The Chicamacomico Races & Exodus from Chicamacomico
Posted by: 
showbizkid
N 35° 35.739 W 075° 28.063
18S E 457631 N 3939202
A two-sided Civil War marker in Chicamacomico section of the Outer Banks near Rodanthe, the site of the Battle of Chicamacomico. The text is transcribed in the Long Description.
Waymark Code: WMG57
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 07/01/2006
Views: 35
The first side of this marker describes the Battle of Chicamacomico in some detail:
THE CHICAMACOMICO RACES
Soon after the capture of Hatteras Inlet, Union Colonel Rush C. Hawkins anticipated an assault to dislodge his troops from their new foothold on Hatteras Island. He dispatched 600 troops of the 20th Indiana Regiment from Fort Hatteras to Camp Live Oak, two miles south of here. On October 1, 1861, Captain William A. Lynch of the Confederate Navy, commanding the "Mosquito Fleet," seized the USS Fanny in Pamlico Sound. Three days later, the fleet returned to this vicinity with Colonel Augustus R. Wright's 3rd Georgia Infantry and quickly forced the Federal troops to retreat. They hurriedly left their equipment and provisions and were preceded by the fleeing residents of Chicamacomico. They reached the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, over twenty miles away, at midnight. "It was maddening." one soldier wrote, "the sea rolling to our feet and nothing to drink."
The next morning, reinforced Union troops drove the Georgians back over the same ground under heavy shelling from the USS Monticello. "We marched 16 miles," wrote a Confederate officer, "and it was a miracle numbers of us were not killed." As the Confederates and the "Mosquito Fleet" disembarked, they traded cannon fire with the Monticello across this narrow stretch of beach. Chicamacomico was subsequently abandoned by both sides - each convinced they had repelled a major enemy offensive.
The reverse of this marker describes the Union and Chicamacomico loyalists retreat:
EXODUS FROM CHICAMACOMICO
Residents of Chicamacomico, after being routed from their homes by Confederate troops, precede the 20th Indiana Regiment as they escape southward towards Fort Hatteras. Many residents had earlier taken the Oath of Allegiance reaffirming their loyalty to the United States and feared reprisals if they remained. Their empty houses were pillaged and some were torched by marauding soldiers of the 3rd Georgia Infantry from nearby Roanoke Island.
To record your own visit to this waymark, take and post your own original photo of the waymark, and upload it with your log. Logs must contain the required photo as proof of your visit, please
Visit Instructions:Photos of your visit to the marker are required, but PLEASE, no old vacation photos taken just because it was there!
Comments about your visit, interesting nearby areas and any significant information you may have on this waymark are encouraged.
Most of all, enjoy the History that North Carolina has to offer! From the Mountains to the Ocean .. it's all here!