For the work that was to be done in restoring the Federal authority over Hatteras Island and adjacent inland waters a large force was prepared, because no accurate estimate of the Confederate force there was obtainable. To Flag Officer Silas H. Stringham was assigned the command of the expedition. His squadron consisted of the frigate Minnesota, Capt. G. I. Van Brunt; the frigate Wabash, Capt. Samuel Mercer; the Monticello, Capt. John P. Gillis; the Pawnee, Capt. S. C. Rowan, and the Harriet Lane (revenue cutter), Capt. John Faunce. The tug Fanny, under Lieut. Pierce Crosby, went along as a tender, while the transports Adelaide, Capt. H. S. Stellwagen, and Peabody, Capt. R. R. Lowry, carried 860 soldiers under Gen. B. F. Butler. The troops under Butler had orders to return to Fort Monroe as soon as the object of the expedition was attained.

On the afternoon of August 26, 1861, the squadron rounded Cape Hatteras and anchored about three miles above the inlet, where it was proposed to make a landing. Two schooners, with their decks loaded with “heavy iron surf-boats,” had been brought along, and these surf-boats were floated before dark. The next morning the debarkation of General Butler’s force began, and Captain Shuttleworth, of the marines, with enough of his men to raise the whole landing force to 915 men, went along. The Pawnee, the Monticello, and the Harriet Lane steamed close in and opened the attack on the beach by shelling the live-oak and other trees that grew in profusion just beyond the reach of the waves.

When the surf-boats started ashore at 8.45 o’clock in the morning, the other ships of the squadron made a swoop at the forts that could be plainly seen guarding the inlet. The sailing frigate Cumberland had joined the force during the night, and the Wabash took her in tow and followed in the wake of the flagship Minnesota. Meantime the frigate Susquehanna had happened along, and she joined in the procession, the plan of attack being to steam in until within range, fire as the forts were passed, and then steam out to sea and back again over an elliptical route. It was a plan that was followed in several attacks of the kind; but it is condemned by Admiral Porter as “not the best calculated to bring an engagement to a speedy conclusion.” The plan “bothers the enemy’s gunners”—it is safer for the ships—but it also “detracts from the accuracy of the fire on board the vessels.”

A small earthwork called Fort Clark was the first one met. It had no bomb-proof, and it mounted five guns. The ships opened fire on this fort long before they were within range, and the fort replied. Both sides sowed the water with shot and shells; but the Confederates soon ceased to waste their ammunition, and when the ships got within range, their fire proved so hot that the fort was abandoned.

Meantime the troops had reached the surf in their boats, and for a pleasant day they found it a right vigorous surf. There was very little difficulty in getting the boats to the sand; they were so large that a gale would scarcely have swamped them; but the moment they touched bottom forward, the waves caught them under the floating stern, slewed them around broadside on, and hove them up hard and fast. In vain the soldiers and sailors and marines tugged and pried and swore. In all 420 men, with two howitzers, were placed on the beach, and not another armed man could they land. And what made matters worse was the fact that they had neither provisions nor supplies of any kind, and their ammunition (it was the day of paper cartridges) was in great part wet by the surf. It was a fortunate thing that the Confederates were kept busy in Fort Hatteras about that time.

However, the Confederates having abandoned Fort Clark, the Federal troops were marched to it, and at 2 o’clock in the afternoon the Union flag was hoisted above it.

Meantime the fire of Fort Hatteras had been “smothered by the fire of the frigates,” and the Confederate flag had disappeared. Seeing this, the frigates ceased firing at 12.30 o’clock, on the supposition that the Confederates were willing to surrender. But when, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the Monticello was ordered to go in through the inlet and take a look at the small fleet of Confederate vessels inside the inner bar, the Confederate fort opened fire on her. The Wabash was at this time towing the Cumberland to a safe anchorage off shore, but the Minnesota, Susquehanna, Pawnee, and Harriet Lane returned the fire with vigor until sunset. But the fire was, “for the most part, ineffective, from too great a distance,” as Ammen says. The fact is, there was nothing reckless in the attack.

At sundown the Union troops abandoned Fort Clark and camped up the beach, where the smaller steamers could protect them. They had had a hungry day of it, but food was sent ashore at night. Then, as the night wore away, the troops threw up a sand battery facing the sound, and from this threw some shells at the Confederate vessels, “which seems to have materially disconcerted the enemy,” and prevented the landing of reinforcements for the fort.

The next morning the Susquehanna led the way in to attack Fort Hatteras, and the Minnesota, the Wabash, and the Cumberland followed, and all came to anchor “in excellent position and commenced firing with effect.” That is to say, the position was excellent because the ships were entirely beyond the range of the fort, while their pivot guns, fifteen in number, were throwing every shell fired into the Confederate works. The fire began at 8 o’clock in the morning. The bomb-proof in the fort was seriously damaged, and at 11 o’clock it was set on fire by a shell that dropped through a ventilator. The magazine being in great peril, the Confederates hoisted a white flag at 11.10 o’clock. This was on August 28, 1861; and that was not only the first victory that the navy of the nation had gained, but it was the first victory that any Union force had gained in this war for the defence of the nation’s life. The Union force did not lose a man. The Confederates lost two killed and thirteen wounded of which we are certain. It is asserted that the losses were greater.

Flag Officer Samuel Barron, of the Confederate navy, who had charge of a small fleet of armed boats on the sound; Major W. S. G. Andrews, commanding the forts, and 615 men and officers were captured. The two forts contained together twenty-five guns, every one of which came from the Norfolk Navy Yard, as did also 1,000 muskets and a quantity of ordnance stores found in the fort.

This point was thereafter held by the Union forces throughout the war. To show the value of this victory, we may quote the report of General Butler. He said:

“From there the whole coast of Virginia and North Carolina, from Norfolk to Cape Lookout, is within our reach by light draught vessels, which cannot possibly live at sea during the winter months. From it offensive operations may be made upon the whole coast of North Carolina to Bogue Inlet, extending many miles inland to Washington, Newbern, and Beaufort. In the language of the chief-engineer of the rebels, Colonel Thompson, in an official report, ‘it is the key of Albemarle.’ In my judgment, it is a station second in importance only to Fortress Monroe on this coast. As a depot for coaling and supplies for the blockading squadron it is invaluable. As a harbor for our coasting trade, or inlet from the winter storms or from pirates, it is of the first importance.”

A fort at Ocracoke Inlet was abandoned by the Confederates when those at Hatteras fell.

Meantime the Twentieth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, under Colonel Brown, of the Hatteras Island garrison, got into serious trouble. The regiment had gone to a small settlement at the north end of the island—Chicamicomico by name—twenty-five miles north of Cape Hatteras lighthouse. Just what purpose they were to serve there is not now apparent; but the Confederates, who had fortified Roanoke Island, came with a superior force to cut them off from communication with the forces at the inlet, and there was a most fatiguing race down the beach. The Union force won, the Confederates being driven off by the Union steamer Monticello, Capt. D. L. Braine.

Following this, in 1862, came the expedition under Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborough and Gen. A. E. Burnside against Roanoke Island. The force left Hampton Roads on January 11th. There was a long delay at Hatteras Inlet bar, but on Friday morning, February 7th, they were facing the Confederate forts on the north end of Roanoke Island, and a squadron of Confederate ships, which their commander, Commodore W. F. Lynch, described as “two old side-wheel steamers, and six propellers—the former possessing some speed; the latter slow in their movements, and one of them frequently disabling its shaft.”

The Union steamers were, in fact, no better. Both fleets were wholly unarmored, but the guns on both sides were good for that day, and therein lies the one point worth noting. The Union fleet on one side and the Confederate forts and fleet on the other fought for six hours at one stretch at easy range. One Union ship reports firing 181 shells, and probably those that made no report of the matter (there were nineteen in all) did as well, but only one ship—a Confederate—was sunk, and she was able to run away to a fort before going down. After two days the Confederate forts surrendered, and the Confederate ships fled to Elizabeth City.

Commander S. C. Rowan, with a part of the Union fleet, pursued and destroyed or captured them all save one that passed through the canal to Norfolk. The conflict at Elizabeth City is especially notable, because the deed of a heroic gunner led Congress to pass an act creating a Union naval medal. Says Lossing:

“An extraordinary example of heroism was exhibited during this engagement by John Davis, a Finlander, who was a gunner’s mate on board the Valley City. A shell entered that vessel, and, exploding in the magazine, set fire to some wood-work. Davis was there, and, seeing the imminent danger to the vessel and all on board, because of an open barrel of gunpowder from which he had been serving, he seated himself upon it, and so remained until the flames were extinguished. For this brave act the Secretary of the Navy rewarded him with the appointment of acting-gunner in the navy (March 11, 1862), by which his salary was raised from $300 to $1,000 a year. Admiring citizens of New York raised and presented to him $1,100. The Secretary of the Navy, by authority of an act of Congress, approved December 21, 1861, presented him with a Medal of Honor, on which are inscribed the following words: ‘Personal Valor, John Davis, Gunner’s Mate, U.S.S. Valley City, Albemarle Sound, February 10, 1862.’ Such medals were afterward presented to a considerable number of gallant men in subordinate stations, for acts of special bravery ‘before the enemy.’ Davis was the first recipient.”