About Wilmington's Eagles Island-- Part 2: Civil War Story, the CSS North Carolina

In 1848, Samuel Beery and his two sons bought  property on Eagles Island from Henry Savage for $12,000.  Here they constructed  the Commercial  Mill and Ship Yard, which was turning out 250 ton vessels by 1850.  By the time Thomas Beery bought out his father in 1852, the site held a saw mill, a shipyard, a marine railway (a kind of drydock) along with a blacksmith shop and rigging loft.

In 1861, the Benjamin and William Beery began building warships and other support ships for the Confederacy.  The most famous one they completed was the ironclad CSS North Carolina, 150 feet long and mounting six 8-inch guns.

She proved to be a very ineffectual ship and was so underpowered that all that could be done with her was to anchor the ship  off Smithville (today's Southport) near the Cape Fear River's old entrance and use as a floating battery.  She remained there until developing a leak and sinking.  So much for her Confederate career.

--Old B-Runner

J.J. Ingraham, CSN-- Part 1: Boatswain

From Confederate States Navy Arthur Wyllie.

J.J. Ingraham was appointed to the USNA from Virgibia and entered CSS Navy Jan. 16, 1864 as boatswain.  One source has him as boatswain of the CSS Arctic in 1863.  Served on the steam gunboat CSS Raleigh and ironclad sloop CSS North Carolina. and Wilmington Station in 1864 and later

Boatswain  Confederate States Navy on Jan. 16, 1864.

Boatswain Provisional Confederate States Navy June 2, 1864.Assigned to the ironclad CSS Raleigh 1863-1864, the CSS Arctic and the CSS Chickamauga and Wilmington Naval Station in 1864.

I was unable to find any mention of him as being in the U.S. Naval Academy.

--Old B-Runner

Captain William T. Muse, CSN-- Part 1

From the April 16, 2014, Civilian War Time: N.C.'s Civilian Civil War Wartime Experience.

I only found mention of a "Captain W.T. Muse, commanding the CSS North Carolina died in this town of typhoid fever."  #CW150.

This brief statement just caused me to spend three hours doing research on this man.  Just another in the many reasons it takes me so long to do these doggone blogs.  One things leads to another, leads to another and leads to another.

I knew the CSS North Carolina was an ironclad steamer at Wilmington, North Carolina, hence a Wilmington, Fort Fisher connection.

--Old B-Runner

Another Recon of Masonboro Inlet, NC

Acting Ensign Elamson Semon made his second reconnaissance expedition to Masonboro Inlet and Wilmington, North Carolina, gathering more important information concerning blockade-runners, the defensive dispositions of forces in the area, and made arrangements to procure pilots for the upcoming operation against Wilmington.

He learned for the first time that the CSS North Carolina, one of the ironclads built for the defense of Wilmington, had sunk at her pier at Smithville (Southport today).  her bottom was eaten out by worms.  The North Carolina drew too much water to pass over the bars at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, and had spent most all of her short career at Smithville.

I am wondering about how Semon would obtain pilots if they were Southerners?

Getting Ready for the Attack.  --Old B-Runner

Cushing's At It Again-- Part 3: Porter Congratulates Him

Rear Admiral Porter, still commanding out on western waters, was impressed with William Cushing's expedition and later wrote: "There was not a more daring adventure than this in the whole course of the war.  There were ninety-nine chances in a hundred that Cushing and his party would be killed or captured, but throughout all his daring scheme there seemed to be a method, and, though criticized as rash and ill-judged, Cushing returned unscathed from his frequent expeditions, with much important information.

"In this instance it was a great source of satisfaction to the blockading vessels to learn that the 'Raleigh' was destroyed, and that the other iron-clad was not considered fit to cross the bar."

In other words, the Wilmington ironclads were no longer considered a threat.  Porter would later command William Cushing in his attacks on Fort Fisher.

--Old B-Runner

Cushing's At It Again-- Part 1

JUNE 23-24TH, 1864:  Lieutenant William Cushing and 17 men from his ship, the USS Monticello, reconnoitered the Cape Fear River to within three miles of Wilmington, NC.

They rowed past the batteries guarding the western bar on the night of the 23rd, and despite three narrow escapes pulled safely ashore below Wilmington as day dawned on the 24th.

The expedition's goal was to obtain information about the CSS Raleigh, which Cushing was unaware had been wrecked after the engagement on 6 May.  He learned on this sortie that the ram had been "indeed, destroyed, and nothing now remains of her above the water."

He also collected a lot more information.  The CSS Yadkin, 300-ton flagship of Flag Offiver Lynch, "mounted only two guns, did not seem to have many men."  Ironclad sloop CSS North Carolina was at anchor off Wilmington; she "would not stand long against a monitor."

And, he Found Out More.  --Old B-Runner

Naval Happenings 150 Years Ago: April 6th, 1863-- Confederate Ships in NC

APRIL 6TH

Captain William F. Lynch, CSN, wrote Senator George Davis on NC from Wilmington regarding the status of ships being built in North Carolina.  "One ironclad, the North Carolina, building here, is very nearly ready for her crew....The other, the Raleigh, is now ready for her iron shield, and can in eight weeks be prepared for service, as far as the material is concerned.

At Whitehall, upon the Neuse, we have a gunboat [Neuse] in nearly the same state of forwardness as the Raleigh; at Tarboro we have one with the frame up, the keel of one [Albemarle] is laid near Scotland Neck...."

I was unaware of any gunboat/ironclad being built at Tarboro.  I'll have to do some research.

Old B-R'er

The CSS Wilmington: Not Your Standard Confederate Ironclad-- Part 1

From the Encyclopedia of North Carolina.

I knew about this ironclad, but not much beyond the fact that it was destroyed while incomplete when the Federals captured its namesake city in February 1865.  I came across the name of the ship in the NC Encyclopedia, looked it up in Yahoo! and came across a discussion about it ion the Civil War Talk site under Naval War.  This was quite a different-looking Confederate ironclad than what you normally expect to see.

The CSS Wilmington was the last of three Confederate ironclads constructed at Wilmington during the war.  The first two were begun in the spring of 1862 and proved unsatisfactory.  The CSS Raleigh ran aground in the Cape Fear River in May 1864 and was a total loss.  The CSS North Carolina leaked badly anf became a floating battery, sinking at her moorings in September 1864.

In late May 1864, Confederate Sceretary of the Navy, Stephen Mallory sent naval shipbuilder John L.Porter to Wilmington to build a new ironclad.  That was the CSS Wilmington.

New Boat, New Name.  --Old B-Runner

Confederate Ironclad Seen on Cape Fear River This Date

MARCH 5, 1863

Captain Sands, USS Dacotah, reported the appearance at New Inlet, on the Cape Fear River, of a Confederate ironclad.  "I would feel somewhat more at ease," he wrote Rear Admiral S.P. Lee, "if we had an ironclad at each of these main inlets to Cape Fear River, to fend off an attack upon wooden vessels by the Confederate ram, although, without such aid, we will do our best to prevent its success. 

But, without some assistance the blockade may be at any time broken by even this single yet formidable ram.  Sands later reported that the ram had had to return inside the Cape Fear River "because she could not stand to sea."

Was it the CSS North Carolina or the CSS Raleigh?  --Old B-R'er