Hammocks Beach State Park- Swansboro, NC

After the fall of Hatteras Inlet in 1861 Confederate Brigadier General Walter Gwynn, in charge of coastal defenses from New Bern to the South Carolina border, recommended construction of a series of small forts to protect critical inlets. Gwynn, working with North Carolina Adjutant General Richard Gatlin, proposed the construction of a six-gun battery at Bogue Inlet on Huggins Island, the entrance to the White Oak River. In addition, a mobile “flying battery” would patrol beaches along Bogue Banks with the goal of prohibiting a Union landing party from establishing a foothold. Troops stationed at the Huggins Island battery were expected to coordinate their activities with the “flying battery” on the beach. Construction of the battery was completed by December of 1861 with local slave labor working with troops detailed for that purpose. Captain Daniel Munn occupied it with his company known as the Bladen Stars. At first they were an independent company for local defense and special service in North Carolina, the Stars were eventually designated Company B, 36th NC (2nd NC Artillery). The company mustered four officers and 64 men in January 1862. A muster roll of the company can be found in an exhibit located inside the visitors center at the Hammocks Beach State Park. Captain Mann and his men did not remain on Huggins Island for long. They were reassigned to General Lawrence O’Brien Branch’s Brigade at New Bern in March, taking the cannons with them as they left Swansboro. Several of the guns were captured by Federal troops during the Battle of New Bern on March 14th.

On August 19, 1862, the Federals mounted a small army-navy expedition against salt works on the White Oak River at Swansboro. General Thomas G. Stevenson led seven companies of the 24th MA Infantry and a detachment of the 1st NY Marine Artillery on the raid. Seven light army steamers and the navy gunboat Ellis transported the force to where they anchored off the town of Swansboro. Benjamin Porter, Acting Master, commanded the naval part of the expedition. The sailors destroyed the salt works at the lower edge of town, belonging to C. H. Barnum. The works consisted of one large copper boiler and eleven iron vats, and two large buildings. General Stevenson proceeded down the sound and destroyed salt works there. On the morning of the 19th Porter led a party ashore on what he called Dudley’s Island and blew up a rebel battery (Huggins Island) and bombproof, and set fire to barracks there. Only the earthen embankment remains as evidence of the battery’s existence. Those earthworks, however, are the only unspoiled example of Confederate earthwork fortifications surviving on the North Carolina coast. Huggins’ Island became a part of Hammocks Beach State Park in 1999.