The Adventures of

the CSS Albemarles

Crew
(Or What do Sailors do when
they get bored)

The CSS Albemarle

Adventures of the
Crew
Her End

CSS Albemarle

CSS Albemarle
Planned by John L. Porter, Chief Constructor, CSN
Built by Gilbert Elliott at Edwards Ferry, NC

Armor: Two layers of 2 iron plates (one horizontal, one vertical)

Backing: 4 vertical oak; 5 horizontal pine; 12x13 vertical oak
Battery: 2 6.4 inch Brooke Rifles
Length Between Perpendiculars: 152 feet
Beam above water: 34 feet
Draft: 9 feet
Tonnage: 376 tons

Captain James W. Cooke

January 1864 June 1864

Gunfight on the Roanoke

Battle of Batchelors Bay

Battle of Batchelors Bay

Battle of Batchelors Bay

Commander John N. Maffit

June 1864 September 1864

The Taking of the Fawn

Maffitt organized a raid to capture the
Union mail boat Fawn that routinely
made the route from Norfolk to Roanoke
Island. What was he hoping to capture?
Besides the mail, she usually carried the
paymasters funds. Maffitt ordered Pilot
James B. Hopkins to command a raiding
party and proceed to the Albemarle &
Chesapeake Canal outside of Elizabeth
City where they were to capture the mail
boat and if you cannot bring her into this
port (Plymouth), destroy her by fire and
retreat to this place with your prisoners.

The Taking of the Fawn

The plan involved forcing the
drawbridge tenders
obedience to the Fawns
signal as she approached
and then close the bridge at
the last minute at which time
the raiding party would
board from the shoreline.
Their signal was to be a
pistol shot. However, the
pistol was fired too early and
the boarders received a
warm welcome!

The Taking of the Fawn

They did lose the mail
(someone threw it in the boiler
furnace) but they did come
away with 29 prisoners, one of
which was Congressman
George W. Julian. Upon
reaching Elizabeth City, they
did free the Congressman and
a Major Jenney who were
allowed to continue to
Roanoke Island. The
remaining prisoners were
taken back to Plymouth.

Lieutenant Alexander F. Warley

September 1864 November 1864

The Croatan Light

The Light

The Light

The Light

The Attack
- On October 4, 1864, around 11pm,
Assistant Keeper Tillet and his wife
awoke to raiding party from the
CSS Albemarle coming aboard the
light
- Demanding to know the
whereabouts of the keeper, they
were disappointed to find out he
was ashore, visiting his sick mother
- Taking the Lighthouse clock, the
party along with the Tillets,
boarded a small boat bound for
Confederate territory.

Kaboom!
-

A little after midnight, as they were

rowing toward the Alligator River, Mrs.
Tillet heard an explosion and saw flames
coming from the vicinity of the
lighthouse.
The Albemarle crew members also
planned to destroy the Roanoke
Marshes Light but for some reason
abandoned that part of their mission

The Aftermath
While the Sailors did
release Mrs. Tillet, they
sent Assistant Keeper
Tillet to the Confederate
prison in Salisbury where
he waited to be exchanged
for a Confederate prisoner.
-It is unknown if he was
ever exchanged but a
letter does survive where
he asks the lighthouse
board to arrange an
exchange for him
-

Her End
October 27, 1864

Her End

Sources:
Ironclad of the Roanoke by Robert G. Elliot

In Memory of the Croatan Light, Bruce

Roberts, Our State, June 2002

Official Records of the Union and Confederate

Navies in the War of the Rebellion