In April 1864, the sleek Confederate ram was slipped cautiously into the muddy Neuse River. On the afternoon of April 23, 1864, First Lieutenant B. P. Loyall, C.S.N., became captain of the Neuse. He ordered her engines started, but after traveling about half a mile, the gunboat grounded fast on a sandbar. He crew worked frantically to maneuver the vessel into deeper water, but the river was falling too rapidly. Late in May, the Neuse broke free from her temporary prison and returned to her Kinston mooring, a place in the river known was the “old cat hole.”
The gunboat’s crew was anxious to engage the enemy down river at New Bern, but low water prevented the movement until early 1865 when heavy rains swelled the Neuse River. North Carolina native Commander Joseph H. Price, C.S.N., was ordered to Kinston to take charge of the Neuse and move the gunboat down river to New Bern to assist Confederate land forces in what Confederate officers hoped would be a rout of Union forces at New Bern.
By March 10, 1865, Union troops had advanced along the Neuse River to within five miles of Kinston. Commander Price realized his chances of safely journeying the 60 miles to New Bern were almost non-existent. After shelling Union troops under Union Gen. Jacob D. Cox with canister and grape shot from the Neuse, Price ordered a charge to be placed on the bow and the gunboat set afire to prevent the Neuse from falling into enemy hands. The explosion blew a hole eight feet in diameter in the vessel’s port side.
The C.S.S. Neuse settled slowly into the murky, unpredictable river for which she was named. The sinking of the Neuse ended the Confederate Navy’s last means of resistance in North Carolina.
Adapted from text submitted by William H. Rowland
The gunboat’s crew was anxious to engage the enemy down river at New Bern, but low water prevented the movement until early 1865 when heavy rains swelled the Neuse River. North Carolina native Commander Joseph H. Price, C.S.N., was ordered to Kinston to take charge of the Neuse and move the gunboat down river to New Bern to assist Confederate land forces in what Confederate officers hoped would be a rout of Union forces at New Bern.
By March 10, 1865, Union troops had advanced along the Neuse River to within five miles of Kinston. Commander Price realized his chances of safely journeying the 60 miles to New Bern were almost non-existent. After shelling Union troops under Union Gen. Jacob D. Cox with canister and grape shot from the Neuse, Price ordered a charge to be placed on the bow and the gunboat set afire to prevent the Neuse from falling into enemy hands. The explosion blew a hole eight feet in diameter in the vessel’s port side.
The C.S.S. Neuse settled slowly into the murky, unpredictable river for which she was named. The sinking of the Neuse ended the Confederate Navy’s last means of resistance in North Carolina.
Adapted from text submitted by William H. Rowland