The CSS Albemarle was one of the most famous and successful of the Confederate ironclads. Her fascinating story is told in a new book called "The Hunt for the Albemarle: Anatomy of a Gunboat War," by John W. Hinds. The Albemarle's story is also the story of her commander, James Wallace Cooke, and Union officer Charles Williamson Flusser.
Both men were born in the South and were career Navy officers. Cooke was courteous, soft-spoken family man. Flusser, a much younger man, was a bachelor who enjoyed fast horses and whiskey. The men were equal, however, in courage in and determination, and each believed wholeheartedly in his cause.
The Albemarle was constructed in a cornfield near Edwards Ferry on the Roanoke River under the direction of Gilbert Elliott, a contractor who was only 19 at the time. Elliott, ended his career as a lawyer in New York, but
his 1895 gravestone noted that he "Built CSS Albemarle. | The Albemarle's maiden voyage took place on April 17, 1864, when she led the successful battle to regain Plymouth, where Flusser commanded a fleet of four wooden boats. His unwieldy and poorly built ship, the USS Miami, was unaffectionately nicknamed the Miasma. But, whereas the Albemarle was torpedoed on on Oct. 27, 1964, the Miami went to reassignment in the James River and became a commercial steamer after the war.
Interspersed with personal letters and photographs, this new books tells a lively story that took place here in eastern North Carolina.
The North Carolina Collection also has "Ironclad of the Roanoke: Gilbert Elliott's Albemarle," by Robert G. Elliott and "CSS Chicamauga: the South's Forgotten Cruiser," by John Hair. The Chicamauga went as far north as Long Island, N.Y., and returned to defend Fort Fisher.
These books are only a few of the collection's resources on the Civil War, which include troop | rosters, maps, personal narratives and much more.
Area residents as well as the East Carolina University community are welcome to use the North Carolina Collection on the third floor f Joyner Library. Call 328-6601 for more information or see our Web site: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-lib/ncc/. Nancy P. Shires is a member of the North Carolina Collection staff. |
