While Plymouth was occupied by Union forces and most of the Albemarle Sound
was in their control during the spring of 1864, the confederates made plans
to recapture Plymouth and drive the Union Navy from the sound. A land
assault on Plymouth was planned, to be supported by the Albemarle an
ironclad ship constructed in a cornfield on the Roanoke River. Powered by
two 200-horsepower engines with stern propellers, the Albemarle's deck and
deck house was covered by a thick layer of iron plates.
Having made its way through torpedoes set by the Union Navy in the Roanoke
River, the Albemarle made its way to Plymouth. She was met at dawn by two
Federal vessels, the Southfield and the Miami, who had stretched a
fabric of spars and chains between them to entangle the Albemarle. The
Southfield was rammed and quickly sank, almost taking the Miami with it. The
Miami fired on the Albemarle, but the mighty shell bounced off its ironclad
deck and exploded close to the Miami, killing the officer who had fired the
shot. The Miami ran, and the Albemarle turned her guns on the Union
encampments in Plymouth. Meanwhile, confederate brigades were attacking the
town from the south and east. After three weeks of shelling, the Federals
surrendered.
Later that fall, a Union Naval officer, Lt. W. B. Cushing, conducted a
clandestine attack on the Albemarle, tucking a torpedo under the overhang of
her deck, exploding and sinking her. She was raised in 1867, towed to
Norfolk, VA and sold for junk. Her battered smokestack is on display in
Raleigh, at the NC Hall of History.
