CAROLINA MAULIN'

摘要

The Union was desperate for victory in early 1862. Costly and embarrassing defeats in the first year of the war at Manassas (July 21) and Ball's Bluff (October 21) shattered all hope that the Confederacy would go down easily. As the new year dawned, the Union high command set its sights on strengthening the blockade around Confederate ports and authorized a joint operation under Brig. Gen. Ambrose Burnside. Flag Officer Louis Goldsborough's North Atlantic Blockading Squadron would provide naval support. Their first objective: Roanoke Island, between the Outer Banks and mainland North Carolina.