Wondering About Cape Hatteras.

Back in the mid 1960's we lived in Pennsylvania and started spending all our vacations on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Some years we would go for two weeks in the summer and a week around Thanksgiving time.  I loved the ocean, the beach, the surf fishing, and the sight seeing.  We usually rented a cottage in either Kitty Hawk or Nag's Head or Kill Devil Hills.  Later on, we took the pop-up camper to Oregon Inlet camp grounds in the fall of the year when the temperatures had cooled off.

Not only was that area a lot of sand and sea fun, it also had a lot of history in both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.  There were a couple of deep water inlets from the Atlantic into the Pamlico Sound.  These were quite important during the Civil War.  The Confederacy defended them with all they could and the Union had ships off shore that bombarded the forts that guarded the inlets, because if the Union war ships could get through and control the inlets, the Confederacy would lose its two main shipping lanes and the Union would then be able to do more damage to the mainland.  Here is a map of that era showing the forts located on the islands:

 

Here is a plaque that tells about the battle.  You can click on it to enlarge it and then read about the bombardment.  BTW, this battle began back on this day in 1861.



One of the most famous lighthouses is located at Cape Hatteras.  I bet most all of you have seen pictures of it.  I have been to the top of it a couple of times:

The Union was very lucky that the bombardment worked so well.  Why?  Because the Union soldiers got their powder wet when they waded ashore and couldn't reload their rifles, but the Confederate troops gave up after being pounded by the Union ship's big guns.  War is hell, but a civil war fought between people from the same country, even brothers against brothers, is the worst of all possible wars.  I hope that there is and always will be peace in all of your lives, you hear?