Trade, Freedom, Victory, and Tea: The Dismal Swamp Canal and the American Civil War

By Matt Headrick
Military Educator

The Great Dismal Swamp has a long and contentious history, full of mystique. There are many unanswered questions about this area. What we do know is that it was a nucleus for trade among local Native American tribes. A destination of the Underground Railroad, the Dismal Swamp was a haven for African Americans who escaped slavery. Artifacts show evidence of self-sustained hybrid communities, made up of Native Americans, African Americans, and English deserters who somehow managed to survive in an ecosystem that would appear to be, by most accounts, uninhabitable. However, the historical link that binds Hampton Roads and the Dismal Swamp begins with the country’s oldest operating canal, the Dismal Swamp Canal.

This painting by Thomas Moran depicts enslaved African Americans escaping through the Dismal Swamp. (Wikimedia Commons)

After conducting a border survey in 1728, Colonel William Byrd II was the first to envision a canal between the Chesapeake Bay region in Virginia and the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. After his first survey of the Dismal Swamp in 1763, George Washington helped form the “Dismal Swamp Land Company” and “Adventurers for Draining the Great Dismal Swamp.” It was Washington who oversaw the construction of the first ditch, rightfully referred to as “Washington Ditch,” which runs from the western end of the swamp to Lake Drummond.

An 1867 map of the Dismal Swamp Canal and branch canals (Wikimedia Commons)

Following the completion of the first ditches, which were primarily used for moving logs out of the swamp, enslaved African Americans began construction on the canal for the Dismal Swamp Canal Company in 1793. After twelve years of hard labor by enslaved peoples, the Dismal Swamp Canal was completed by 1805. The Albemarle & Chesapeake Canal, mainly cut by steam dredges, did not open until 1859. The military importance of control over the Dismal Swamp Canal was first evident in the War of 1812, but its strategic value was never more important than during the American Civil War.

This sketch shows enslaved African Americans moving shingles through the Dismal Swamp (The Dismal Swamp Canal – Splash & Ripple – Moving North Carolina)

On February 7, 1862, Union naval forces attacked Confederate defensive positions at Fort Bartow in Manteo, North Carolina, in what came to be known as the Battle of Roanoke. Under the command of Captain W.F. Lynch, Confederate ships engaged federal forces with little effect. Cut short by darkness and lack of ammunition, Confederate ships withdrew. The next day, under Union Flag Officer Louis Goldsborough, ships shelled Confederate positions on Roanoke Island in support of ground forces led by General Ambrose Burnside. This Union victory on both land and sea allowed President Lincoln to press forward with the Union blockade of the South’s coast. It also allowed for rear access to Norfolk, a key component to the Union blockade, more famously referred to as the Anaconda Plan.

 Lt. Andrews of the 9th N.Y. Regt Map of the Battle of Roanoke, February 8, 1862. (Library of Congress)

As the Confederate Navy withdrew its forces, leaving Roanoke Island and the North Carolina Sound in Union hands, they were pursued by Union ships under Commander S.C. Rowan. Two Confederate ships of the “Mosquito Fleet” escaped north to the Dismal Swamp Canal, attempting to make it to Norfolk. One of them was CSS Appomattox. However, it was too wide to get through the lock at South Mills, south of the Dismal Swamp and slightly northwest of where the canal and the Pasquotank River meet. To avoid the ship falling into Union hands, the Confederates burned Appomattox. The other ship was CSS Beaufort, a Confederate iron-hulled gunboat. It was able to get through the locks and make its way up the canal to Norfolk. Today, a marker stands on the north trailhead of the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail, the site where CSS Beaufort passed on February 10, 1862, on its way to Hampton Roads. The ship escaped successfully and even went on to play a role in the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 8-9, 1862, where it served as a tender for the ironclad CSS Virginia.

Engraving from Harper’s Weekly depicting the destruction of the Mosquito Fleet (NCpedia)

Preceding General Burnside’s North Carolina Expedition, and the unraveling of the “Mosquito Fleet,” the Dismal Swamp Canal had been used as a supply route for the Confederate fleet at Roanoke. The Confederates planned to use the canal system to move ships, including the ironclad CSS Virginia, south from Hampton Roads to Albemarle Sound. To protect the canal, Confederates established defenses around South Mills in Camden County, North Carolina. Fully aware of the threat the canal posed on the Union blockade, General Burnside ordered General J.L. Reno to move his army to South Mills and lay waste to the locks. On April 17, 1862, Reno and 3,000 Union troops embarked from Roanoke Island. On April 19, three miles from the locks, Reno encountered Confederate resistance from Colonel A.R. Wright’s Georgia regiment. Reno’s men were successful at withstanding the 750 southerners who defended the canal, but not the southern heat that is believed to have exhausted federal troops. Reno was unsuccessful at carrying out his mission. However, when Norfolk surrendered the following month, so went the canal. Now, the Union was able to utilize the canal system to transport supplies.

Photograph of the Dismal Swamp Canal looking south (Matthew Headrick)

Despite the abundance of Union activity that took place along the canal, the only visible remnant from the Dismal Swamp Canal Company is the old Superintendent’s House. This prefabricated structure served as the toll house for the canal and stage road in the 19th century.[1] During the Civil War, it was occupied by Union troops. After being vacant for many years, a kitchen was added in the 1930s where tea was served to commuters on the canal. The toll house was abandoned a second time during World War II. The house still stands today, five miles from the north trailhead.

Front view of the toll house (Matthew Headrick)

Today, the canal’s economic role is minor, but its historic relevance is of the utmost importance. You can hike the old State Route 17 road, originally a tow road where barges with goods and materials were pushed up and down the canal until the canal was enlarged in 1896. Along the trail, you will find the old toll house, along with a historical interpretation of the canal's history, from its origins to the present day.

Side view of the toll house (Matthew Headrick)

Notes:
[1] In the 19th century, the delivery of prefabricated structures was slightly different from today. The toll house was built at a different location and then dismantled. The pieces were numbered and then sent down the canal to be rebuilt where it stands today.