The first "Hatteras Inlet" was formed south of the current inlet, but closed around 1764. The modern "Hatteras Inlet" was formed on September 7, 1846 by a violent gale. This massive storm, was the same storm that opened present-day Oregon Inlet. The new inlet at Hatteras became a profitable inlet, because it gave the Inner Banks, NC a quicker and easier route to travel to and from the Gulf Stream. It was easier to come into this inlet from the north than to Ocracoke. Because of the increase in commerce, Hatteras Village Post Office was established in 1858. The initial invasion of the North Carolina coast on Hatteras Island during the Civil War, called the Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries, came from Hatteras Inlet on August 28–29, 1861. The two Confederate forts guarding the inlet quickly fell.