Currier & Ives Bombardment & capture of the forts at Hatteras Inlet, N.C.
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02881.07 Author/Creator: Currier & Ives Place Written: New York, New York Type: Print Date: circa 1861 Pagination: 1 lithograph : col. ; 30.1 x 40.4 cm. Order a Copy
Hand colored lithograph published by Currier & Ives at 152 Nassau Street, New York. Print is mounted. Caption below the title reads: "By the U.S. Fleet under Commodore Stringham and the Forces under Genl. Butler. Aug. 27th 1861." Depicts the Union landing at Cape Hatteras. Benjamin Butler's troops are in small rowboats landing ashore in the foreground. The ships Minnesota, Wabash, Susquehanna, Pawnee, and Harriet-Lane bombard Forts Clark and Hatteras. Labels for each ship printed below the image. The arcs of cannon fire can be seen in the air.
On 26 August 1861 an amphibious expedition led by Major Gen. Benjamin Butler and Flag-Officer Silas Stringham, embarked from Fort Monroe to capture Hatteras Inlet, an important haven for blockade-runners. On the 28th, while the navy bombarded Forts Clark and Hatteras, Union troops came ashore and attacked the rear of the Confederate batteries. On August 29, Colonel William F. Martin surrendered the Confederate garrison of 670. The Federals lost only one man. Butler returned to Fort Monroe, leaving the captured forts garrisoned. This movement was part of Union efforts to seize coastal enclaves from which to enforce the blockade.
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