It was the Union’s turn to suffer. For three years its forces had steadily grown stronger along the North Carolina coast. Federal soldiers occupied most of the eastern part of the state. Few ports remained open, and even those were increasingly restricted by the dishearteningly effective Union blockade. Now, it was early 1864, and Confederate North Carolina was in dire straits. As their once consistent stream of supplies slowed to a trickle, Confederate leaders sought a way to break the Union blockade. Their solution came in the form of a mammoth ironclad ram named after the Albemarle Sound, where she had been built and where she would terrorize Union ships for months to come. She was the Albemarle, and there was not a Federal vessel afloat that could stop her.

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The Confederates had been working on the Albemarle since 1863. Gilbert Elliott, a 19-year-old marine engineer and native North Carolinian, had been awarded a contract to build an ironclad ram capable of driving the Yankee invaders from his home state. Working under the direction of James W. Cooke, who was to command the ship, Elliott set up his’shipyard’ in the cornfield of a Peter Smith on the west side of the Roanoke River, not far from Hamilton. The site was ideal: close to raw materials and able crewmen yet far enough upstream to be safe from surprise Union patrols. While Cooke collected the necessary men and equipment, Elliott scavenged for whatever iron he could find. After a year of dogged work, the hull of the Albemarle slid out of Smith’s cornfield and into the river.

Designed by John L. Porter, the chief constructor of the Confederate navy, the Albemarle was 152 feet long with a draft of slightly less than 9 feet. Her two deadly Brooke guns were mounted on pivot carriages that allowed each gun to fire through three different gunports. These two guns, along with the ship’s four-inch-thick iron plating and heavily reinforced bow, made the ram the nemesis of the wooden ships of the Union blockade on the Albemarle Sound. As if that were not enough, the Albemarle’s shallow draft enabled her to ply the waters of North Carolina’s inland bays where the larger and more powerful Union monitors would run aground.

By 1864, the Union forces had moved across the sound and established a strong base on the Roanoke River at Plymouth, some 40 miles downstream from Hamilton. In April, the Albemarle was ordered to participate in a combined river and land attack on that base. As the ram floated down the Roanoke to meet the enemy, blacksmiths and carpenters were on board, still putting the finishing touches on the Confederate warship.

Afternoon was turning to evening on April 17 when the Confederates neared Plymouth. The Union army forces on shore anchored their line’s flanks on the Roanoke River, where the Federal navy was assumed to be superior to the approaching Rebel flotilla. Even so, Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Flusser, who was in charge of the Union naval squadron at Plymouth, knew the Albemarle spelled trouble. Federal ships had placed obstructions in the Roanoke, and Flusser had two of his vessels, the Miami and the Southfield, chained together to ensnare the ram between them.

As the Confederate land assault commenced, Cooke steered the Albemarle down the Roanoke. On April 18, during a night of heavy rain, Cooke learned of the obstacles in the river and sent Elliott ahead to reconnoiter. Elliott studied the obstructions from his small boat, carefully gauging the depth of the water; the heavy spring rain had caused the river to rise, and Elliott was satisfied that there was enough water for the ram to pass safely. He reported this to Cooke, who ordered the Albemarle forward.

By daybreak, the ship had glided safely over the obstructions. A short time later it was spotted by Union troops manning a battery at Warren’s Neck. The gunners opened fire on the Confederate vessel, but their shells bounced harmlessly off her thick hull. One sailor inside the Albemarle recalled that the ‘noise made by the shot and shell as they struck the boat sounded no louder than pebbles thrown against an empty barrel.’

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