Capt. Harlock
Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001 From: Los Angeles Status: offline
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150 Years Ago Today: In what may have been the first combined amphibious assault of the U.S. Army and Navy, a fleet and landing force began its attack on the forts at Cape Hatteras, off the coast of North Carolina. The ground troops were commanded by Benjamin Butler, which did not inspire confidence. However, the ships were under the command of flag officer Silas Stringham, who knew his business. The flagship of the fleet was the USS Minnesota, interestingly a sister ship to the former Merrimack, which was being rebuilt as the famous ironclad CSS Virginia. Although in earlier times shore batteries had a great advantage over sinkable sea-going vessels, the Union ships tried a tactic from the Crimean War. They sailed back and forth while keeping up a bombardment with their longer-ranged guns. The Confederate shore gunners were unable to aim accurately at the moving targets, and shortly after noon abandoned the first outpost, Fort Clark. With Butler in charge it was not surprising that the landings against the second fort, Fort Hatteras, did not go well. As night fell, only a little over 300 men, less than half the force, were ashore.
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< Message edited by Capt. Harlock -- 8/28/2011 5:55:00 AM >
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Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers? --Victor Hugo
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