Within hours, it surrendered, giving the Union its first victory of the war and a major morale boost to its cause. After seven Union ships began to bombard Fort Clark, causing Confederate troops to abandon and seek refuge in Fort Hatteras, the Federals then took aim on the second fort. Two forts had been constructed by Confederate troops Fort Clark and Fort Hatteras. The Battle of Hatteras Inlet occurred on August 28, 1861. The second tower, still there, was built in 1823 and stands at seventy-five feet in height.ĭuring the Civil War, battles for the nation kept the coast off Cape Hatteras busy. However, the channel moved and within twenty years that light was useless. The first light in the inlet was built in 1794. Navigating the Ocracoke Inlet has been a hazardous affair ever since its first shipwreck in 1585. Due to beach erosion, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the Keeper's Quarters, and other buildings were moved in 1999 and now are located two thousand nine hundred feet from its original location. Still standing, the lighthouse is one hundred and ninety-eight feet tall, but it has been moved. By 1871, a second lighthouse was lit and the first demolished. Its first incarnation was completed in 1803, ninety feet tall when built with a sixty foot extension added in 1853. The Cape Hatteras lighthouse was built to navigate ships to avoid the twelve mile sandbar Diamond Shoals. In 1953 it became part of the National Park Service property, but still serves as a beacon for sailors. It took until 1871 for the current Bodie Lighthouse and nearby buildings to take shape. A second lighthouse was constructed that year, then blown up by Confederates in 1861 who didn't want Union ships to be able to use it. One was built after ten years of negotiation and haggle, but it was poorly constructed, leaned after two years, and was abandoned in 1859. In 1837, the federal government decided that Bodie Island needed a light. The shoals and shores of Cape Hatteras have been a hazard for ships and their sailors for centuries with numerous hulls finding the bottom of the sea after crashing into the obstacles that rip down the Atlantic Ocean coast along this stretch of North Carolina.
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