The CSS Neuse and Me

The CSS Neuse is the only remaining commissioned Confederate ironclad above the water.  It was part of a new Confederate technology to combat the superior manpower and  firepower of the Union Navy.  Learn about the technological advances and warfare in eastern North Carolina at the CSS Neuse Interpretive Center.

The Confederate Navy launched the Neuse in an attempt to gain control of the lower Neuse River and New Bern, North Carolina.  But, ultimately, they had to destroy the ship to prevent it from being captured in the remaining days of the war.

I got to see them recovering the hull of the Neuse from where it was sunk in Kinston, North Carolina, back when I was 12 in 1963.  My grandfather took my brother and me to the site.  I was already a big Civil War buff at the time and this just made me more so.

I visited the hull of the Neuse on several occasions while it was housed under the covered site by the river and also once in its new home in the building which was much-needed as it was breaking apart out in the elements.

Of course, as they were trying to get it off the Neuse River bottom, they had an earthen dam built around it.  All it looked like was a bunch of wood in a hull shape.  It was too bad that the casemate wasn't still there as well.  But, it was a real piece of history to me.

So, the Neuse and I Go Way Back.  --Old B-Runner