Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Sinking of the Picket-- Part 1

From the Sag Harbor (NY) Express.

Even though I came across no notice of the 150th anniversary in the Washington, NC, newspaper or any in NC for that matter, I did find mention of the battle and loss of the Picket from a New York newspaper.

It turns out that four of the dead on the Picket were Sag Harbor men, including the captain.

One hundred and fifty years ago, four gave all for the cause.

Earlier in 1862, General Burnside boarded the small Union Army gunboat Picket while crossing the dangerous Hatteras bar into Pamlico Sound in February 1862.

The ship was lost September 6, 1862, during another Burnside expedition into the Confederacy.

The USS Picket was just 45 feet long with a 10-foot beam  It had been fitted out as a gunboat for the US Marine Artillery and actually was an iron barge.  It carried just a 12-pdr. cannon.  It is believed that there were a lot of Sag Harbor boys on it as well as 25 in the whole expedition fleet.

In early September, transports and gunboats entered the Pamlico River and proceeded to Washington.

More to Come.  --Old B-Runner

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