Marker: Outfitting CSS Albemarle: Ready for action |
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OUTFITTING CSS ALBEMARLE
★ ★ ★
Ready for Action
Here, on the Roanoke River, is
where the ironclad gunboat CSS
Albemarle was outfitted and read-ied
for service in 1863–1864. One
of the most successful Confederate
ironclads, the 376-ton Albemarle
sank 29 Federal vessels before its
own demise. Construction began in
the spring of 1863 in a cornfield
about 20 miles downstream at Ed-wards
Ferry, near Scotland Neck.
Albemarle’s designer, a 19-year-old
inventor named Charles Gilbert
Elliott, later wrote, “No vessel was
ever constructed under more ad-verse
circumstances,” including fre-quent
shortages of labor and mate-rials.
Like other ironclads, Albemarle
was solidly built with pointed ends
for ramming enemy vessels and a
flat bottom for shallow-water opera-tions.
It measured 158 feet long and
35 feet 3 inches across the beam.
In October 1863, Albemarle was
towed to Halifax to be covered with
iron plating. In addition, here the
interior woodwork was completed,
final adjustments were made to the
vessel’s machinery, and the ship’s
stores were gathered. With a navy
yard located on a rail line, Halifax
was ideally situated for these final
tasks. Commissioned on April 17,
1864, Albemarle engaged a Federal
fleet two days later at the Battle of
Plymouth but was damaged during
a second battle on May 5. Albemarle
limped into Plymouth for repairs
to its steering mechanism and
smokestack, but, before they were
completed, U.S. Navy Lt. William B.
Cushing sank it using a “torpedo”
(a tin powder keg with an internal
percussion cap) on October 27.
“Went to see the…Gunboat ‘Albemarle.’…She is now nearly complet-ed,
Engines & Propeller in & will, if the Department at Richmond
send on the iron to complete her armour, steam down the river next
month…. We saw some of the famous Brooke Guns, much smaller in
the bore than I had supposed.” – Catherine Devereux Edmondston,
journal, Feb. 16, 1864.
Ready for action. CSS Albemarle was
equipped with two Brooke rifled cannons
– Courtesy Naval Historical Foundation
Plan of CSS Albemarle
– Courtesy Naval Historical Foundation
Catherine Devereux
Edmondston (1823–1875),
a plantation mistress at
Looking Glass, near
Enfield, was an ardent
secessionist. Her diary,
kept between the years
1860–1866, was published
in 1979 as the Journal
of a Secesh Lady.
– Courtesy of North
Carolina State Archives
CSS Albemarle was raised and towed to the Norfolk
Navy Yard in 1865 – Courtesy Naval Historical Foundation
Object Description
| Title | Outfitting CSS Albemarle: Ready for action |
| Creator |
Civil War Trails, Inc. North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. |
| Date | 2005 |
| Subjects |
North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Albemarle (Confederate ironclad) |
| Place |
Halifax County, North Carolina, United States |
| Time Period |
(1860-1876) Civil War and Reconstruction |
| Publisher | Civil War Trails, Inc. |
| Rights | May be copyrighted. Submit permissions requests for further use to Civil War Trails, Inc http://www.civilwartrails.org/; |
| Type |
Text Sound |
| Language |
English |
| Format |
Information signs |
| Digital Collection |
Civil War Collection |
| Digital Format |
application/pdf audio/mp3 |
| Audience |
All |
| Pres File Name-M | gen_cw_outfittingcssalbemarle |
| Full Text | OUTFITTING CSS ALBEMARLE ★ ★ ★ Ready for Action Here, on the Roanoke River, is where the ironclad gunboat CSS Albemarle was outfitted and read-ied for service in 1863–1864. One of the most successful Confederate ironclads, the 376-ton Albemarle sank 29 Federal vessels before its own demise. Construction began in the spring of 1863 in a cornfield about 20 miles downstream at Ed-wards Ferry, near Scotland Neck. Albemarle’s designer, a 19-year-old inventor named Charles Gilbert Elliott, later wrote, “No vessel was ever constructed under more ad-verse circumstances,” including fre-quent shortages of labor and mate-rials. Like other ironclads, Albemarle was solidly built with pointed ends for ramming enemy vessels and a flat bottom for shallow-water opera-tions. It measured 158 feet long and 35 feet 3 inches across the beam. In October 1863, Albemarle was towed to Halifax to be covered with iron plating. In addition, here the interior woodwork was completed, final adjustments were made to the vessel’s machinery, and the ship’s stores were gathered. With a navy yard located on a rail line, Halifax was ideally situated for these final tasks. Commissioned on April 17, 1864, Albemarle engaged a Federal fleet two days later at the Battle of Plymouth but was damaged during a second battle on May 5. Albemarle limped into Plymouth for repairs to its steering mechanism and smokestack, but, before they were completed, U.S. Navy Lt. William B. Cushing sank it using a “torpedo” (a tin powder keg with an internal percussion cap) on October 27. “Went to see the…Gunboat ‘Albemarle.’…She is now nearly complet-ed, Engines & Propeller in & will, if the Department at Richmond send on the iron to complete her armour, steam down the river next month…. We saw some of the famous Brooke Guns, much smaller in the bore than I had supposed.” – Catherine Devereux Edmondston, journal, Feb. 16, 1864. Ready for action. CSS Albemarle was equipped with two Brooke rifled cannons – Courtesy Naval Historical Foundation Plan of CSS Albemarle – Courtesy Naval Historical Foundation Catherine Devereux Edmondston (1823–1875), a plantation mistress at Looking Glass, near Enfield, was an ardent secessionist. Her diary, kept between the years 1860–1866, was published in 1979 as the Journal of a Secesh Lady. – Courtesy of North Carolina State Archives CSS Albemarle was raised and towed to the Norfolk Navy Yard in 1865 – Courtesy Naval Historical Foundation |
Description
| Title | Marker: Outfitting CSS Albemarle: Ready for action |
| Creator |
Civil War Trails, Inc. |
| Date | 2005 |
| Subjects |
North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Albemarle (Confederate ironclad) |
| Place |
Halifax County, North Carolina, United States |
| Time Period |
(1860-1876) Civil War and Reconstruction |
| Publisher | Civil War Trails, Inc. |
| Rights | May be copyrighted. Submit permissions requests for further use to Civil War Trails, Inc http://www.civilwartrails.org/; |
| Type |
Text |
| Language |
English |
| Format |
Information signs |
| Digital Characteristics-A | 86 KB; |
| Digital Collection |
Civil War Collection |
| Digital Format | application/pdf |
| Audience |
All |
| Pres File Name-M | gen_cw_outfittingcssalbemarle.pdf |
| Full Text | OUTFITTING CSS ALBEMARLE ★ ★ ★ Ready for Action Here, on the Roanoke River, is where the ironclad gunboat CSS Albemarle was outfitted and read-ied for service in 1863–1864. One of the most successful Confederate ironclads, the 376-ton Albemarle sank 29 Federal vessels before its own demise. Construction began in the spring of 1863 in a cornfield about 20 miles downstream at Ed-wards Ferry, near Scotland Neck. Albemarle’s designer, a 19-year-old inventor named Charles Gilbert Elliott, later wrote, “No vessel was ever constructed under more ad-verse circumstances,” including fre-quent shortages of labor and mate-rials. Like other ironclads, Albemarle was solidly built with pointed ends for ramming enemy vessels and a flat bottom for shallow-water opera-tions. It measured 158 feet long and 35 feet 3 inches across the beam. In October 1863, Albemarle was towed to Halifax to be covered with iron plating. In addition, here the interior woodwork was completed, final adjustments were made to the vessel’s machinery, and the ship’s stores were gathered. With a navy yard located on a rail line, Halifax was ideally situated for these final tasks. Commissioned on April 17, 1864, Albemarle engaged a Federal fleet two days later at the Battle of Plymouth but was damaged during a second battle on May 5. Albemarle limped into Plymouth for repairs to its steering mechanism and smokestack, but, before they were completed, U.S. Navy Lt. William B. Cushing sank it using a “torpedo” (a tin powder keg with an internal percussion cap) on October 27. “Went to see the…Gunboat ‘Albemarle.’…She is now nearly complet-ed, Engines & Propeller in & will, if the Department at Richmond send on the iron to complete her armour, steam down the river next month…. We saw some of the famous Brooke Guns, much smaller in the bore than I had supposed.” – Catherine Devereux Edmondston, journal, Feb. 16, 1864. Ready for action. CSS Albemarle was equipped with two Brooke rifled cannons – Courtesy Naval Historical Foundation Plan of CSS Albemarle – Courtesy Naval Historical Foundation Catherine Devereux Edmondston (1823–1875), a plantation mistress at Looking Glass, near Enfield, was an ardent secessionist. Her diary, kept between the years 1860–1866, was published in 1979 as the Journal of a Secesh Lady. – Courtesy of North Carolina State Archives CSS Albemarle was raised and towed to the Norfolk Navy Yard in 1865 – Courtesy Naval Historical Foundation |
