by Sandra Petersen

Created on: December 10, 2011   Last Updated: December 11, 2011

North Carolinian residents saw twenty battles fought in the eastern half of their home state during the American Civil War. The earliest battle occurred from August 28 to 29 in 1861. For each successive year until 1865, at least one and sometimes up to eight principal Civil War battles bloodied North Carolina soil.

North Carolina's First Civil War Battle

The first engagement for the Confederate troops in North Carolina was fought in the

Hatteras Inlet area. The region around Confederate Forts Hatteras and Clark and the Hatteras Inlet was the location where blockade-runners would sneak supplies into the South by sea.

The Union navy under Major-General Benjamin Butler diverted attention by attacking the forts by sea. Meanwhile, the Confederate batteries were flanked and attacked by Union troops which had landed. Both forts were captured by the Union troops. The Union blockade along the eastern coast of the United States was strengthened and the two forts were firmly in Union hands.

As far as casualties, the Union side lost a total of three soldiers while the Confederate side lost a total of 770 men.

The Battle for Roanoke Island

The engagement which took place around the Roanoke Island and Fort Huger area is considered a Class B battle, major but not decisive in the outcome of the war. The battle was fought from February 7 to 8 in 1862. It was also the second battle to have been waged and the second victory for the Union side on North Carolina soil.

This time led by Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside, the Union troops put on shore attacked forts along the narrow section of Roanoke Island and Fort Huger in particular. Union gunboats offshore barraged the island as well.

The Union side had a total of 264 men killed, wounded or missing while the Confederates had 143 casualties. The Union forces won this battle, captured 32 pieces of artillery and 2500 prisoners of war and further strengthened the Union blockade of the Carolina coastline. This battle served as a preliminary to Burnside's next campaign in North Carolina at New Berne.

The Two Battles for Fort Fisher

Eleven principal Class C and D battles were waged between the siege of the Roanoke Island forts and the two decisive Class A engagements fought at Fort Fisher. The battle locations included New Berne, Fort Macon, Camden and South Mills, Tranter's Creek, Kinston, Whitehall, Goldsborough Bridge, Fort Anderson and Deep Gully, Washington, Plymouth and Albemarle Sound.

The Southern port of Wilmington had

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