8 June 1863: “I enclose you a plan of the ironclad battery above here, on the Roanoke.”

Item description: Report, dated 8 June 1863, from Lieutenant-Commander C.W. Flusser of the U.S. Navy to Acting Rear-Admiral S.P. Lee of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. The letter includes plans acquired by Flusser for a Confederate ironclad ship being built on the Roanoke River in North Carolina.  

To read more from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, click here.

Item citation: Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Series I, Volume 9. Washington : G.P.O., 1897. C970.75 U58no Ser. I, Vol. 9. North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Item transcription:

Report of Lieutenant-Commander Flusser, U.S. Navy, transmitting plan of Confederate ironclad battery under construction in the Roanoke River.

U.S.S. Miami,

Plymouth, N.C., June 8, 1863.

SIR: I enclose you a plan of the ironclad battery above here, on the Roanoke.  The man who furnishes the plan says the battery will not be finished this year. To-day I saw a man who says that two or three days ago he saw heavy guns on the way from Weldon to the battery, and he also says that they are now plating both, and that they are nearly completed. Which tells the truth I am at a loss to say, but should rather trust the later informant.

  The battery is built of pine sills, 14 inches square, and is to be plated with railroad iron.  The steamer intended to tow her is 134 feet long and 24 feet beam, with two screws.  The boat has six ports, two on each side, and one on either end.  She carries a pivot gun forward and another aft. Each gun works out of three ports.  The battery carries two guns on each of two opposing faces, and one on each of the two remaining sides.  The boat is built on the plan of the former Merrimack.  The roof (slanting) of the battery and all parts exposed are to be covered with 5 inches of pine, 5 inches of oak, and then plated with railroad iron; so say the workmen.  We are driving piles in the river and preparing to receive them.  I do not doubt we shall whip them if they venture down.

  I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

C. W. FLUSSER,

Lieutenant-Commander.

Acting Rear-Admiral S.P. LEE,

Comdg. North Atlantic Blockading Squadron

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