Recalled Elliott, "Captain Cooke ran the ram close to the southern shore, and then, suddenly turning toward the middle of the stream, and going with the current... dashed the prow of the Albemarle into the Southfield, making an opening large enough to carry her to the bottom...."
Cooke then turned his attention to the USS Miami, whose point-blank fire proved ineffectual against the Albemarle's armor. After an attempt to board the ironclad was beaten back, the Miami fled downriver.
But, when dawn broke the next day, there was no sign of Hoke. Elliott and a team of volunteers soon found the Confederates bivouacked along a creek near the river's mouth, about 12 miles away, and with the general, devised a battle plan in which the Albemarle would shell the Union defenses while Hoke launched an infantry attack on them.
By 10 a.m., the attack was over and Plymouth was in Confederate hands.
The fearsome ram would enjoy one more moment of glory. On the afternoon of May 5, 1864, Cooke's vessel sortied into Albemarle Sound and engaged the entire Union flotilla. All attempts to sink the Albemarle failed, and at nightfall both sides retired.
--Old B-Runner
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