the Union ship. Sentinels patrolling the beach had probably
spotted the Columbia sometime during the day on January 15
and alerted military authorities in Wilmington. Gray-clad
artillerists and infantrymen soon took up positions behind
sand dunes on Masonboro Island. Both the Cambridge and
Penobscot fired their cannons at them, only to be answered by
Confederate artillery fire.
Rufus E. Lester claimed that his regiment, the 25th Georgia
Infantry, participated in the battle. The Wilmington Daily Journal
reported on January 17, 1863, that Colonel William Lamb took
a Whitworth rifled cannon and a detachment of cavalry and
infantry from Fort Fisher near New Inlet to assist in the capture
of the Columbia.
The Columbia sustained considerable damage from the crossfire
throughout the morning of January 16. The shooting and heavy
seas halted rescue operations by the Penobscot and Cambridge.
Realizing that the game was up, Lieutenant Couthouy threw
most of his cannons overboard to keep them from falling into
Confederate hands and then hoisted a white flag of surrender.
Lifeboats began ferrying the officers and crewmen still aboard the
stranded ship to shore around noon. All told, 12 officers, including
Lieutenant Couthouy, and 28 sailors were made prisoners of war.
After a brief stay in Wilmington, the officers were transported to a
military prison in Salisbury, North Carolina, while the sailors were
sent to Richmond, Virginia.
During the afternoon of January 16 and much of the following
day, Confederate soldiers went on board the Columbia to salvage
weapons, equipment and souvenirs. The Cambridge and Penobscot
harassed them with cannon fire. With a Confederate flag defiantly
flying from the masthead, the southerners stripped the ship of usable
items and then burned what could be burned.
The Wilmington Dispatch reported in May 1909 that the hulk
of the Columbia was still visible, “in the ocean a few hundred yards
from the Lumina.” In the late 1970s, underwater archaeologists
detected a large iron anomaly deep in the sand near Masonboro
Inlet’s jetty, which they subsequently identified as the remains of
the Columbia.
Three additional wrecks believed to be the blockade-runners Dee,
Fanny and Jenny and Emily (I) were discovered between the inlet
and Crystal Pier. A recent dredging project in Masonboro Inlet by
the US Army Corps of Engineers disturbed the Columbia’s grave.
Adding to the evidence that the wreck is indeed the former Union
gunboat, three wooden sabots that cushioned 24-pounder cannonballs
washed ashore on Masonboro Island just south of the inlet in
2010. Discovered by a Southport resident, the artifacts were turned
over to the North Carolina Division of Archives and History
Underwater Archaeology Branch at Fort Fisher in Kure Beach for
conservation. The Columbia’s armament included six 24-pounder
cannons.
The wreck of the US Columbia is a reminder of the important
and fascinating role that Wrightsville Beach, Wilmington and the
Lower Cape Fear played during the Civil War.
the story does not end there.
aywood
Newkirk IV, a resident of
Wrightsville Sound, says
family legend has it that his
great, great grandfather,
Captain Abram F. Newkirk
of Co. A, 3rd North Carolina
Cavalry, learned that one of
the captives from the Columbia
was a former classmate of his
at the University Medical
College in New York. Newkirk’s
company, known as the Rebel
Rangers, was stationed at Camp
Heath in Scott’s Hill in January
1863. Although it is unclear if his
cavalry unit helped capture the
20
WBM january 2013
gunboat, Captain Newkirk allegedly
took his old friend, who was
reportedly wounded or injured in
battle, to his plantation home in
the area of what is today Landfall.
Sure enough, a US Navy doctor
— Acting Assistant Surgeon
Passmore Treadwell — was taken
prisoner on Masonboro Island on
January 16, 1863.
If the Newkirk’s family story is
not true, it should be. According to
an official account by Lieutenant
Couthouy, Treadwell was imprisoned
with the Columbia’s other officers at
Salisbury Prison until exchanged at
the end of January 1863.
H
Postwar view of Abram F. Newkirk,
former captain of Co. A (Rebel Rangers),
3rd North Carolina Cavalry.
Historical Society of the Lower Cape Fear Archives