secretary of the navy gideon wells who sent urgent orders and captain hyrum pauling then on a boat from washington with orders to either burn the property or secure it the southern patriots were organized under the leadership of virginia militia general william booth toliver a member of the general assembly a native of gloucester a graduate of william mary and a veteran of the mexican war he will be joined by future confederate generals vmi graduate william mahone and henry heath i will tell you that mahone actually because he is a railway engineer will begin running trains in and out of norfolk and portsmouth making mccauley believe that more and more confederates are flocking to the yard hiram paulding's expedition has landed at fort monroe picking up 350 massachusetts soldiers they then steam across hampton roads and enter into the elizabeth river on the afternoon of april 20th macaulay cannot wait any longer he will lay torch to the yard as paulding arrives macaulay is in a fit of despair halding decides to go ahead and complete the destruction of the ship houses the drydock the cannons but the federals fail the drydock has not exploded the cannons are not destroyed and although all 14 ships are set a fire the most important one the merrimack will be set a fire but our seacocks will be pulled and the question is how well does a sinking ship burn paulding will order his men to leave the yard at 4 30 on the morning of april 21st and they steam to fort monroe [Music] fort monroe is commanded by colonel justin dimmick a graduate of west point class of 1819 dimmick is determined to hold on to this bastion and in fact the confederates really don't have a chance to take it they lack a navy they lack siege guns and soon the third and fourth massachusetts the first vermont regiment will all arrive and march through this gate in fact by april 30th commanding general of the army winfield scott will say that fort monroe is the most secure post now in the hands of the union william nelson pendleton will write jefferson davis telling him that something must be done to defend the york and james river ursules the federals as pendleton would say the alien invaders would soon have the heartland of virginia and the confederate capital at richmond under their control consequently on may 3rd 1861 the richmond howitzers 47 men under the command of lieutenant john thompson brown will come here to gloucester point to defend the york river simultaneously the federals will have sent a gun boat the uss yankee into the york river to test the confederate defenses as the yankee hose into sight the confederates will fire a shot the yankee will fire back but with the second shot from the richmond howitzers the yankee will fall back down river towards hampton roads [Music] this makes may 3rd 1861 a very historic day because the richmond howitzers have fired the first shot in defense of the commonwealth of virginia during the civil war [Music] on may 13 1861 elements of the first vermont regiment will arrive at fort monroe bringing the truth strengths on the fort to well over two thousand men colonel justin dimmick will recognize he needs fresh water for his men consequently he will send a note to colonel charles king mallory commander of the hampton militia advising him that on that day he would occupy the clark farm in elizabeth city county on the afternoon of may 14th dimick will lead elements of the fourth massachusetts regiment including the hancock-like guards and will come to willowdell and occupy this region local confederates are terrified by this event many vow vengeance on the invading federal troops in fact dr william vaughn will ride up to justin dimick here at willowdale and say sir by what right do your troops cross that bridge and occupy the sacred soil of the sovereign state of the commonwealth of virginia to which dimmick replies by god sir might makes right the rapid increase of union troops here on the peninsula prompted winfield scott to send a higher ranking officer to assume command of the 4451 soldiers stationed here at fort monroe that man would be benjamin franklin butler butler bald corpulent cross-eyed lawyer and democrat just turned republican from massachusetts was a man of great intellect and ambition ben butler was a candy and resourceful politician and militia officer who became one of the union's earliest heroes in the first weeks of the war he led his militia unit to the relief of partially unguarded washington dc and then soon afterward he occupied secessionist leaning baltimore and that almost single-handedly kept maryland from leaving the union when butler was ordered to assume command of fort monroe on april 18 1861 he protested this assignment as he felt he deserved a higher position than just the mere command of a fort when general winfield scott indicated that the duties included the command of the union department of virginia butler accepted may 23 1861 he will send elements of the first vermont regiment under the command of john woolcock phelps into the town of hampton his purpose is to close the polls because on that day the citizens of hampton are voting on the ordinance of secession so you can well imagine there are only a few confederate volunteers guarding the hampton creek bridge the federals will approach phelps will talk to the commander of the confederate troops a man named john batop kerry a local educator and phelps will agree that he's under no reason for real aggression and he will then march into the town of hampton the polls will be closed and then phelps takes his troops and march back to fort monroe you know at this time the civil war is really a war about either preserving the union or state's rights no one is talking about slavery at this time in fact abraham lincoln has told all of his generals that they must practice the obnoxious 1850 fugitive slave law that is that any slaves that run away from their owners and are met by union troops the federals must return the slaves to their rightful owner three slaves owned by a man named colonel charles king mallory follow the union troops onto fort monroe and beg for their freedom the next day before butler can make any type of decision mallory will send john carry on to fort monroe to demand the return of mallory slaves ben butler will say i refuse your request because my constitutional obligations to you are null and void because virginia has left the union and furthermore and since you consider these beings to be chattel property and since virginia is at war with the union and since virginia is using these beings to build nearby fortifications i hereby declare them to be contraband of war butler then had an opening with this and he wrote that he was not going to return these people in fact he was going to encourage all the other workers to come within his lines he was desperately in need of laborers he knew that it would not be politically wise for him to return the contraband to their masters within a short period of time you had several thousand blacks uh located at hampton it got to be a somewhat of a problem for butler and his officers and uh of course they were not suited to deal with the problems of relief of contrabands soon more and more runaway slaves were coming on to fort monroe to become contrabands this caused a break problem for the fort and butler needed to set up a contraband camp next to the chapel centurion which stands behind me here on fort monroe they also needed to be organized but the first opportunity was really taken by members of the american missionary association the ama will actually enlist the work of mary peake a pre-war hampton resident who was a free african-american who actually set up schools at villa margaret john tyler's summer home and in the chesapeake baptist female seminary the schools not only taught the contrabands how to read and write they were also springboards for those contrabands to get jobs with the us army in return for which they were given food and clothing more importantly some of these contrabands were able to serve in the u.s navy and many of which enlisted on board the uss minnesota the contraband camps outside the union fortifications began to grow and here on the peninsula will be the first free black communities established during the civil war when they entered these humble homes with dirt floors very basic utensils earthenwares and and rough beds and such when that door shut and that lash was pulled men women and children for the first time in their lives stood on free ground even though they didn't receive total freedom from this decision the thought about being free made them open up their eyes to be able to make their own decisions and maybe from the first time of their lives live in their own homes with their own families without someone telling them when to come when to go when to go to work what to do when you go to work and how to live despite the far-reaching implications of ben butler's contraband of war decision that was not his real purpose here on the peninsula in fact general winfield scott had ordered butler to act with boldness in moving against the confederate batteries at sewell's point pig point and craney island and in fact butler recognized that the peninsula was indeed an avenue of approach against richmond consequently on may 27 1861 butler will send new york vermont and massachusetts volunteers on board the eight-gun gunboat the pawnee to newport news point the point was the home of the parker west family that a small farm and a wharf that very warf was used by the federal soldiers to do bark themselves and to occupy the west farm life would never be the same for the west the federals quickly busy themselves building fortifications they'll build a water battery to fit four eight-inch columbia ads and an entrenched camp which soon became named camp butler in honor of benjamin franklin butler the federal's occupation of newport news point closes the riverine connection between richmond and norfolk and furthermore it proved that the federals were here to stay in hampton roads the union aggressions on the lower peninsula will prompt general robert e lee to assign colonel john bankhead magruder to assume command here on the virginia peninsula magruder born in port royal virginia in 1809 had gone to the university of virginia and then graduated from west point in the class of 1830. magruder stood six foot four he was always perfectly uniformed and mustached he arrived everywhere at a gallop he was a true bon vivant womanizer drinker however during the mexican war he will rise to dizzy heights of great bravery when he's in command of his light artillery battery outside of mexico city his bravery will prompt the commonwealth of virginia to give him a gold sword and he will be brevitted to the rank of lieutenant colonel [Music] in may of 1861 magruder will be assigned here to the peninsula and on may 24th he will arrive on board the steamer logan at yorktown he will come here to lee hall mansion and immediately begin planning his defense of the virginia peninsula ben butler recognizes once he has consolidated fort monroe and newport news point and camp hamilton that the peninsula is a direct avenue to the confederate capital at richmond he as a militia general and as a pre-war politician also knows that a great victory like the capture of richmond would propel him into the white house he felt that he could lay as heavy a hand as possible on the confederacy without fear of retaliation because he had gained so much publicity and prominence in the north early in the war and he also believed that by doing so he could become a viable political alternative to abraham lincoln who even in 1861 was being seen by many northerners as fighting the war with kid gloves first he reinforces his hold on the harbor by mounting a sawyer rifled gun onto the ripraps with the aid of the uss cumberland this huge rifle gun will be mounted on the wharf and it can fire all the way to sewell's point rip raps is also reinforced with a unique regiment known as bartlett's naval brigade skilled and amphibious operations these are sailors out of new york who have come down here to fight he sends them out to man the fort also he sends some artillery seven eight-inch columbia cannon and very importantly the sawyer rifle meanwhile butler will organize a strike force against the little village of foxhill on the back river you see the back river is very very critical for our geography on the peninsula the back river comes off the chesapeake bay a very wide mouth but then it ends in two major tributaries the southwest branch known as newmarket creek and the northwest branch which is known as brick kiln creek well the federals have pushed their pickets all the way out to newmarket creek but butler wants to control more and wants to sweep the area for confederate supplies consequently on june 4th elements of the fifth new york volunteer infantry regiment commonly called the duriet zouaves they're supposed to look like french algerian troops they give all their orders in french they're commanded by a very illustrious officer known as abraham dre well the fifth new york with all glory marches out on the dusty back river road towards foxhill they find no confederates in fact on their way back they'll merely get lost the confederates however will be alerted to the rising union activity they will burn howard's bridge across the pocosin river and they will begin to fear for the advance of the federals [Music] magruder will soon receive reinforcements known as the first north carolina volunteer infantry regiment commanded by daniel harvey hill d.hl wrote his wife that magruder is always drunk and very foolish i think i outrank him but i'm not sure now magruder was mindful of this problem and will actually send hill down to a place called big bethel now big bethel is located where the hampton york highway crosses the brickkiln creek and i want to tell you the hampton york highway is not a real highway it is a dirt track that connects the town of hampton to york it's a stage road but rutted and muddy however it is the major thoroughfare consequently edgar montague's virginia battalion daniel rv hills first north carolina and a section of guns from the richmond howitzers will go down to big bethel and begin building fortifications on the 9th of june butler called in his military commanders and proposed an attack then on a confederate position that lay at little bethel and as soon as that was hopefully taken then they would march three miles further on and an assault big bethel this was not a very well planned attack for several reasons he had no reconnaissance he did not know how many confederates were at these locations but he was a political general then and he had in front of him a kind of a map and political generals saw warfare through in a heroic way he he was totally unprepared then to issue detailed orders he remembered his orders from winfield scott that said be bold be bold but not too bold he recognized that by striking at the confederate troops at big bethel that would open the road to williamsburg and thence richmond and he felt that with the superiority of men that the federals had on the peninsula that his victory would be assured and he would become a hero nevertheless he organizes a task force totaling 4 400 men these troops will have their marching orders they march at night and converge about a mile away from a place known as little bethel little bethel would be approximately where today's todd's lane converges with big bethel road well nevertheless judson kilpatrick will lead the durasuaves out and their rapid march takes them beyond the convergent point the federals from camp butler will arrive at the juncture point first now even though they have a code word boston the federal officers are riding horses and there are no federal cavalry involved in this attack so consequently it surprises the new yorkers and they fire into their brethren this results in two being killed and 17 wounded also it alerts the confederates to the presence of a large federal force so they withdraw from little bethel to make a more resolute stand at big bethel and meanwhile a young girl named harriet tunnell will race across the farm fields breathlessly she arrives at big bethel to warn magruder of the approaching federals [Music] and as the union forces came in from different angles they found to their surprise a well-developed position and well-aimed confederation magruder fired something like 80 rounds of his artillery and it was sufficient only to drive the union forces away one confederate soldier was killed and one outstanding union leader theodore winthrop from boston was was killed also in his engagement the death of winthrop puts an end to any federal advance and as a result of this the federals fall back across the creek and then they begin falling in a disorganized fashion back down the hampton york highway towards fort monroe john grebel tries to cover this retreat however he will soon be mortally wounded and as they said he died nobly serving his gun now as a result of this magruder will send john bell hood and the confederate cavalry to pressure the federal retreat hood will chase them all the way down to the new market bridge across newmarket creek big bethel was a complete disaster for the union d.h hills said that his men enjoyed the battle just like boys enjoy rabbit shooting the federals lost 76 men in this small engagement and therefore a scapegoat needed to be identified and they found one in massachusetts militia officer brigadier general ebenezer pierce pierce was said to have lost all presence of mind during the battle northern newspapers also sought something good they said that the soldiers had served conspicuously and that they had fought both friend and foe with honor the confederates gloried in their victory and laurels were sprint everywhere but it was truly prince john magruder who would have been given most of the glory for the battle in fact magruder will be added to the pantheon of southern heroes as a result of the engagement he's a hero four times went one ballot the furious fighting johnny b magruder elevated to the rank of brigadier general just one week after big bethel it was said that mcgruder would have challenged ben butler to a duel to settle the difference between north and south after the battle the first southern soldier to die henry lawson wyatt of north carolina would be commemorated throughout the south and warned throughout the south and certainly was viewed as a great hero who lost his life heroically on the fields around bethel church southerners were convinced that one southerner can lick 10 yankees they had textbooks that using mathematical equations how many suddens would it take to to whip how many yankees southerners saw themselves as the inheritors of the spirit of 1776. this was a second american revolution against tyranny so the battle of big bethel and into southern states was the lexington and concord of the civil war after the battle of big bethel union and confederates alike were establishing their positions on the peninsula the confederates used brick kiln creek and deep creek as their advanced positions whereas the federals will use newmarket creek in betwixt would be no man's land and a scene of several skirmishes on june 15th the confederate picket will be killed on june 16th the confederates will shoot one of their own men on june 24th ben butler will send an expedition to threaten big bethel but it was merely a faint to allow union soldiers to march to foxhill and there the 10th new york will board the steamers adriatic and fannie steaming up the back river they'll destroy several schooners and other sailing ships in harris creek and along back river stopping a trade from the eastern shores resupplying the confederates on the peninsula mcgruder is upset by all this and on june 28th will actually lead his own expedition featuring louisiana and north carolina troops there he will be upset by the pillaging and looting and thievery he sees that had been done by the federal soldiers and he vows revenge magruder organizes a task force to strike back at the marauding federals lieutenant colonel william drew his louisiana battalion and elements of the with rifles are sent down along the great warwick road near captain nelson smith's home to lay a trap for the marauding federals well on july 5th 1861 the trap is sprung against elements of the hawkins waves however it turns against the confederates colonel drew and one louisiana private are killed many vowed vengeance against the lincolnites major john bell hood then organizes another trap right at the same location of colonel drew's death and on july 12th two hundred members of the hawkins waves searching for wood are overthrown by the confederates in fact four zuavs are killed and 12 are captured in an affair that is called a brilliant little action in fact hood was said to say after the affair that the blood pools of the union dead were left as a warning to the advance of the lincolnites [Music] following the union defeat at first manassas ben butler became very concerned about the union position on the tip of the peninsula he had to send troops to washington to help defend the capital from a suspected confederate attack so he worries about his communications first and actually lays a telegraph line between camp butler on newport news point and fort monroe general butler was a yankee tinkerer who really appreciated the possibilities inherent in new weapons of war and a state-of-the-art weapon which was available to him in 1861 was the observation balloon and he hired a man named john lamontagne who had two such balloons and who agreed to become butler's quote chief aeronaut on july 31st la mountain will rise his balloon 1400 feet in the air he can see young's mill he can see confederate troops he tells butler then that if he can get into the middle of hampton roads he can really see everything and everywhere the confederates are so on august 3rd the uss fannia gunboat will be rigged with a windless and the mountain will go out into the middle of the harbor near sewell's point and launch his balloon over 2 000 feet in the air he reports back to butler where the confederates camps are and how many troops are at craney island sewells point and pig point he actually will launch his balloon again on august 7 1861 this time from the deck of the tug adriatic once again he can see where the confederates are on the south side he then reports to butler that he has to go and get more gas making materials but when he returns he will come back with a balloon able to shell burn and destroy norfolk the one thing that lamontagne did not see was the rising confederate threat on the peninsula john benkid magruder learning about the removal of union troops from fort monroe and camp butler was determined to sweep the federals off the peninsula and into the sea the union defeated the battle of first manassas on july 21 1861 had dire consequences for the union on the peninsula ben butler is forced to send four thousand soldiers from his command to relieve washington john bankhead magruder learns of this and strives to take advantage of the weakened union position on the peninsula he first will send colonel robert johnson and his force of calvary down on sweeps through the lower peninsula to gather up runaway slaves who are striving to become contrabands then magruder himself will move against camp butler he demands the camp to surrender the federals refuse magruder comes back a few days later with a force of four thousand men in artillery and once again magruder demands that the camp be surrendered and when refused he then cuts the communications between fort monroe and camp butler and dares the federals to come out and do him battle there have been very cordial relations on the peninsula between benjamin butler and in magruder both in their correspondence referred to each other as gentlemen and who are men who are operating by the dictates of war and that is that they were permitting civilians to go through the lines they were returning individuals who were caught happenstance who were not military they were exchanging officers so they were behaving very properly towards each other magruder while his troops are there in betwixt fort monroe and newport news point will discover a union picket post wherein lies a copy of the new york tribune and in that paper ben butler is reported to have said that he intends to use the town of hampton to house union troops as well as to provide housing for contrabands he says that since many of these contrabands came from hampton that it was fitting that the homes of their masters would be used to house them during the winter mcgruder decides at that moment that hampton must be burned the first several months of the war they really felt a political solution was going to take place so they tried to keep the war within bounds they tried to keep it from being coming a bloodbath they tried to keep it almost genteel the war was to go through a course in which it became unfortunately much much more common destroy private property in this case though general magruder decided the people who lived in hampton should be the ones to come in and destroy their property consequently he goes to local soldiers in his commands and explains his decision to them and they all agree on the propriety of the course and agree that their sweet hometown can not be allowed to be desecrated by the jailbirds and roughs of boston traders and contrabands magruder will then organize a special task force consisting of the 14th virginia commanded by robert hodges the warwick beauregards commanded by humphrey harwood curtis the york rangers and the old dominion dragoons commanded by jefferson carl phillips they are then sent on the evening of august 7th through the outer wall of saint john's churchyard and then as darkness ascends across the town the confederates will move towards hampton creek bridge the 14th virginia the york rangers and the warwick bow regards stop any federals from crossing the bridge and then the old dominion dragoons joined by the york rangers and the warwick regards rush through every corner of the town and set it aflame sergeant robert hudgens remembered the scene of hampton's burning when he wrote at the cross streets it seemed as if hell itself had broken loose and as if all of its fiery demons were pouring fuel upon the flames the light of the flames in the sky gave nearly the luster as if it was midday as we filed out of town there rested in the hearts of each of us the realization of a great sacrifice nobly made and the heroic satisfaction of a soldier's duty well performed the union soldiers were shocked by the confederate willingness to follow the scorched earth policy such a picture of war and desolation i never saw nor thought of and hope i shall not again remember charles brewster i pass through the courtyard round the celebrated hampton church it is completely destroyed all but the walls and they are useless one ironic outcome of the burning of hampton was the establishment of the grand contraband camp over hampton's ruins the nearby union forts and camps had become overcrowded with runaway slaves hampton soon became known as slabtown and was the largest contraband camp on the peninsula its existence was the very circumstance that magruder wished to stop when he ordered the town's destruction following the burning of hampton ben butler considered himself ill-suited for command here at fort monroe in fact one of his subordinates said that general butler was ineffective of a military man as an opium eater is in council well butler had already gone to winfield scott and scott had agreed with butler's assessment and had named butler as commander of the volunteer unit outside of fort monroe and in his stead as commander of the union department of virginia scott will name brevit major general john ellis wool wool was of course a very great hero the war of 1812 inspector general of the army in 1816 elevated to the rank of brigadier general in 1841 when the civil war breaks out wool is commander of the department of the east and he will be sent down here to fort monroe on august 17 1861 and he will assume command of the base immediately he will begin mounting guns like this huge 15-inch rodman gun and he will consider fort monroe key to operations along the southern coastline [Music] in the military geography is everything fort monroe is well placed in virginia to provide the union with a land route that leads direct to what becomes the capital of the confederacy up in richmond also you've got the union navy side to this equation which is that we sit only 14 15 air miles from the entrance of the chesapeake bay to the virginia capes and then to the atlantic ocean so that means if you put a union blockading squadron here as the union quickly does they can very easily move out and attack additional confederate port cities capturing them as they as they need to this becomes a springboard for attack not only against confederate forces in the area and up towards richmond but also for several amphibious expeditions that leave from here capturing other confederate port cities on august 26 1861 major general benjamin franklin butler will take 900 men from camp hamilton and put them on board transports that are protected by the fleet commanded by flag officer silas horton stringham and they leave hampton roads and route for hatteras you see hatteras inlit had become a mecca for the confederate blockade runners as well as commerce raiders the blockade runners could slip into the north carolina inland seas those great sounds and offered them a way to get to norfolk also the confederate commerce raiders could slip out the inlet and attack union merchant ships going down the outer banks consequently the federal task force will arrive off of hatteras inlet on august 29 1861 immediately stringham will put his fleet in a circle where they can shell the two confederate forts hatteras and clark and then butler will land his expedition this being the first amphibious landing of the civil war those 900 men will march against the forts and they very quickly fall it was these warships that actually pounded ford's hatteras and clark into surrender butler however got a lot of the credit for it simply because he was along for the ride he put his troops on shore and basically claimed the captured positions for his own that gave a big boost to his career most of the people of the north didn't realize the small part he had actually played and he was able to partly that into command of a much larger expedition against new orleans the biggest city in the confederacy which took place the following april from the very beginning of the war north and south alike wanted to control the great anchorage of hampton roads the confederates will actually control south side and they'll erect batteries at sewell's point craney island and big point well the federals control the north side of hampton roads and they have fort monroe the rip-rap battery and they erect a battery here at newport news point well to control these waterways coming into hampton roads you really need ships and it will be the navies that will start to contest control of both sides of hampton roads [Music] right from 1861 you begin to see amphibious operations leaving from here such as the expedition against tatters but probably even more important than that or two that came up just a little bit later the first of those was the expedition against port royal which is down in south carolina and this is a good deep water port it's close to savannah and charleston and it also is a place that can provide the union navy with additional reach flag officer samuel francis dupont will organize the largest assemblage of union ships ever organized to that date in history and his flotilla will be joined by 17 000 men under the command of brigadier general thomas sherman this force will then leave hampton roads and by early november they're off the south carolina coast on november 7 1861 flag officer dupont will send his squadron into the harbor entrance past the two confederate forts the bombardment of the forts according to one union observer sounded just like a horse's hooves pounding down a cobbled street by dark the federals have captured both of the confederate forts and fort royal sound its magnificent harbor is in northern hands once they take fort royal they now can establish a squadron there which can then move down the coast of georgia and florida as well as well as that part of south carolina certainly so that helps to extend the union navy's reach that much farther down along the confederate coast the other very important amphibious expedition that takes place from here is the one against roanoke island when hatteras is taken that helps to close off the pelico sound but you've still got the albemarle sound which needs to be closed but once roanoke island gets taken that puts literally the cork in the bottle north carolina provided a lot of supplies to the confederacy in richmond because of the the sounds and the barrier islands and all the inlets it was easy to sneak things in so to speak and also of course the railroad was able to take things directly to richmond there for a time so it was a lifeline for the confederacy well the union needed to put a stop to that and they also wanted to provide themselves a back door into norfolk and of course maybe get the gosport navy yard back the february 8 1862 battle of roanoke island was a complete disaster for the confederates not only had they lost the island their squadron had been dissipated well the squadron had been created by flag officer william lynch a pre-war naval officer an explorer and an author while he had put together a bunch of gun boats created out of side wheelers and tugboats anything that could mount a cannon he called it the mosquito fleet at roanoke island they were ineffectual and in fact after firing off all their ammunition and losing two ships lynch takes his squadron and scurries them up the pattasa tank river to elizabeth city there he realizes he needs more supplies he sends the raleigh up the south mills lock where we are today and to norfolk to get more supplies however he puts his line in the breast off of cobb's point near elizabeth city awaiting the federals commander stephen rowan brings his squadron up the potassitank river and strikes at the confederates at the early morning of february 10 1862. the seabird is rammed and split in two the fanny is shelled and caught a fire somehow the beauford slips away from the action and escapes through the canal the appomattox follows very quickly however when she reaches the lock here at south mills she finds that she's two inches too wide the crew takes dippomatics and scuttles her as an obstruction to stop the federals from coming into the canal the battle of elizabeth city is disastrous for the confederates all of their naval units have been destroyed now the federals rule the north carolina inland seas it places the federals here at south mills to the back door to norfolk and portsmouth not more than 30 miles away it is a back door to hampton roads the threat now hangs over this harbor by the federals who are here in north carolina and also at fort monroe virginia the past several months have witnessed towns being burned men becoming free forts being built blood being spilt and new technologies rising up into the sky but these events are only a springboard for the great drama that will occur when the css virginia emerges into hampton roads and strikes at the federal fleet in march of 1862 and proving the power of iron over wood this event is only a precursor to that great duel between ironclads when the uss monitor arrives to save the day for the union this battle will be a virtual revolution in naval warfare and indeed spring 1862 is the time for that great showdown here in hampton roads major funding for this program was provided by the city of newport news where you can discover the ocean the ships the

Channel: Civil War FLIX

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Length: 52min 27sec (3147 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 31 2020