Roanoke Island, Battle of

In the American Civil War, Union defeat of Confederate forces on 8 February 1862. Roanoke Island, a Confederate stronghold, commanded the entrance to Albemarle Sound on the coast of North Carolina and the Union victory gave them naval control of the area for the rest of the war.

Union strategy for 1862 included a landing on the Sound and an advance inland which would cut the Richmond-Wilmington railroad and also threaten the Confederate naval base of Norfolk, Virginia, from the south. A previous attempt on September 29, 1861, had failed due to gross mismanagement; this second attempt was better organized, using three Union brigades under General Ambrose Burnside and 20 gunboats under Flag Officer Louis Goldsborough.

Aided by a naval bombardment, the infantry were put ashore and soon overpowered the garrison and took the island. Unfortunately, the naval bombardment of Roanoke Island and of the nearby Confederate Fort Barrow used up all the navy ammunition, and further advances had to wait until the navy had re-stocked. By that time the Confederates had been able to develop further lines of defence in and around the Sound, and Burnside's expedition found it difficult to advance. Then the Union strategy changed again; the overland expedition was cancelled and the troops withdrawn, but the island remained garrisoned by Union forces.