USS John L. Lockwood (1854) - Operations Against Roanoke Island

Operations Against Roanoke Island

John L. Lockwood was ordered to Hatteras Inlet 2 February 1862 to take part in combined operations which struck the Confederacy with heavy and costly blows wherever water reached within the North Carolina Sounds. She was with Flag Officer Goldsborough during operations against Roanoke Island 7 February bombarding Confederate positions with deadly effective fire. The next day with eight other ships she cut the chain connecting two vessels which obstructed the channel, thus clearing a passage for the Union ships into Albemarle Sound. This victory and the follow-up operations in the sounds severed Norfolk's main supply lines, secured the North Carolina coast, diverted important strength from the main Confederate Armies, and weakened the South's ability to resist at sea. At the end of the fighting, Captain Alex Murray who commanded Goldborough's second column praised John L. Lockwood for being "conspicuously in the foreground throughout the bombardment."