Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries The Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries , sometimes known as the Battle of Forts Hatteras and Clark , was a small but significant engagement in the early days of the American Civil War . Two Confederate forts on the North Carolina Outer Banks were subjected to an amphibious assault by Union forces that began on 28 August 1861 . The ill - equipped and undermanned forts were forced to endure bombardment by seven Union warships , to which they were unable to reply . Although casualties were light , the defenders chose not to continue the one - sided contest , and on the second day they surrendered . As immediate results of the battle , Confederate interference with Northern maritime commerce was considerably reduced , while the Union blockade of Southern ports was extended . More importantly , the Federal government gained entry into the North Carolina Sounds . Several North Carolina cities ( New Bern , Washington , Elizabeth City , and Edenton among them ) were directly threatened . In addition , the sounds were a back door to the Confederate - held parts of Tidewater Virginia , particularly Norfolk . The battle is significant for several reasons : It was the first notable Union victory of the war ; following the embarrassment of First Bull Run ( or First Manassas ) , 21 July 1861 , it encouraged supporters of the Union in the gloomy early days . It represented the first application of the naval blockading strategy . It was the first amphibious operation , as well as the first combined operation , involving units of both the United States Army and Navy . Finally , a new tactic was exploited by the bombarding fleet ; by keeping in motion , they did much to eliminate the traditional advantage of shore - based guns over those carried on ships . Hatteras Inlet in Confederate hands . The North Carolina Sounds occupy most of the coast from Cape Lookout ( North Carolina ) to the Virginia border . With their eastern borders marked by the Outer Banks , they were almost ideally located for raiding Northern maritime commerce . Cape Hatteras , the easternmost point in the Confederacy , is within sight of the Gulf Stream , which moves at a speed of about 3 knots ( 1 . 5 m / s ) at this latitude . Ships in the Caribbean trade would reduce the time of their homeward journeys to New York , Philadelphia , or Boston by riding the stream to the north . Raiders , either privateer s or state - owned vessels , could lie inside , protected from both the weather and from Yankee blockaders , until an undefended victim appeared . Watchers stationed at the Hatteras lighthouse would then signal a raider , which would dash out and make a capture , often being able to return the same day . To protect the raiders from Federal reprisal , the state of North Carolina immediately after seceding from the Union established forts at the inlets , waterways that allowed entrance to and egress from the sounds . In 1861 , only four inlets were deep enough for ocean - going vessels to pass : Beaufort , Ocracoke , Hatteras , and Oregon Inlets . Hatteras Inlet was the most important of these , so it was given two forts , named Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark Fort Hatteras was sited adjacent to the inlet , on the sound side of Hatteras Island . Fort Clark was about half a mile ( 800 m ) to the southeast , closer to the Atlantic Ocean . The forts were not very strong ; Fort Hatteras had only ten guns mounted by the end of August , with another five guns in the fort but not mounted . Fort Clark had only five . Furthermore , most of the guns were rather light 32 - pounders or smaller , of limited range and inadequate for coastal defense . The personnel problem was even worse . North Carolina had raised and equipped 22 infantry regiments to serve in the war , but 16 of these had been drawn off for the campaigns in Virginia . The six regiments remaining were responsible for the defense of the entire North Carolina coastline . Only a fraction of one regiment , the 7th North Carolina Volunteers , occupied the two forts at Hatteras Inlet . The other forts were likewise only weakly held . Fewer than a thousand men garrisoned Forts Ocracoke , Hatteras , Clark , and Oregon . Reinforcements , if needed , would have to come from as far away as Beaufort . Strangely , the military authorities in North Carolina did little to keep the poor state of their defenses secret . Several Yankee captains , victims of either capture or shipwreck , were loosely detained at or near Hatteras Island while awaiting return to their homes . They were allowed virtually free access to the forts , and made mental notes of everything . When they returned to the North , at least two of them gave full and valuable descriptions to the Navy Department . Northern reaction . The depredations on Northern commerce emanating from Hatteras Inlet could not pass unnoticed . Insurance underwriters pressured Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles for remedy . Welles needed no prodding . He already had on his desk a report from the Blockade Strategy Board suggesting a way to perfect the blockade of the North Carolina coast . The board recommended that the coast be rendered useless to the South by sinking old , useless , ballast - laden ships in the inlets to block them up . ( Their reports also contained a statement that is easily overlooked : " These plans may undergo some modification in the hands of the person to whom their execution shall be intrusted . " ) Soon after he received the board ' s report , Secretary Welles began to implement its recommendation . He ordered Commander H . S . Stellwagen to go to the Chesapeake Bay to buy some suitable old hulks . At the same time , he was told to report his activities to Flag Officer Silas H . Stringham , commandant of the Atlantic Blockading Squadron . As such , he was the naval officer in charge of the blockade of the North Carolina coast . This was the first involvement of Stringham with what was to become the attack at Hatteras Inlet . In time , he would become the most important person in the expedition . Stringham opposed the plan to block the inlets from the beginning . He believed that the tidal currents would either sweep the impediments away or would rapidly scour new channels . As he saw it , the Rebels could not be denied access to the sounds unless the inlets were actually held by the Union . In other words , in order to establish an effective blockade in this part of North Carolina , the forts that the state had set up would have to be captured . Since the Navy could not do it alone , the cooperation of the Army would be needed . As it happened , the Army was willing to cooperate . They had to do something with the political general Benjamin F . Butler , who was a political force that had to be dealt with , but was already emerging ( according to the virtually unanimous consensus of historians ) as a military incompetent . Butler was ordered to assemble a force of some 800 men for the expedition . He soon had 880 : 500 from the German - speaking 20th New York Volunteers , 220 from the 9th New York Volunteers , 100 from the Union Coast Guard ( an Army unit , actually the 99th New York Volunteers ; the U . S . Coast Guard as we know it did not exist in 1861 ) , and 20 army regulars from the 2nd U . S . Artillery . The men were put aboard two of the vessels that Commander Stellwagen had purchased , " Adelaide " and " George Peabody " . When objection was made that the two ships would not be able to survive a Hatteras storm , Stellwagen pointed out that the expedition could proceed only in fair weather anyway , as a storm would prevent landings . While Butler was gathering his forces , Flag Officer Stringham was also making preparations . Somehow he learned that the War Department orders to Butler ' s superior , Major General John E . Wool , had contained the statement , " The expedition originated in the Navy Department , and is under its control . " Reasoning that he would be blamed if anything went wrong , he decided to follow his own plans . He selected seven warships for the expedition : , " Cumberland " , " Susquehanna " , " Wabash " , " Pawnee " , " Monticello " , and " Harriet Lane " . All but the last were ships of the U . S . Navy ; " Harriet Lane " was a cutter , part of the US Revenue Service . He also included in his force the tug " Fanny " , needed to tow some of the surf boats that would be used for the landing . On 26 August 1861 , the flotilla , less " Susquehanna " and " Cumberland , " departed Hampton Roads and moved down the coast to the vicinity of Cape Hatteras . On the way , they were joined by " Cumberland . " They swung around the Cape on 27 August and anchored near the inlet , in full view of the defenders there . Colonel William F . Martin of the 7th North Carolina Infantry , commanding at Forts Hatteras and Clark , knew that his 580 or so men would need help , so he called for reinforcements from Forts Ocracoke and Oregon . Unfortunately for him and his garrison , communication among the forts was slow , and the first reinforcements did not arrive until late the next day , when it was too late . Opposing forces . Union . Department of Virginia - MG . Benjamin F . Butler Atlantic Blockading Squadron - Flag Officer Silas H . Stringham The battle . First day , to sunset . Early on the morning of 28 August , , USS " Wabash " , and USS " Cumberland " began to bombard Fort Clark , while the lighter warships accompanied the transports to a point about three miles ( about 5 km ) to the east , where the troops began disembarking . Stringham kept his ships moving in a loop , with " Wabash " towing " Cumberland " . About 11 : 00 a . m . , USS " Susquehanna " " made her number " and joined in . The ships would deliver their broadsides against the fort , move back out of range to reload , and then come back in to fire again . By remaining in motion , they did not let the artillerymen in the fort correct their aim between shots , and thereby negated much of the traditional advantage of shore - based guns over those on ships . This tactic had been used previously by the British and French at the siege of Sevastopol in the Crimean War , but this was the first time it was used by the US Navy . The return fire from Fort Clark was ineffectual , either falling short or passing overhead , and no hits were made on the bombarding ships . Shortly after noon , the defenders ran low on ammunition , and about 12 : 25 p . m . they ran out completely . At this point , they abandoned the fort , some fleeing to Fort Hatteras , while others took to boats . Col . Max Weber , commanding the Federal troops already on shore , noted this and put some men in to take possession , but the fleet did not know this and continued firing for another five minutes . It was during this interval of confusion that the landing force suffered its only casualty , one of the soldiers being seriously wounded in the hand by a shell fragment . Fortunately , some of the troops were able to get the attention of the gunners on the ships by waving a large American flag , and the bombardment stopped with no further harm done . Stringham and his captains then turned their attention to Fort Hatteras . Meanwhile , the landings were not going well . Only about a third of the troops were ashore when rising winds produced surf that swamped and overturned the landing boats , and General Butler had to suspend further attempts to land . Colonel Weber found that he had only 318 men with him . The number included 102 from his own regiment , the 20th New York , but also 68 from the 9th New York , 28 from the Union Coast Guard , 45 artillerymen , 45 marines , and 28 sailors who could man heavy guns . With a couple of field pieces that they had managed to wrestle ashore through the surf , they could reasonably well defend themselves against a Confederate counterattack , but they were too weak to mount an attack on Fort Hatteras . At Fort Hatteras , Stringham kept his ships moving as he had done at Fort Clark . The defenders tried to conserve their ammunition by firing only sporadically , so Stringham thought that perhaps the fort had been abandoned . ( No flag was flying . Before the battle , the old flag had been reduced to tatters , and was never replaced . ) He sent " Monticello " into the inlet to sound it out , but then the fort came again to life . The ship grounded while trying to extricate herself , and in this condition she was struck by five shots . None of these did any permanent damage , although a couple of sailors received minor wounds . As the day came to a close , the fleet drew off in the face of threatening weather , the exhausted defenders looked for reinforcements , and the Federal troops ashore went to sleep supperless , with water running low , and dreading the reinforcements that their opponents hoped for . After sunset , and second day . Sometime after dark , reinforcements began to arrive at the fort . The gunboat CSS Warren Winslow brought in some of the garrison from Fort Ocracoke , and some of the sailors also stayed to help man the guns . This brought the number of men in the fort up to more than 700 , with more expected from New Bern . Accompanying the additional troops was Flag Officer Samuel Barron , commanding the coast defenses of North Carolina and Virginia . Colonel Martin , pleading exhaustion , requested Barron to assume command . He did so , still believing that with the additional troops from New Bern they would be able to retake Fort Clark . Dawn of the second day blasted the hopes of the defenders . The weather moderated enough that the Union fleet could return and resume its bombardment ; they were also able to drive off the transport bringing reinforcements . ( Somehow a ship was able to get in , but rather than bringing in more troops she carried away some of the wounded . ) The fleet initially kept in motion , but they soon found that they were out of range of the guns in the fort . After that , the ships did not alter their positions , but poured their fire into the fort with no danger of reply . There was nothing the men in the forts could do except endure . After about three hours , Barron called a council of the officers , and they decided to seek terms , even though casualties had been quite light . ( The actual numbers of dead and wounded are known only very imprecisely . Various reports give the number of dead as from four to seven , and the wounded as from 20 to 45 ) At a little after 11 : 00 a . m . , the white flag was shown . Butler insisted upon surrender , which Barron agreed to . The battle came to a close , and the survivors went into prisoner - of - war camps . The list of prisoners had 691 names , including those wounded but not evacuated . Aftermath . Butler and Stringham left immediately after the battle , the former to Washington and the latter accompanying the prisoners to New York . Critics argued that each was trying to gather credit for the victory to himself . The pair contended , however , that they were trying to persuade the administration to abandon the original plan to block up Hatteras Inlet . In Federal hands it was no longer useful to the Confederacy , and in fact now allowed Union forces to pursue raiders into the sounds . Although they and their supporters continued to press the case for several weeks , it seems to have been unnecessary . The War and Navy Departments had already decided to retain possession of the inlet , which would be used as the entry point of an amphibious expedition against the North Carolina mainland early the next year . This campaign , known as Burnside ' s North Carolina Expedition for its senior Army commander Ambrose E . Burnside , completely removed the sounds as sources of commerce - raiding activity . Continued Federal possession of Hatteras Inlet was considerably aided by the Confederate authorities , who early decided that the Ocracoke and Oregon batteries were indefensible , so they were abandoned . Stringham ' s tactic of keeping his ships in motion while bombarding forts was used later by Flag Officer Samuel Francis Du Pont at Port Royal , South Carolina . The effectiveness of the practice led to a reconsideration of the value of fixed forts against naval gunnery . No physical evidence of the battle remains , however , the battlefield is preserved within Cape Hatteras National Seashore . Notes . Abbreviations used in these notes : External links . Contemporary map :