150 years ago today a sizeable Union amphibious expedition under the command of Ambrose Burnside was preparing for action near Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina. While the expedition would become a bright spot on Burnside’s career, as he very ably commanded it, not everything was in his control. As we’ll see in a log kept by Henry Van Brunt, secretary to Flag-Officer L. M. Goldsborough, mother nature would sometimes prove to be a greater enemy than the Confederate military. Van Brunt was an intelligent Harvard grad who did not have a name for himself while in the Navy, but would go on to be a well-known person in the architectural world.
Van Brunt was born in 1832, and grew up a well-educated Bostonian in Massachusetts. He attended Harvard College, graduating in 1854 and joined his first architecture firm in New York City later that year. When the Civil War broke out, Van Brunt decided to serve in the Navy and put his education to use working as an administrator for Flag-Officer L. M. Goldsborough, the commander of the Navy’s North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. During January of 1862 it would fall on the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron to transport several thousand Union soldiers of Burnside’s Expedition to North Carolina to expand on the Union gains made there the previous summer.
On January 12th the fleet carrying Burnside’s men left Hampton Roads, Virginia for Hatteras Inlet. Upon arrival they began to organize themselves and asses approach routes to advance to the North Carolina mainland. This was more of a challenge than you might expect, as the inlet had many sandbars which would easily cause one of the ships to run aground.
Above: A map of Hatteras Inlet showing water depth, and the limited channel which the Union ships could navigate through.
To complicate things the weather would not be ideal for much of the operation. Henry Van Brunt’s duties as secretary included keeping a rough log of daily events, and the entry he made 150 years ago today tell a lot about what the soldiers and sailors had to endure.
As Van Brunt stated, the high winds and rough seas created hazardous condition. Ships which were in distress could signal for help, but because of the hidden sand bars and other underwater obstacles rescue was sometimes too dangerous to attempt. Also according to Van Brunt Fort Hatteras, the principle land installation in the area, was very nearly under water.
Above: Fort Hatteras sketched the previous summer.
The Union fleet remained intact and as we’ll see went on to make significant gains which aided in Burnside’s eventual rise in rank.
As for Van Brunt, he would serve in the Navy until 1864. After the war he became a partner in the firm Ware & Van Brunt in Boston, and later Van Brunt & Howe. With the latter firm he relocated to Kansas City and became an architectural leader in the West particularly in the area of railroad stations and university buildings, with the Richardsonian Romanesque style prominent in his work.
Above: Spooner Hall at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, a Van Brunt work.
Towards the end of his life, Van Brunt relocated back to Boston, where he died in 1903. Like many American artists, writers, architects and even presidents of the late 19th Century, Henry Van Brunt’s Civil War career is an interesting footnote during his career.