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 of Fort Hatteras
Fort Hatteras.Fort Hatteras Bombardment Monument.The Burnside Expedition at Hatteras Inlet Monument.Crossing the Hatteras Bar Monument.
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.
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.
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
Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark Roadside Marker at the Ferry Terminal.
Over time, the ocean has eroded the point of land and washed away the sites of Fort Hatteras. A roadside marker for both Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark is located at the entrance to the Ferry terminal. Several granite monuments to the forts and the military actions in the area are located at the nearby Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum.
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.
