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35-695: A contract for the construction of Neuse was signed on 17 October 1862 between the shipbuilding company of Thomas Howard and Elijah Ellis and the Confederate Navy. Work began in October of that year on the bank across the Neuse River (her namesake) from the small village of Whitehall, North Carolina (present day Seven Springs ). The gunboat 's design was virtually identical to her sister ironclad CSS  Albemarle , but Neuse differed from Albemarle by having four additional gun ports added (for

70-424: A Parrott rifle ); each double-banded cannon weighed more than 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg) with its pivot carriage and other attached hardware. Both cannons were positioned along the ironclad's center-line in the armored casemate, one forward, the other aft. The field of fire for both pivot rifles was 180-degrees, from port to starboard : Each cannon could fire from one of five gun port positions or could deliver

105-454: A considerable amount of weight. The ironclad had a gross register tonnage of 1,250 tons. As originally designed, Muscogee was propelled by a sternwheel that was partially enclosed by a recess at the aft end of the casemate; the upper portion of the paddle wheel protruded above the casemate and would have been exposed to enemy fire. The sternwheel was probably powered by a pair of inclined two-cylinder direct-acting steam engines taken from

140-466: A modified CSS Albemarle -class design, based on Porter's advice during his visit to the ironclad on January 23. As part of the reconstruction, the ironclad was lengthened to 223 feet 6 inches (68.1 m) overall after a new fantail was built on the stern. She had a beam of 59 feet (18 m) and a draft of 8 feet (2.4 m). The removal of her sternwheel allowed her casemate to be shortened by 54 feet (16.5 m), which saved

175-537: A new, climate-controlled building in downtown Kinston. There are currently only four recovered Civil War era ironclad wrecks, CSS Neuse , CSS  Muscogee (also called CSS Jackson in some texts), USS  Monitor , and USS  Cairo ; Cairo remains the only recovered ironclad wreck left partially exposed outdoors under cover in the sometimes brutal southern climate. Other Union and Confederate ironclad wreck sites are known but remain untouched. The successful Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley , which sank

210-449: A steam electric plant. A fish ladder was included. The dam was removed in May 1998, opening up access for anadromous fish to 127 kilometres (79 mi) of the mainstem Neuse River. The Neuse has been plagued in recent years with environmental and public health problems related to municipal and agricultural waste water discharge, storm runoff , and other sources of pollution. Pollution

245-441: A total of ten) to her eight-sided armored casemate . The hull was 158 feet (48.2 m) long by 34 feet (10.4 m) wide, and she was constructed mostly of locally abundant pine , with some 4 inches (102 mm) of oak used as sturdy backing for her 4-inch-thick wrought iron armor. Many delays in construction were incurred by a lack of available materials, mostly the iron plate for her armored casemate and deck; her deck armor

280-523: A trickle that can be forded on foot during prolonged drought conditions. The Neuse flows through parts of seven counties. Major cities and towns in proximity to the Neuse are Durham; Neuse Township ; Raleigh , the capital of North Carolina; Smithfield ; Goldsboro ; Kinston and New Bern. For thousands of years before the Europeans arrived, different civilizations of indigenous peoples lived along

315-509: A two-cannon broadside . Neuse ' s projectiles consisted of explosive shells, anti-personnel canister shot , grape shot , and blunt-nosed, solid wrought iron "bolts" for use against Union armored ships; many examples of all four types were recovered from her raised wreck. Launched in November 1863 while still needing fitting out , Neuse finally got up steam in April 1864 for duty on

350-479: Is on grounds display at a separate site in Kinston and contains a complete fitted-out interior that shows all shipboard details; she was constructed by volunteers from 2002 to 2009. Neuse is the only Confederate ironclad that has a historic, full-size replica on display. Since April 2002 Neuse ' s sister ironclad, CSS Albemarle has had a 3 ⁄ 8 scale replica, 63 feet (19 m) long, at anchor near

385-616: The Atlantic Ocean . Typical of rivers in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina, the Neuse enters a basin of chocolate intermittent bottomland swamp on its journey towards its outlet. One interesting exception is the " Cliffs of the Neuse " area near Goldsboro , where the river cuts a narrow 30 m (90 ft) gorge through limestone and sandstone bluffs. The Neuse is prone to extremes in its flow carriage, often escaping its banks during wet periods, then reducing to

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420-597: The Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War . Her original paddle configuration was judged a failure when she could not be launched on the first attempt in 1864. She had to be rebuilt to use dual propeller propulsion. Later renamed CSS Jackson and armed with four 7-inch (178 mm) and two 6.4-inch (163 mm) cannons. She was captured while still fitting out and was set ablaze by Union troops in April 1865. Her wreck

455-558: The Ford Thunderbird that Stewart was driving approached a bridge across the Neuse River near Smithfield, North Carolina. His car left the highway, ran along the median strip at a slight angle to the highway, struck the bridge abutment, and then plunged into the river, killing Stewart and his three passengers instantly. The low-head Quaker Neck Dam was built in 1952 at Neuse River kilometer 225 to impound cooling water for

490-596: The Neuse , lie submerged under the waters of Falls Lake. This River also creates the beauty of the Neuse River Trail , a 34.5 miles (55.5 km) long greenway that stretches from Falls Lake Dam, Raleigh, North Carolina to Legend Park, Clayton, North Carolina . The Neuse begins at the confluence of the Flat and Eno rivers near Durham , North Carolina. The river enters Pamlico Sound just east of Maw Point Shoal near Hobucken , North Carolina while en route to

525-580: The Port O' Plymouth Museum in Plymouth, North Carolina . This ironclad replica is self-powered and capable of sailing on the river. Neuse River The Neuse River ( / n uː s / NOOSE , Tuscarora: Neyuherú·kęʔkì·nęʔ ) is a river rising in the Piedmont of North Carolina and emptying into Pamlico Sound below New Bern . Its total length is approximately 275 miles (443 km), making it

560-660: The Union blockading sloop-of-war USS  Housatonic , was recovered and is undergoing extensive restoration and long term conservation at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston , South Carolina . A replica of the CSS Neuse , better known as CSS Neuse II , was the brainchild of Kinston activist and businessman Ted Sampley and built by Alton Stapleford. Neuse II

595-543: The city during the Battle of Columbus, Georgia , Jackson was set ablaze by Union troops while still fitting out and had her moorings cut. The ship drifted downriver some 30 miles (48 km) and ran aground on a sandbar . She was not thought to be worth salvaging because of the fire damage, but the Army Corps of Engineers dredged around her wreck in 1910 and salvaged her machinery. A Union cavalry officer's report of

630-549: The following year. They were then placed on exhibit at the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus. A thick metal white frame outline, indicating the various dimensions of Jackson ' s original fore and aft deck arrangements and armored casemate, is now erected directly above the hull's wooden remains to simulate for visitors the ironclad's original size and shapes. The ship's fantail, which

665-474: The inland waters of North Carolina as part of the force under Commander R. F. Pinkney, CSN. Shortly thereafter, the ironclad grounded off Kinston due to her mostly inexperienced crew, which had been conscripted from the Confederate Army; she remained fast in the mud for almost a month until finally being refloated. After that, due to a lack of available Confederate Army shore support, she never left

700-422: The ironclad's condition at the time of her capture said that she had four cannon aboard and had a solid oak ram 15 feet (4.6 m) deep. The only detail about her armor that he recorded was that it curved over the edge of the deck and extended below the waterline . CSS Jackson ' s remains were raised in two pieces; the 106-foot (32.3 m) stern section in 1962 and the 74-foot (22.6 m) bow section

735-631: The longest river entirely contained in North Carolina . The Trent River joins the Neuse at New Bern. Its drainage basin , measuring 5,630 square miles (14,600 km ) in area, also lies entirely inside North Carolina. It is formed by the confluence of the Flat and Eno rivers prior to entering the Falls Lake reservoir in northern Wake County . Its fall line shoals , known as the Falls of

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770-509: The region as the "Neusick". Two English captains, Arthur Barlowe and Phillip Amadas , were commissioned by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 to explore the New World. They landed on North Carolina's coast July 2, 1584 to begin their research. In their 1585 report to Raleigh, they wrote favorably of the Indian population in "…the country Neusiok, situated upon a goodly river called Neuse…", as it

805-409: The river area around Kinston, serving instead as a floating ironclad fortification. In March 1865, with Kinston under siege by Union forces, gunpowder trails were laid down which led to a cache of explosives placed in her bow; the crew then lit fires astern and amidships, and she was destroyed a short time later by fire, then a bow explosion. Neuse burned to just below her waterline and then sank into

840-477: The river mud preventing capture by the rapidly advancing Union Army forces, commanded by Major General John M. Schofield . At some point following the war, her sunken hulk, lying in shallow river water and mud, was salvaged of its valuable metals: cannon, carriages and their fittings, anchors, iron ram, casemate armor, both propellers and their shafts, and her steam power plant. Whatever bits and pieces remained, including her projectiles, lay undisturbed in and around

875-493: The river. Many artifacts found along its banks have been traced to ancient prehistoric Native American settlements. Archaeological studies have shown waves of habitation. The river has one of the three oldest surviving English-applied placenames in the U.S. Explorers named the Neuse River after the American Indian tribe known as Neusiok , with whom the early Raleigh expeditions made contact. They also identified

910-595: The ship were discovered. It was raised in 1963. Later the ship was installed beside the river at the Governor Caswell Memorial in Kinston . William Larry Stewart II, a.k.a. Billy Stewart (March 24, 1937 – January 17, 1970), an American rhythm and blues singer and pianist, died in a broad-daylight car accident in January 1970, just two months prior to his 33rd birthday. The accident happened when

945-402: The steamboat Mariana . Porter came down afterwards to examine the ironclad and recommended that she be rebuilt with screw propulsion rather than the sternwheel. She was finally launched on December 22, having been renamed Jackson at some point during the year. A shortage of iron plate greatly hindered the ironclad's completion. On April 17, 1865, after the Union's Wilson's Raiders captured

980-420: The steamboat Time using steam provided by four return-flue boilers to the engines. As part of her reconstruction, Time ' s engines were replaced by a pair of single-cylinder, horizontal direct-acting steam engines from the adjacent Columbus Naval Iron Works , each of which drove a single 7-foot-6-inch (2.3 m) propeller; the original boilers appear to have been retained. Muscogee ' s casemate

1015-503: The wreck until Neuse was raised nearly a century later. After nearly a century, the remaining lower hull of the ironclad was discovered and then raised in 1963; approximately 15,000 shipboard artifacts were recovered and carefully cataloged. Neuse ' s hull was then temporarily installed in the Governor Caswell Memorial, beside the river, in Kinston. Since 2013, Neuse and her artifacts have been on display in

1050-749: Was salvaged in 1962–1963 and turned over to the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus for display. The ironclad's remains were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. Muscogee was originally built as a sister ship to the casemate ironclad paddle steamer CSS Missouri , to a rough design by the Chief Naval Constructor, John L. Porter , as a sternwheel-powered ironclad. She proved to be too heavy to be launched on January 1, 1864, and had to be reconstructed and lengthened to

1085-474: Was built with ten gun ports , two each at the bow and stern and three on the broadside . The ship was armed with four 7-inch (178 mm) and two 6.4-inch (163 mm) Brooke rifles . The fore and aft cannons were on pivot gun mounts . The 7-inch guns weighed about 15,300 pounds (6,900 kg) and fired 110-pound (50 kg) shells. The equivalent statistics for the 6.4-inch gun were 10,700 pounds (4,900 kg) with 95-pound (43 kg) shells. The casemate

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1120-515: Was called by the local population. In 1865 during the American Civil War , the Confederates burned one of the last ironclad warships which they had built, the Ram Neuse , to prevent its capture by Union troops. The level of the river had fallen so that it prevented the ship from passing downriver. Nearly a century later, during another period of historically low water, the remains of

1155-639: Was finally left off so the ironclad could be completed and put in service. Due to continuing iron plate shortages, Neuse became the first of several Southern ironclads built with unarmored decks. This situation was compounded by the Confederate Army exercising priority over the Navy in the use of the South's inadequate railroad system for transporting vital war material. Neuse was equipped with two 6.4-inch (163 mm) Brooke rifled cannon (similar to

1190-504: Was particularly bad in the aftermath of hurricanes Fran and Floyd in the late 1990s. The dinoflagellate Pfiesteria piscicida is present in the river, and has a bloom in growth when nutrient levels are increased due to too much runoff . This organism may be connected to fish kills as well as adverse health effects in grapes. CSS Muscogee CSS Muscogee was an casemate ironclad built in Columbus, Georgia for

1225-551: Was protected by 4 inches (102 mm) of wrought-iron armor, and the armor plates on the deck and sides of the fantail were 2 inches (51 mm) thick. Muscogee was laid down during 1862 at the Columbus Naval Yard at Columbus, Georgia, on the banks of the Chattahoochee River . The first attempt to launch her failed on January 1, 1864, despite the high water on the river and the assistance of

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