Volume XIV
Number 43
Morch 22
1947
THE STATE
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
Entered
м
«econd-cUM matter. June 1. 1933. at the Poetofflce at Raleigh. North Carolina, under the Act of March 3. 1879.
Charlotte’s Navy Yard
It was located some 170 miles from tlie
nearest shore, but it played a prominent
part in helping* supply warships
Confederacy.
THERE once were many furious
Yankee captains that had
hatred in their hearts for one
of the most unusual navy yards
that ever existed.
Л
navy yard
that had no navy, not even a single
ship or sailor . . . not even a sea.
Yet the yard was real enough and
busy for several years, supplying
Confederate ships with shells and
shot, even propellor shafts, and
generally causing the enemy head¬
aches a navy yard is supposed to
cause. But they never had a chance
for revenge, for the yard we speak
of stood quite safe some hundred
and seventy miles from the nearest
shore — moored in the middle of
the red clay hills of Charlotte.
During the early days of the
Civil War, the Confederate Navy
established a sizable naval base at
Norfolk. Virginia. The Gosport
yard, as it was called, was busy
from the beginning, furnishing mu¬
nitions and fittings for Confederate
ships of all kinds. In the spring of
1862, Union generals decided that
this thorn in the side of Northern
shipping efforts should be removed,
and planned the necessary steps
for the operation.
Removal From Norfolk
When the Northern army began
to move in the direction of Nor¬
folk. Confederate naval officers in
charge of the yard quite prudently
decided that the time had arrived
for them to move. Officers were
dispatched to inspect a number of
possible locations, and for that
purpose. Captains W. D. Murdaugh
and William Parker, CSN, came to
Charlotte. Their report was so fa¬
vorable that Charlotte was chosen,
and the machines of the Gosport
yard, the lathes and planes and a
«• /
TED SIDES
small steam hammer, were shipped
by rail to the new site.
Although available labor and
materials undoubtedly influenced
their decision, a major factor must
have been the excellent rail serv¬
ice that Charlotte afforded in those
days. Anyway, a site was selected,
paralleled by the North Carolina
Central Railroad on one side, and
close to the South Carolina Rail¬
road freight depot, where the pres¬
ent freight depot of the Seaboard
Air Line now stands.
Commander John M. Brooke,
chief of ordnance at the Gosport
yard, assigned Capt. R. L. Page to
head the new inland yard. The
mint building that once stood on
West Trade Street provided living
quarters for him.
Many employees of the yard in
Virginia moved with the machin¬
ery to the new one, and today
many descendants of those men
are living in Charlotte. Local labor
was also recruited, and each morn¬
ing at seven the men could be seen
marching down to the yard for the
early morning roll call.
Many Buildings
They went to work with enthusi¬
asm. Many frame buildings were
erected, including a laboratory and
a gun carriage shop. Huge coke
ovens were constructed. Finding
the small hammer shipped from
the old yard unsuitable for their
purposes, skillful mechanics built
the largest steam hammer ever
seen in the South, and its thump¬
ings could be heard all over town
for the
as it rattled dishes on the Charlotte
shelves.
Then they built a rambling plat¬
form to the railroad tracks, which
residents promptly dubbed “Navy
Yard Wharf." to bring materials in
and to ship their finished products
out of the bone-dry navy yard.
Finally, much to the chagrin of the
small boys of Charlotte, they built
a high picket fence around the
whole works.
About the time the yard was
finished, the ironclad Merrimac-
Virginia, which had been guard¬
ing the sea approaches to Norfolk,
was destroyed. Capt. H. Ashton
Ramsay, the destroyed ship's chief
engineer, was transferred to Char¬
lotte as chief engineer of the yard.
Shortly after his arrrival, Capt.
Page, who had been in charge of
the entire project, was promoted
to the rank of General in the Con¬
federate army, and was transferred
to assume command of Fort Mor¬
gan, near Mobile, Alabama. Capt.
Ramsay was then promoted to fill
Capt. Page’s position.
Absence of the customary navy
yard background certainly had no
effect on the spirit or capacity of
the Charlotte yard. From i 862
until the last six months of the
war, it was busy turning out mu¬
nitions and equipment which the
Confederates used with telling
efTcct. No guns were made there,
but rifle shells, torpedos. and solid
shot were turned out by the thou¬
sands. and all Confederate gun¬
boats and shore batteries were de¬
pendent on the yard.
An employee named Thomas
Dwyer, one of those who came
from the old yard in Virginia, con¬
ceived and built a machine that
(Continued on page 36)
THE STATE. March 22. 1947
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