Combat· American Civil War
Battle of Roanoke Island
A major Union amphibious victory that opened the North Carolina sounds, though principally an Army achievement.
In early February 1862 General Burnside's expedition, some ten thousand strong, landed on Roanoke Island under cover of the fleet's guns and overran the Confederate defenses, taking the garrison prisoner the following day. Marines from the squadron's ships took part, but the conquest of the island was carried out chiefly by Burnside's soldiers, supported by naval gunfire, rather than by a Marine landing force. The seizure of Roanoke gave the Union command of both Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds and the rivers feeding them, opening the way to the subsequent captures of New Bern, Washington, and Plymouth. No Marine casualties are recorded. The action was a model of combined operations and one of the string of early-1862 successes by which the Union steadily prised open the North Carolina coast.
Podcast episodes on American Civil War
Record no. 410