Fort Hatteras

Fort Hatteras (1861-1865) - A U.S. Civil War Confederate Fort established in 1861 near Hatteras Inlet, Dare County, North Carolina. Captured and occupied by Union forces on 29 Aug 1861. Abandoned in 1865 at the end of the war. Union Landings at Cape Hatteras, Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark in the Background. History Fort Hatteras. Constructed by Confederate forces in the early summer of 1861 along with Fort Clark about 3/4 of a mile east. Fort Hatteras was a 250' square sand fort, 6' high and 25' thick, sheathed with 2" thick wood planks. The fort was armed with twelve 32-pounder smoothbore guns. A 10-inch rifled gun arrived from Richmond in late August and was mounted, but no ammunition was provided. Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark were attacked, captured and occupied by Union forces from a joint Army-Navy task force from Fort Monroe. The task force was under the command of General Benjamin F. Butler and Flag-Officer Silas Stringham. Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark surrendered about noon on 29 Aug 1861. The Union fleet departed that same afternoon, leaving behind part of the land forces to garrison the forts and three ships to guard the Inlet. Some 670 Confederate prisoners were taken away by the departing fleet. Union forces held the forts until the end of the war. Fort Hatteras Partial Commanders List (edit list) Assumed Relieved Rank Name Cullum Notes 1861-10 1862-03 Brig. General USV Williams, Thomas 920 1st Union Commander Dates are formatted in yyyy-mm-dd to sort correctly. The Cullum Number is the graduation order from the United States Military Academy by year and class rank and links to a page for the officer on the website version of the Cullum Register. Listings without a Cullum Number indicate that the person was not a graduate of the United States Military Academy. Current Status Over time, the ocean has eroded the point of land and washed away the sites of both Forts Hatteras and Fort Clark. {"selectable":false,"width":"500"} Location: Hatteras Inlet, Dare County, North Carolina. Maps & Images Lat: 35.19101 Long: -75.73239 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 0' See Also: Fort Monroe Fort Clark Sources: Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 617. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 1023374 Links: North American Forts - Fort Hatteras Wikipedia - Fort Hatteras Visited: 5 Apr 2018