This week marks the anniversary of the Battle of Hatteras  Inlet Batteries, otherwise known as the Battle of Forts Hatteras and Clark.  Early in the Civil War the Confederates recognized the importance of Hatteras Inlet, the waterway between Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands.  This inlet was necessary to get goods to inland ports such as New Bern, Washington and Edenton, so Confederate troops were stationed at the southern end of Hatteras Island to ensure the inlet would remain open and two forts, Hatteras and Clark were built.

In August of 1861, a Union flotilla made up of mostly Naval ships sailed from Hampton Roads to Hatteras Inlet and began to bombard forts Hatteras and Clark on August 28 and continued on August 29th until the Confederates surrendered.  Union control of Hatteras Inlet would prove useful to General Ambrose Burnside who would lead an assault on Roanoke Island by sailing up the Pamlico and Roanoke Sounds in February 1862.