Battle of Roanoke Island

Battle of Roanoke Island
Part of the American Civil War
Capture of Roanoke Island, Feby. 8th 1862, by Currier and Ives
Date February 7, 1862 (1862-02-07)– February 8, 1862 (1862-02-08) Location Roanoke Island and Croatan Sound, North Carolina Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
Ambrose Burnside Louis M. Goldsborough	Henry A. Wise[1] Henry M. Shaw
Units involved
Department of North Carolina North Atlantic Blockading Squadron	Wise's Legion
Strength
10,000	3,000
Casualties and losses
264 total 37 killed 214 wounded 13 missing	2,643 total 23 killed 58 wounded 62 missing 2,500 captured 30 guns captured[2]

The opening phase of what came to be called the Burnside Expedition, the Battle of Roanoke Island was an amphibious operation of the American Civil War, fought on February 7–8, 1862, in the North Carolina Sounds a short distance south of the Virginia border. The attacking force consisted of a flotilla of gunboats of the Union Navy drawn from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, commanded by Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough, a separate group of gunboats under Union Army control, and an army division led by Brig. Gen. Ambrose Burnside. The defenders were a group of gunboats from the Confederate States Navy, termed the Mosquito Fleet, under Capt. William F. Lynch, and about 2,000 Confederate soldiers commanded locally by Brig. Gen. Henry A. Wise. The defense was augmented by four forts facing on the water approaches to Roanoke Island, and two outlying batteries. At the time of the battle, Wise was hospitalized, so leadership fell to his second in command, Col. Henry M. Shaw.

During the first day of the battle, the Federal gunboats and the forts on shore engaged in a gun battle, with occasional contributions from the Mosquito Fleet. Late in the day, Burnside's soldiers went ashore unopposed; they were accompanied by six howitzers manned by sailors. As it was too late to fight, the invaders went into camp for the night.

On the second day, February 8, the Union soldiers advanced but were stopped by an artillery battery and accompanying infantry in the center of the island. Although the Confederates thought that their line was safely anchored in impenetrable swamps, they were flanked on both sides and their soldiers were driven back to refuge in the forts. The forts were taken in reverse. With no way for his men to escape, Col. Shaw surrendered to avoid pointless bloodshed.