The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Nutfield Naughtiness Neatly Nipped

Compliments of the good folks at Civil War Interactive Newswire who very often spotlight the overlooked Naval part of the war.

February 4, 1864 was on a Thursday and on this date the blockade-runner Nutfield ran aground by New River Inlet, North Carolina, and Lt. Cmdr Roe of the USS Secaucus couldn't get it off and was forced to burn it to the waterline after liberating its cargo of rifles and the all-important medicine quinine which was used for fighting malaria.

The name of Lt.Cmdr. Francis Asbury Roe's ship was actually the USS Sassacus. He later became an admiral in the postwar Navy and had two US destroyers named after him.

There are good stories connected to Roe and the Sassacus which I will write about later.

Go, Little B-R, Go. --Old B-Runner

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