Decline in county's economy attributed to loss of business to the Dismal Swamp Canal and closing of Roanoke Inlet. Allen Parker's birth. Albermarle Steam Navigation Company begins, serves Edenton for over 80 years. Former slave from Chowan County Harriet A. Jacobs publishes Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl. 1864 Sandy Point residents witness a skirmish between Confederate ironclad, Albermarle, and a squadron of seven Union gunboats.
Little damage is done on either side.
1865 Civil War ends, and Chowan County is considered a depressed region. The economy relied on agriculture and fishing and both lost massive amounts of labor with the freeing of slaves.