CHAPTER II THE ALBEMARLE CHAP II. THE HE successive captures and recaptures of the town of Plymouth, in North Carolina, were episodes of the war so unimportant that they would scarcely claim a place in history were it not for the memorable naval fights in the spring of 1864 in which the Confederate ironclad Albemarle gained great distinction, and the splendid heroism of a young sailor, by which, in the autumn of the same year, she was destroyed. This famous vessel was slowly and painfully constructed, far inland, in a cornfield on the banks of the Roanoke River, about thirty miles below Weldon. The same officer who had changed the Merrimac into the ironclad Virginia used the experience acquired in that service in the building of the Albemarle. Nearly everything requisite in shipbuilding was lacking; but, in spite of all difficulties, the vessel was built at last, and slid from the bluff into the river without Leaders." Springing a leak. She measured 152 feet in length, 45 in width, and, with her armor on, drew eight feet. In general construction she resembled all the other Confederate ironclads. Her casement, or shield, was sixty feet long, sloping to the deck at an angle of forty-five degrees; plated with two courses of two Gilbert Elliott, "Battles and Vol. IV., p. 626. inch iron, rolled at the Tredegar Works. She was armed with two rifled Brooke guns, mounted on pivot carriages, so disposed that each gun commanded three portholes. Her beak was of oak, plated with two-inch iron. She was a year under construction; rumors of her progress occasionally transpired, and the brave and vigilant commander, C. W. Flusser, to whom her first sortie was to be mortal, warned the department in the summer of 1863 that a formidable craft was in preparation in the river. It would have required no considerable expedition to destroy her in the yard, but General Grant's attention was at that time fully occupied with other matters. She was not completed until April, 1864, and her first service under her captain, J. W. Cooke, was to assist General Hoke in an attack upon the town of Plymouth, which was held by a small Union force under General H. W. Wessels. Hoke's division marched down and surrounded the place, his two flanks resting on the river above and below the town. It was the task of the Albemarle to clear away the navy from the river front. The attack began on the 18th of April, and lasted all day, with no advantage to the Confederates, Wessels's troops, and the two gunboats Miami and Southfield, under the intelligent direction of Flusser, repulsing every attempt to take the place; but on the next day the intervention of the Albemarle put a different face on the affair. She dropped down the river in front of the town by night, the fire of the fort rattling harmlessly against her shield. Flusser, warned of her coming, made ready for action, and steamed up to meet her with the Miami and the Southfield chained CHAP. II. 1864. 1864. together. The adversaries met in the first glimmer CHAP. II. of dawn. The ram struck the Miami a slight blow, and, passing on, with one thrust of her beak tore open the side of the Southfield, which filled and sank almost immediately. The Miami opened upon the ram with her batteries, with results fatal only to her own brave commander. Flusser, who was personally firing the first shots, was struck by a fragment of a Dahlgren shell, rebounding from the iron side of the ram, and instantly killed. His successor in command seeing that if he remained he would simply be sacrificing his vessel uselessly, retired down the river to Albemarle Sound. The post of Plymouth, surrounded on every side, fell into the hands of the Confederates. Report of Acting Master Wells. Lee, Orders, April 23, 1864. Report of the Navy, Dec. 5, 1864. The destruction of the Albemarle was thenceforward the principal object of the naval squadron in the Sound. Captain Melancton Smith, an able and experienced officer, was dispatched to the scene Secretary of action for that especial service. He rapidly made the necessary arrangements for attack. His main reliance was upon his guns and torpedoes; ramming was to be resorted to in the discretion of commanders, though the peculiar construction of the double enders, of which his fleet consisted, rendered this a doubtful expedient. The Albemarle did not wait to be attacked, but sallied forth at midday of the 5th of May, with the intention of clearing both Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds of the Union fleet, and, if possible, regaining control of Hatteras Inlet. She was attended by the transport Cotton Plant, and the captured storeship Bombshell. Smith speedily got his vessels under way, the flagship Mattabesett leading, the Sassacus and 66 Gilbert Century Magazine," July, 1888. CHAP. II. the rest of the fleet following, eight vessels in all, carrying 32 guns, besides 23 howitzers. Against this heavy armament the undaunted ironclad came May 5, 1864. on with her two guns; and so enormous is the power of invulnerability that the fight was not altogether unequal. We feel in reading the epics and sagas of the past, that Achilles and Siegfried are safe no matter what the number of their adversaries, unless the exposed heel or the mark of the linden leaf is touched. Without the ironclads in Mobile Bay, all the valor of Farragut would have been of no avail against the tough sides of the Tennessee. The Cotton Plant was at once ordered back out of danger, and the Bombshell, at the first onset of the Union fleet, surrendered; but the Albemarle held her own sturdily; her two pivot guns, working in safety and at leisure, seemed to quadruple themselves by dint of efficiency. Elliott, Magazine," The battle began at a quarter before five o'clock; the Albemarle fired two damaging shots into the Mattabesett and then tried to ram her, but the swifter ship evaded the blow and poured a broadside upon the ironclad. The Sassacus coming up did the same, and the other vessels in succession Gilbert did what they could; their principal danger was "Century, firing into, or fouling, each other. Their fire was by July, 1888. no means ineffective; the boats of the Albemarle were shot away, her smoke-stack so injured that it almost ceased to draw, many of her plates were started and shattered, and her after gun was broken and disabled; but to the eyes of the officers in the Union fleet, this concentrated fire appeared to have no more effect on the iron sides of the monster than so much thistle-down. Lieutenant-Commander |