IRONCLAD

SAILORS
AND
THE CROATAN
LIGHT

- The Light- The CSS Albemarle-The Attack-The Aftermath-

THE LIGHT

THE LIGHT

THE LIGHT

THE LIGHT

THE RAIDING PARTY

CSS ALBEMARLE

CSS ALBEMARLE
PLANNED BY JOHN L. PORTER, CHIEF
CONSTRUCTOR, CSN
BUILT BY GILBERT ELLIOTT AT EDWARDS FERRY,
NC

Armor: Two layers of 2 iron plates (one horizontal, one vertical)

Backing: 4 vertical oak; 5 horizontal pine; 12x13 vertical oak
Battery: 2 6.4 inch Brooke Rifles
Length Between Perpendiculars: 152 feet
Beam above water: 34 feet
Draft: 9 feet
Tonnage: 376 tons

CAPTAIN JAMES W.
COOKE, CSN

January 1864 June 1864

COMMANDER JOHN N.
MAFFIT

June 1864 September 1864

THE
ATTACK
- On October 4, 1864, around 11pm,
Assistant Keeper Tillet and his wife
awoke to raiding party from the
CSS Albemarle coming aboard the
light
- Demanding to know the
whereabouts of the keeper, they
were disappointed to find out he
was ashore, visiting his sick mother
- Taking the Lighthouse clock, the
party along with the Tillets,
boarded a small boat bound for
Confederate territory.

KABOOM!

- A little after midnight, as they were

rowing toward the Alligator River, Mrs.
Tillet heard an explosion and saw flames
coming from the vicinity of the
lighthouse.
- The Albemarle crew members also
planned to destroy the Roanoke
Marshes Light but for some reason
abandoned that part of their mission

THE AFTERMATH
-

While the Sailors did

release Mrs. Tillet, they
sent Assistant Keeper
Tillet to the
Confederate prison in
Salisbury where he
waited to be exchanged
for a Confederate
prisoner.
It is unknown if he was
ever exchanged but a
letter does survive
where he asks the
lighthouse board to
arrange an exchange
for him

THE AFTERMATH
October 27, 1864

SOURCES:
Ironclad of the Roanoke by Robert G. Elliot
In Memory of the Croatan Light, Bruce Roberts, Our State,
June 2002
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the
War of the Rebellion