Record #:

9948

Author(s):

Booker, Louise R.

Abstract:

In March 1863, Confederate Reserve soldiers stationed at Fort Branch on the Roanoke River in Martin County encountered and fired on a group of Federal ships that were on their way to the Federal base in Plymouth. A Williamston man, George L. Whitley, was a 17 year old sharpshooter at Fort Branch and is said to have mortally wounded the Captain of the lead vessel, causing the flotilla's retreat to Hamilton. A group of Alabama men are currently facing charges involving salvaging without a permit for raising three Fort Branch cannons from the Roanoke River in 1972. Responsibility for the cannons has been turned over to the N.C. Department of Archives and History and the Fort Branch Battlefield Commission.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 40 Issue 16, Feb 1973, p25, il

Subject(s):

North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Naval operations