This week in the Civil War: April 20, 1864

Confederate ram at battle of Plymouth, N.C.

Confederate forces, in a joint operation of ground troops and an ironclad ram CSS Albemarle, attacked the federal garrison at Plymouth, N.C. near the mouth of the Roanoke River on April 17, 1864. The Confederacy — 150 years ago in the Civil War — was weary of Union forces using the garrison as a springboard for raids into easternmost North Carolina. Thousands of Confederate troops pressed toward the outnumbered Union fighters holding the fort at Plymouth. By April 18, fierce shelling had erupted, threatening U.S. warships there along the river. On April 19, 1864, the CSS Albemarle reached the area and promptly sank one Union ship and badly damaged another, driving away other U.S. warships defending the garrison. A heavy Confederate bombardment ultimately forced the federal garrison to surrender on April 20, 1864. Flush with victory, the Confederacy would hold the area until late 1864 when it returned to federal control for the rest of the war.